Former CSKA and Russian national team rugby player, Daria Shestakova, shares insights into her post-career life, her foray into media, and various other topics.
Daria, what are you currently doing?
I am an ambassador for CSKA Rugby Club and studying to become a TV presenter at Ostankino. My studies involve participating in various castings and selections. Additionally, I`m active in different rugby events and engage with sponsors.
How did you end up at Ostankino?
I thought a lot about what I`d do after sports, even while I was still playing, because a sports career isn`t forever. Then I looked in the mirror and thought, “My God! I was simply born to be on television!” (laughs). But seriously, it always interested me. After trying it out a couple of times, I decided to pursue formal education to gain additional qualifications in this field. It`s really too early to talk about long-term prospects, as I still have a whole year of study ahead. Of course, I love it, because what I did as a professional athlete has nothing to do with this sphere. It involves interacting with people, speech techniques, how to work on camera, and understanding how these programs are made. My mind couldn`t grasp how it all worked initially. When four cameras are filming you simultaneously, and you need to turn at a specific time and say certain words, your brain starts working completely differently. Naturally, I enjoy it very much. It`s challenging and very unfamiliar, but interesting. It`s a completely different world!
What`s your impression of the Russian Women`s Rugby-7 Championship now?
Many things are changing. There are new and interesting teams: “Argat” from Ust-Labinsk and “Zilant” from Kazan. In my opinion, “Yenisey-STM” needs to change something. Things have been happening with them for a few years now. The team was always in the top three; we even played them in finals! Remember “Krasny Yar” when Kazakova played there? They won the Russian Cup! Now Bayzat Khamidova has joined “Krasny Yar”; I hope she spends a season as an assistant coach and then becomes head coach. They need funding, and of course, they need new players. They also need a synergy of experienced players with extensive backgrounds and new girls. Currently, they have adult players, but not at the level of, say, “Rostov-DSTU” with Navrat Khamidova and Anya Ermolaeva (Gotseva). They are precisely what gives “Rostov” the necessary experience, at least for these first seasons of the club`s existence. Let`s not forget that “Rostov” beat “Yenisey-STM” last season! I believe age signifies a player`s experience and work capacity, as well as the level at which they`ve played. What experience does Navrat have with Europe and World Series events?
Is it possible now to only play rugby without having another job?
There must be motivation for players to come to training daily, to cope with the workload, and after that workload, you really can`t do anything else. If it`s a good, proper workload and training process, you come home and just want to lie down. It`s impossible for female rugby players competing in the Russian Rugby-7 Championship to work in parallel. So, there must be motivation for players, including salary, and there must be the right coach. If you play for top teams now, you`re basically a professional athlete who only does that. That means even without playing for the national team, you can generally feel good. Well, let`s say, feel normal. Of course, you won`t be able to provide for your whole family if you have ten people, but for one person, it`s perfectly normal, sufficient. When Rugby-7 was included in the Olympic program, the situation began to change for the better, even in women`s rugby.
What`s the best stadium you`ve ever played in?
Paris. Firstly, it had an amazing field. Secondly, it`s a rugby country. Dubai, naturally. Dubai is top-tier. Sydney too, actually! It was really cool, to be honest, because that`s also a rugby country. And a stadium can be anything, you understand? But the number of spectators who come creates the atmosphere. When you play matches, and there are already 40,000 people sitting there, what kind of atmosphere can that be? It`s exhilarating, it`s very difficult to put into words and absolutely impossible to forget! But when you walk out and there are barely any people, it`s sad. No matter how magnificent the field, it won`t make a difference.
The number of people at Rugby-7 in the USA amazed me. When I went to the 2018 World Cup as a volunteer in San Francisco, I arrived a day before you and that evening took an Uber to meet a translator who was supposed to work with the Russian men`s team. I chose the cheapest fare, where other passengers might be present. Both the driver and a young couple riding with me were planning to go to the matches. I asked if they liked rugby. Everyone replied that they`d never heard of it before but really wanted to go. You remember the stands there…
Have you ever seen how many people go to golf there? I`ve seen how many people go to anything! That`s the whole point—it`s like they have a certain cult. You have to go to everything happening in the city! Even San Francisco is a very big city. It`s a top stadium, a top location, a top tournament. “Wow, a World Cup, incredible!” Our World Series took place in Glendale. Does anyone even know where Glendale is? Maybe it`s something ingrained in the American mentality? There was a huge crowd in Glendale on the second day. You couldn`t even push through or find a seat! Or the World Series leg in Atlanta? We played there at a tiny college stadium somewhere out of town, and how many people came?
Yes, my friends from New York flew in then to play an amateur match and also watch the women`s tournament…
Just so you understand, my friend from Chelyabinsk, who has lived in Miami for many years, drove 9 hours to Atlanta with a buddy when he found out Arina and I would be playing! His American friend convinced him to make the trip. “It`s the World Series! Your friends are playing there!”
You`re studying at Ostankino now. Have you thought about how to attract people to rugby? It`s clear that when the “Sports Town” grandstand in Luzhniki is full, everyone there is connected to rugby in some way. We know almost everyone by face.
I can say that what Vasya Artemyev does with tag-rugby (editor`s note: non-contact rugby with ribbons) works. Essentially, it`s a business league, but these people start following the Russian Championship, the Premier League; they ask questions, they come. This is just the beginning. The more such leagues there are, the more people will become interested. The school tag-rugby league is a small gear that starts a big process: children get interested, and their parents do too. More and more people are getting involved in rugby. Here`s a simple example: a couple of weeks ago, I gave an interview to “Govorit Moskva” radio. A few days later, I was in a taxi, chatting on the phone about something. I hung up, and the taxi driver delicately asked if I was an athlete and a rugby player, saying he`d watched an interview, liked it very much, and I resembled her. He said she had a twin sister. It turned out he`d caught my interview, then looked up when the games would be. He even asked for an autograph. It was so pleasant! We don`t usually give it much thought when we`re invited somewhere, thinking, “Oh, our people will watch.” But someone always notices something and starts to get interested!
You and Arina are both very vibrant and memorable. Have you ever been recognized on the street?
Funnily enough, yes! I`ll tell you one of the most brilliant stories; I love recalling it. It was actually so unexpected. I don`t know why popular people get annoyed and don`t want to take photos with anyone. This was after my first Achilles injury in 2023. I was in a terrible mood. I`d just been discharged from the hospital, finished a very long course of antibiotics. I just felt awful. I was on crutches, had a black eye from the last tour. Everything was bad, my mood was terrible. It was early May, and there was a veranda. A man was standing nearby, smoking. A waitress quickly walked towards him, and I thought she was going to scold him or make him leave. But from him, she ran up to me, asked if I needed a chair, and what I wanted to drink. Lemonade? Excellent! Anyway, we met with friends there, ate, had a good time, and asked for the bill. The waitress then said the manager had covered everything! And wished me good health and CSKA only victories! The entire restaurant wished me well. My friends were in shock, and so was I. Then the manager himself came over. He`s a fan of all CSKA teams and follows all their competitions, so he was aware of women`s rugby too. It was incredibly heartwarming!
A few classic questions: how did you and your sister get into rugby?
We were sitting on a bench in our yard in Chelyabinsk, eating chips. It was 2014, just before entering university, and I still needed to pass some exams. My mom called and asked, “Dasha, Arina, do you want to go to Moscow? To try yourselves in a sport like rugby?” At the time, we were playing amateur American football. We were like, “What? What is rugby?” But the trip to Moscow really enticed us. So, we gladly agreed. We arrived at “RGUTiS-Podmoskovie” (now “VVA-Podmoskovie”). There was a coach named Marat Ildusovich Minislamov. He held a seven-day training camp for us. We went through various tests. And immediately after that week, he signed a contract with us.
By the way, a quick question: what was it like to play with your sister, first on the same team, and then against each other? (editor`s note: Daria and Arina played for “RGUTiS-Podmoskovie” from 2014 to 2019, but Daria moved to CSKA in 2019)
On the same team, it was completely normal. Even fun. It was less fun when we started playing for rival clubs. You don`t want to injure anyone anyway, but here you have to play against each other. And that… it was a strange feeling: you had to play, but you didn`t want to hit your sister. I remember she called me and said: “Dasha, well, let`s play clean tomorrow, okay?” I said: “Of course, Arina, what dirt? Let`s make sure everything is fair!” And in the very first moment, I caught the ball with my back to the defense. And someone just hit me so hard in the back. I tumbled, turned around, looked, and she said: “What are you doing? Well, what was I supposed to do? You took the ball!” Well, thanks, as they say!
This leads to another question. What was it like when both of you were selected for the national team, but Arina made the squad and you didn`t? This was the first leg of the World Series, December 2015, Dubai (editor`s note: the Russian women`s Rugby-7 national team reached the tournament final for the first time then).
She made the main team right away. I was called to the training camp in Dubai, but I didn`t make the team. It was disappointing. Of course, I was happy for my sister, but I was upset for myself. I would be lying if I said I was so happy that I didn`t make it and she did. No, of course, I was very upset for myself then; I remember it clearly. “Why? What am I doing worse?” But everything changed very quickly. I worked very hard, and I was already taken for the World Series leg in Brazil. So, I didn`t have to grieve for long. But I did worry quite a bit before the start of the Dubai leg. And then, in the hotel in Dubai, all my $112 daily allowance was stolen from my room, which we later got back together! (laughs).
Do you plan to return to playing at all?
For now, I`m focusing on restoring my health, because I have a daily step limit, and after exceeding it, my legs hurt very much. I`m currently in the rehabilitation phase. And, essentially, I tell everyone the same thing every day: if I manage to return, I will. If not, then, in principle, I don`t think it will be a secret to anyone – people rarely return after such injuries. For now, it`s hard for me to even walk much. Both of my shoulders have been operated on, right and left. My right one was operated on seven months before the Tokyo Olympics, with an emergency recovery course. By the way, my shoulders don`t bother me at all now. If you`re asking if the accelerated recovery could have led to complications, then no. After that, I played for quite a long time, and everything is fine. My elbow was operated on, with an Ilizarov apparatus. But that was before rugby, by the way, so the elbow doesn`t count. But it was an injury. Yes, there were quite a few non-surgical injuries. The truly global operations were two shoulders and two Achilles tendons.
But you`re not even 30 yet. Now, in CSKA and other teams, there are many players who are even 35+ and have returned after maternity leave. 10-15 years ago, we considered Anastasia Mukharyamova (editor`s note: former captain of the Russian women`s rugby and Rugby-7 national teams) a true veteran at 28…
Yes, she was just finishing when we arrived. Well, what can I say? As long as they can run, let them run. Why not? If a person feels they haven`t finished playing. Take Alena Tiron, for example. She returned after childbirth. Two rounds of the Russian Rugby-7 Championship have already passed. She played magnificently a year after giving birth, scoring 6 tries in matches! If she wants to, feels she can, and succeeds, why not? It`s great, actually. The other issue is that we need to recruit and develop new talent right now. And again, develop with whom? Young players can`t just step onto the field like little ducklings and start beating everyone. For example, if CSKA fielded a team of only young players, and we had that experience when we both commented on the Russian Cup last year. What happened? They lost by about 40 points to everyone. They tried to fight with some, but in any case, these are girls who still need to gain experience. Kira Aleshinа, for instance, showed herself brilliantly in the second team and moved to the first. She even plays in the Russian Championship now and scores tries. There are many talented young girls, but with whom, without international tournaments, can they grow if not with our old veterans? Of course, the most important experience is game experience, but still, how much do they need to play to develop that `game intelligence`? And through training with Nadya Sozonova, Kristina Seredina, and other girls who have played rugby for ten or twenty years, in World Series, in Olympic Games, and everywhere else, they can gain that experience. Kira Aleshinа is a prime example of this. I`ve been injured for two years, otherwise, I`d still be playing. We`ve been isolated for three years, playing only in Russian championships. The national team is clearly declining. But nevertheless, the speeds in the championship are crazy. And that means the body can withstand the rhythm of the game, speed play, power play. If you can do it, why not?
If we were suddenly allowed to play again, where would the Russian women`s Rugby-7 national team be now? Last year, you, Arina, and Daria Noritsina (editor`s note: captain of RK “VVA-Podmoskovie”) went to the Olympics in Paris and watched the tournament live.
In my opinion, it would, of course, be very difficult. Look at the World Series in Los Angeles—the speeds and pace of the game there! I think that initially, we would perform well. There would be this euphoria from having been out for so long, everyone ready to play, everyone having wanted to return for so long. Because most of the national team players are girls who have played in the World Series for a long time, and we`ve really missed it. Among the new players, only Nadya Medvedeva would be there. Vika Em was already called up even before COVID. So, if we were suddenly reinstated right now, we would even make it into the top eight, or maybe higher. On sheer momentum, so to speak. But after that, it would be very difficult. The old leaders are in their places, dark horses like China are doing crazy things on the field, so it would be tough. It`s even hard to think about the top four right now. We`d have to start from scratch. Not absolute zero, of course; after all, we`ve achieved a lot, but still, building everything from the very beginning. We`d definitely have to sweat it out in the lower ranks of the tournament table for about a year.
