As the penultimate round of the HSBC World Rugby Women's Sevens Series 2016-17 approaches, it is inevitable to think about what is at stake for us.

We understand the pressures to remain as a core team on the series and have been working hard to improve some aspects of our game in order to succeed. 

At the same time, it is inevitable to acknowledge that all teams are improving, and there have been some interesting upsets and surprising results during the season to date.

Unpredictability is one of the most amazing aspects of the game, and during the past few months we have witnessed some remarkable events: USA and Canada playing the gold medal match in Sydney, Ireland as a consistent top eight team and even our own upset of England in overtime in Australia.

We would love to continue as a core team in the world series and will do our best to accomplish this goal.

Maintaining momentum

For us, it's not just about representing Brazil as we are also responsible for representing South America. That is probably a sentiment shared by other countries, such as South Africa and Japan in that they represent their entire continent when they participate in the series.

The post-Rio 2016 scenario was uncertain for everyone – some key players retired and, for us, there was a need to give an opportunity to younger girls to play at this level. We also had to adapt to new schedules and a new coach. It was more than teaching skills and systems, we are also passing our values on to the next generation.

Staying on the circuit would be important to maintain the momentum of our growth here. An entire generation of new rugby players have watched us prepare during the first Olympic cycle for rugby sevens, culminating in our qualification and subsequent participation this year in the series.

If we end up falling out of the circuit, we will face some uncertainties that could stunt our game's growth. In South America, we have one regional tournament every year. As a result, outside of the world series, we end up feeling isolated from competitive rugby and lack opportunities to test ourselves at an elite level. 

The sevens season is even more important to us as Brazil doesn't have a women's 15s programme ... yet!

Having fun is vital

So, yes, there is a lot of pressure. And yes, it is hard to be competing at this level knowing that for us it is all or nothing. However, if I had to sum up our biggest learning of the season so far, I would say it isn't something game-specific.

At the high performance level we always have to be focused on developing skills and systems, but this year we rediscovered something that is just as important – we have to enjoy it. 

Yes, we think about the results, about the scores and about the points we have to earn to remain as a core team in the world series, but if we're not having fun, it's not worth it.

Rugby is a beautiful game, we try to give it our Brazilian flavour, and an essential part of that is to enjoy being part of it. Without this passion and fun, we also wouldn't be representing Brazil.

We hope, and will continue to work hard, to be able to bring our passion, intensity, and joie de vivre to the future seasons of the HSBC World Rugby Women's Sevens Series.