A Ride on the K Train

La Salle Women’s Rugby Team Starts Off a Great Year With a Nike Grant of $20,000.

2008-07-18T12:39:00.001-04:00

(Philadelphia, PA) The 2008 fall Rugby season has yet to start and La Salle University’s Women’s Rugby team is already having one of their best seasons ever.

On July 3, the team was notified that they had received a grant for $20,000 toward Nike merchandise from the Let Me Play foundation, a global movement by Nike that caters specifically to female projects that promote “human potential through sport.” A freshman member of the team saw this opportunity online during the spring semester, and jumped on it right away.

“We fit the description perfectly,” said junior Maria Muscara. “Our team does tons of community service opportunities, and is always looking to recruit new teammates who have never played rugby before. This opportunity was ideal.”

Muscara emailed the team about the opportunity, and her teammates sent back essays for her to compile, explaining why they should receive the grant. Let Me Play is “dedicated to inspiring, engaging, and supporting women’s sports,” and so is La Salle Women’s Rugby.

"This grant will not only provide us with additional money for uniforms and equipment, but it will allow us to be recognized by the University and potential players as an up-and-coming team that is committed to the sport and their community,” says senior Captain and Rugby Union President, Britni Buffalino.

In the past, the team, consisting of around 25 undergraduates of all majors, have attended neighborhood clean ups with local elementary schools, formed a team of walkers for AIDS Walk Philly, and has even taken time out during finals week to wrap gifts at Christmas time at St. Jude’s hospital in Center City. The women have not limited their service just to Philadelphia, however. Nine of the women volunteered on service trips organized through the University last year – seven to Kentucky and two to Mexico.

The team also has a solid mission statement, which describes the “vision” of La Salle Women’s Rugby: “La Salle Women's Rugby is a community of young women of varying athletic skills and commitment levels: every single member of the club has a purpose and a home on this club. As such, every player who commits to this team will be treated as an integral element to building a fun, rewarding, and highly successful program.”

La Salle Women’s Rugby has been nothing but successful since their start in 2002. Starting in Division IV in 2002, through the years the women have moved up to Division III, and finally secured their spot in Division II last fall. Although only a club sport, the determination and commitment on the team is noticed throughout the University. For more information on La Salle Women’s Rugby, head to www.lasallewomensrugby.org.

Making Ends Meet (Rugby Style)

2008-07-16T10:42:00.000-04:00

It's expensive to play rugby. I realize that's no a newsflash, nor is it a revelation to mention that playing select side is even more expensive, national team events even more so.

The 7 Philly players involved in WNT events this summer have been fund raising our butts off. To our credit we've been very creative in our efforts. We started with the standard rugby fund raiser, the bar event. We did two of these events, the first one was kind of a wash. he second was very successful in no small part because we had great publicity at the 7s tournament being held the same day.

Our second bar event was helped by our presence at the the local 7s tournament, also raising money, running water. We also did this at Harrisburg 7s but apparently we made more money. We charged 10 dollars a game and would run your choice of water or powerade. Big shout out to the NRU 7s folks who hired us for the entire day.

The last way we fund raised as a group was through on Eagle's Wings. Eagle's Wings was essentially a way for us to sell ourselves to do odd jobs, yard work, cleaning, whatever people needed. It was really flexible for both the players and the people donating money, which defintely enabled it's success. Angie did a great job keeping all the work organized and having people link up with possible donors.

I tried my hand at asking for a donation from a business I frequent. I only had one business in mind, the independent gym I workout at. The gym has several other high level athletes so I thought I might find success asking. Well I made my pitch to one of the gym's principles and was "rewarded." And by rewarded I mean given a 5 dollar bill-I guess something is lacking in my delivery?

I'll stick to running water and trimming hedges!

A Good First Impression

2008-07-15T10:00:00.003-04:00

My girls are going to get some major PR this week.

Luckily we had just started to invest in a new website.

Sadly the old sites still appear in the google searches.

So help us get our google rating up by linking to us.

www.lasallewomensrugby.org

When tracking your online rep goes bad

2008-07-09T06:09:00.002-04:00

I'll admit, I am a little paranoid about shit talking behind my back.

In the last few months there have been more then a few moments where I have learned about real time shit talking. Sometimes I ignore shit talking because it doesn't help to confront it. Sometimes it starts a genuine dialog with someone who you barely know, ie my chat with Tina Nesberg at WNT camp this spring. When shit talking is directed at players I coach the gloves tend to come off. I expect to be denigrated behind my back, but leave the players I coach out of it.

Shit talking takes a lot of forms. Sometimes people think they're just talking about something, when actually they're talking shit. Other times people are pretty deliberate in their malice and ill will. In 2008 our shit talking is facilitated by so many electronic mediums: email, im, text messages, cell phones, facebook, myspace and of course, blogs. Everyone remembers my ill advised, heat of the moment post two falls ago about a certain game, which was a clinic on talking shit via blog.

I like to track my online persona to make sure that nothing unflattering is appearing via google to potential employers, SOs or just joe public. Normally this consists of me doing lots of googling. I troll around social networking sites to make sure any profiles are legit. In general I am just a creeper and make sure that there's nothing unflattering or more to the point; nothing too unflattering that I feel a need to intervene.

So i had one those moments this morning. I found something kind of of uncool in reference to me. But it wasn't in reference to me by name but I knew it meant me. You know when you have a moment in a game and you remember it and you wonder, "gee i wonder if the other girl remembered it?" Well in this case she did remember. In fact it turned out she said something to me on the field that I didn't hear. And I am glad I didn't hear it because I would have lost my mind. Or at the very least i would have been very miffed.

My online image is safe for another day, my ego, not so much .

Women's Rugby Review

2008-07-08T06:56:00.000-04:00

If you haven't checked out this blog, you should.

(Extra bull removed so you can spend time reading that blog instead)

How USA "A" vs Canada "A" becomes USA vs Ontario

2008-07-08T06:04:00.002-04:00

While knowledge of the WNT team's involvement in the Nations Cup is at least circulating, information about this summer's USA "A" event has been kept on the down low.

I was very excited when I got word that I had been selected as part of USA "A's" assembly and game against Canada "A." It's next logical progression in my select side experience and I am confident that I am setup for success, whatever that might look like. We're are practicing the 17th and 18th for a match against Canada "A" on the 19th. To top it off there's a nice size contingent of Philly teammates/coach traveling for the event.

That's where my story ends and the bizzaro politics/brinkmanship/confusion of international rugby starts.

Last week Goff published an article about the U20 nations cup set to be begin at the end of this week. Canada U20s, Canada U20s "A," England U20s and the Wales u20s will face off over the course of 6 days. After playing each other once, the top two teams will play in a final match, the curtain raiser for the event is a game between Ontario Senior Women and USA Senior "A."

That last bit about USA "A" as a curtain raiser against Ontario Senior left me scratching my head. Apparently I was not the only person who was confused. My coach, who was herself going to Canada and is part of the WNT program as the east region liaison, had not heard of a change in opponent. She reported this anomaly to the powers that be in the WNT "A" program while we sat around wondering where Goff had gotten this information. After all shouldn't USA Rugby already know this?

Rumor became "fact" this morning when I decided to troll the Rugby Canada website. On the front page there is a link to a U20 Nations Cup advertisement. Sure enough, the advertisement lists a game, USA Sr Women vs Ontario Sr Women, on July 19th. Apparently the full USA national team is going north to crush the Ontario provincial side! That will show those dirty Canadians, we'll instill fear to their provincial side and then the rest of the buggers will fall in line.

Confused?

Apparently so are the Canadians, as the main webpage for the U20 Nations Cup infers a different game: Senior Women U.S.A. 'A' vs Canada Selects.

And the rosters pag e seems to infer the Onatario version of the story. Infact some quick googling reveals that all the clubs listed are in Ontario (so this isn't an Ontario and friends squad.)

This isn't the first time that these details have changed/been glossed over by our great northern neighbor. People who read my blog last summer probably remember of the flip flop before last summer's Can-Am matches.

Adventures in home made energy snacks

2008-07-07T06:41:00.000-04:00

Back in April I decided I was going to free myself from the tyranny of energy bars.

Not that I don't love energy bars or snacks in general.

In fact my body runs is much happier with a constant stream of balanced calories throughout the day. I seem to have inherited my mother's hypoglycemic tendencies. If I let my blood sugar crash I get very grumpy and start to have physical symptoms: headaches, difficulty concentrating and general fatigue. Over the course of long fall season days I need snackies-lots of them.

Of course I am also really picky about my snacks.
Too much sugar? No good.
Too much saturated fat? No good.
Too much protein? No good.

My perfect snack has a balance of sugar, complex carbohydrates, fat, protein and fiber-plus it tastes good.

My energy bar life has evolved over the years. At first I was a big fan of crunchy Nature's Valley wafers. But they're messy and have a ton of sugar. I moved onto Cliff Bars, which come in a bunch of flavors and are easy to eat on the run. The major mark against cliff bars is that they are a lot calories for their size. In the last year I have moved to the holy trinity of energy bars: Mojo, Odawalla and Nugo. They all have slightly different calorie makeup but they share one thing in common, they are almost impossible to get for less than $1.33 a piece.

If I wasn't going through 150 snacks a month, the price wouldn't a be a problem. In earnest I decided that I would make my own power snacks.

My initial thought was to make granola bars.I actually had a fair bit of success, producing something that tasted really good, was altogether healthy but sadly was very messy and had consistency issues. In general they were just too flaky on the outside, making them a seriously messy ordeal. Plus they were just not done enough for my taste on the inside. After trying to correct both problems by making the bars thinner, and failing, I decided to shelf granola bars.

My grandmother had been making healthy bran/flax muffins for a long time, so I decided to coop and improve that recipe. The ingredients in play:

Skim Milk
Egg Whites
Vanilla
No Sugar Added Apple Sauce
Flax (ground)
Textured Soy Protein (ground)
Bran Flour
Whole Wheat Flour
Splenda
Brown Sugar
Semi Sweet Chocolate Chips
Baking Powder
Chocolate Protein Powder (only sometimes)

A few weeks ago I made batch number 5. They came out so well that no one else got to sample that particular group. In the future if you see some random girl trying to get you to sample her power muffins (after all i am kind of a perfectionist) you'll know it's me.

Territorial Season Wrap Up/Debate

2008-06-25T09:00:00.000-04:00

Part of me is shocked that two weeks ago was NASCs.

Back in February, the official start of my season, it was soooo far away.

Depending on what territory you play for the road to NASC was either a full blown season or the traditional camp plus warmup match. I enjoyed the full blown territorial season that MARFU played but that was not a universal feeling. But before we start to discuss that thorny issue, that's talk about what MARFU's season looked like.

Sun Mar 09 Open Camp Richmond
Sun Mar 16 Open Camp Baltimore
Sat Mar 29 Invitational Camp DC
Apr 12/13 Pacific / Pac Dev San Francisco
Sun May 04 South Raleigh
Sun May 25 NRU / Dev Match Philly

So five weekends of select side competition before NASC. What did we accomplish in those five weekends? We didn't really accomplish a ton in terms of finding our stride. Part of that can be attributed to the order in which we played the games. Playing Pacific the first was a great challenge but the South game, because of the score, allowed us to play sloppier than we should have been comfortable with. Then we faced a very tough NRU team, only to lose another winnable game.

There's been a lot of debate about the effects of having a territorial season on clubs. Fundamentally there are two perspectives, the club oriented and the player oriented.

For some the club is most important organizational unit in women's rugby. According to this perspective, the existence of a territorial season is only beneficial if it does no impact on the spring club season. Players opting to not play for their club, some not even practicing, is unacceptable outcome of a dedicate select side season. The lack of select side players creates a host of problems from this perspective: lack of numbers, leadership issues and an inability to develop teams for the fall competitive season.

The player oriented perspective views the territorial season as a way to develop individual players across the board. From this perspective, when each TU actually participates in the territorial season, you'll have a similar number of players from the strongest teams opting out of their spring club season. This will create great parity in the club season and allow developing players a middle ground between full senior side games and developmental games. In essence you're creating an appropriate level of challenge for all the players involved: select side players of the TU season (and WNT assemblies), new senior side players get a chance to act in greater leadership roles on their home clubs and developmental players get the opportunity to develop their skills against an appropriate challenge.

Screw ESPNU, More ESPN Rugby Coverage

2008-05-16T15:24:00.002-04:00

I am not sure if everyone just missed this piece of news or what but USA Rugby has extended their deal with ESPN.

Those with fast internet connections should check out ESPN360.com, which currently has a ton of rugby league action but will broadcast a lot of USA Rugby content that is also going to be on the ESPN networks. For some people the service is free, so check it out. It does have some steep requirements in terms of computer horse power and connection speed. It was maxing out the CPU of my old p4 2.5 ghz computer here at work and also causing some very high network utilization rates, in the 25-3-% range. But the video is really nice, seriously!

ESPN Increases its Coverage of USA Rugby

More Content Featured on ESPNU, ESPN Classic and ESPN360.com

BOULDER, Colo. – Expanding upon its existing relationship with USA Rugby, in which ESPNU would air selected Men’s National Team matches, ESPN Inc., has officially signed on to broaden its coverage to ESPN Classic and its live broadband sports network ESPN360.com.

“This is a great opportunity for USA Rugby to build a partnership with ESPN, the world’s leader in sports programming. Our goal at USA Rugby is to Inspire America to fall in love with Rugby, and our new partnership with ESPN will certainly play a big part in achieving this goal.” USA Rugby’s VP of Business Development David Voth said.

ESPN, Inc., The Worldwide Leader in Sports, is the leading multinational, multimedia sports entertainment company featuring the broadest portfolio of multimedia sports assets with over 50 business entities, including ESPNU, ESPN Classic and ESPN360.com among a number of other sports media assets.

While ESPNU was designed as a 24-hour college sports network, its previous partnership with USA Rugby proved that its programming schedule is diverse in the content it offers. In fact, ESPNU televises nearly 500 live events and offers comprehensive studio programming, replays of ABC Sports, ESPN, ESPN2 and ESPN regional television games, specials and much more.

The expanded schedule for ESPNU features a one-hour highlight show taken from footage shot at the USA Rugby National Guard College Club Playoffs in Albuquerque. This show will be televised on Friday, May 16, at 11 p.m. EST. ESPNU will then air a tape delayed telecast of the USA Rugby National Guard Men’s and Women’s College Championships on May 21 and 22, at 10 p.m. EST. Additionally, USA Rugby National Guard Boys and Girls High School Championships will also be televised on ESPNU; a first for USA Rugby. Those shows are scheduled for Tuesday, June 3 and Wednesday, June 4, at 8 p.m. EST.

“We are thrilled to offer more USA Rugby on ESPNU, ESPN Classic and ESPN360.com,” said Rosalyn Durant, vice president and general manager ESPNU. “Showcasing the best US athletes in their respective sport category has become a mainstay for the ESPN networks.”

ESPN Classic is a 24-hour, all-sports network reaching 63 million homes and is devoted to highlighting and celebrating the timeless events, personalities, moments and stories comprising the heritage of sports. As a curator of sports history, ESPN Classic connects the past with the present-day sports landscape, providing sports fans with perspective, context and relevancy and includes a combination of live and classic sporting events; original entertainment series.

“It’s an incredible opportunity to have our international matches and the Rugby Super League Finals air live on ESPN Classic,” Voth added, “and to expand the coverage of all of our rugby properties including the High School National Championships, College Championship Series and the National Club Championships via the ESPN extended family, ESPN Classic, ESPNU and ESPN 360.com.”

The broadcast schedule for ESPN Classic includes live coverage of the Rugby Super Final from the Infinity Park in Glendale, Colo., on May 31, 8 pm ET, the USA versus Clermont Auvergne match on August 9 in Charleston, S.C. aired at 7 pm ET and the USA versus. Munster match on August 22 in Boston aired at 8 pm ET.

In addition, ESPN360.com will deliver live online coverage from the USA Rugby National Guard Boys and Girls High School Championship Finals, the USA Select XV’s match against England Counties, USA Rugby’s Women’s Club Championships and Men’s All-Star Championships.

ESPN360.com is ESPN's signature broadband sports network and the online home for live sports. It delivers more than 2,500 live, global sports events annually and is available at no additional charge to fans who receive their high-speed Internet connection from an affiliated service provider. ESPN360.com is currently available in nearly 23 million homes nationwide via more than 20 Internet service providers including AT&T, Verizon, RCN, Insight, Frontier, Cavalier, Charter, Mediacom, Conway, Grande Communications and more. Additionally, it is available to approximately 18 million U.S. college students and U.S.-based military personnel (fans accessing ESPN360.com from computers connected to an on-campus educational or military network – those with “.edu” or “.mil” domains).

Nations Cup Set for August

2008-04-25T10:24:00.002-04:00

Rugby Canada's website has information on what is going to be a huge international women's rugby event.

The Nation's Cup, August 15-31, will take place in England. It will pit, England, Canada, Wales, France and the US against each other in a round robin format.

Outside of the two year old Six Nations tournament and Women's RWC, the Nation's Cup would be the largest women's international competition.

MARFU v Pacific, MARFU v Socal

2008-04-13T16:22:00.004-04:00

We (MARFU) kicked off our spring season with two great matches on San Fransisco's Treasure Island.

Bay Area ruggers were great hosts for MARFU, helping players get to and from airports and giving us places to stay.

Saturday afternoon, in the almost 80 degree heat, MARFU just missed upsetting the Pacific Coast, losing 20-14.

We spent a good deal of the first 10 to 15 minutes of the game camped out in PAC's side of the field but couldn't get any points. And that was pretty much how the game went. We dominated possession but had trouble finishing.

We didn't defend often. Our defense was pretty good in general but we got hurt on turnover ball. PAC did an excellent job attacking off of turnover ball, following the 2 passes and wide motto. Three of their four tries came shortly after turnovers. We simply weren't reacting fast enough or communicating clearly enough when those turnovers happened.

Afterwards we had a fantastic little social in the SFGG club house. Our hosts had a nice spread of carb heavy goodness. We celebrated a good day of rugby with an exchange of gifts between MARFU And PAC. The only downside was that we got home at 8pm and had to be at the pitch very early the next morning.

The next morning MARFU developmental faced SoCal and PAC developmental. The cooler temperature but slick grass made for a very different playing environment.

(I was also very jealous of the PAC players sipping Mimosas and other adult beverages from the stands. God knows that would have made for a different spectating environment.)

In the first game MARFU developmental controlled possession and played rock solid on defense, defeating SoCal 10-0.

In a forty minute skirmish, MARFU beat PAC developmental 7-0.

Watch this space (rugby ahead)

2008-04-11T10:23:00.002-04:00

I know I have been very quiet as of late but expect rugby blogging:

This week, MARFU vs PAC, MARFU vs SoCal

Next weekend, WNT skills camps here in Philly

Two weeks from now, MARFU U23 dev at DC Ruggerfest

The Three Headed Dragon

2008-03-26T12:35:00.004-04:00

If you've been in the rugby community more than a hot minute you know we have a coaching shortage. There are never enough coaches for any level. At the college and club level you can play without a separate coach. But tragically we have at least one high school club each spring that is close to folding for lack of a coach.

In the fall I experienced the luxury of luxuries, having an assistant coach. Why is having an assistant coach such a nice thing? Assistant coaches give you flexibility folks, tons of it. The flexibility to occasionally miss practice. The flexibility to to observe drills while someone else is running them. Or to breakup forwards and backs without forcing a player to be a coach.

This spring I have been double blessed by having two coaches at almost all the practices and three coaches at more than a few. In education we talk about the connection between student performance and student/teacher ratios. I think to some extent coaching younger rugby players is very similar. There's tons of coaching to do, so quality is important but quantity often determines how well you build great basic skills while trying to play a big girl game plan. It's tough to watch basic skills in a decision making drill with only one or even two coaches. But you do have to watch those skills with new players.

Our First Scrimmage of the Season

2008-03-18T10:03:00.005-04:00

I wasn't quite sure what to expect when the first game on La Salle's schedule was a "scrimmage" vs the alumni. Our first week of practice (more on this later) went very well given that we had four rookies and the vast majority of the rest of our players had two or three seasons of rugby under their belt. With this young group in mind I was extra worried about what form the game would take.

I made two key decisions about last Saturday: that I was actually going to bet at the game trying to regulate the madness and that I was going with my kit on. My objective was to create the type of environment that was going to make the game fun for the girls who had never played before. More importantly to keep it safe.

So now there are pictures floating around facebook of me in a La Salle Jersey.

I know all the myriad of reasons NOT to play in a game with your players. There's the potential to decrease the player/coach barrier(s.) If you're playing, theoretically, you aren't coaching. Plus there's the very real chance of hurting someone if some combination their fear and my physical size works together that could end badly. None of these issues came up in the game thankfully.

I didn't start the game but about 10-15 minutes in we had a front row player come out with cramps. I had a suspicion that this player, she's had major stomach problems in the off season, was going to need a siesta. So I made my debut for La Salle, playing for a solid 30ish minutes.

There I am modeling fantastic lifting form

No one got hurt.

People learned a lot.

Alumni, current players, rookies and coaches had fun.

There is something really special about being on the field for someone's first game. Coming to a ruck and knowing they aren't quite sure if they have done the right thing or even if it's legal. The look in their eyes when they have the ball in their hands for the first time, knowing someone or someone is looking to take them down. The burgeoning confidence as they become the hunter and make (or miss) their first live tackle. They're special moments that quickly separate the folks who won't play in the long run from the people who have found a new home

Still, we have lots to do. In three weeks we'll face, MARFU DII playoff team, Delaware in what will be the hardest game that the club has played. The following weekend they'll play an even tougher game against Georgetown. The girls said they wanted to be in MARFU playoffs, in the hunt for national championship next year, so we need a taste of what the opposition will be like, then we can reassess whether we are willing to pay the price to play at that level.

Important: Moment of Silence for a Fallen Rugger

2008-03-13T09:57:00.002-04:00

This tragic situation has been talked about on the MARFU list serve and briefly mentioned on Goff but I feel like everyone should know and give it some consideration. Here is the note sent by EPRU President Steve Cohen.

Moment of Silence Being Observed Throughout MARFU

On Saturday March 1, 2008, Todd Miller of the Longwood University Rugby Club suffered a devastating head injury in a match against VMI (Virginia Military Institute). Despite doctors' efforts including surgery, Todd never regained consciousness. He was taken off life support the following Friday and finally succumbed to his injuries the morning on Sunday March 9. His mother Elie Miller was with him from the time he came off the field until he passed to God's hands.

The East Penn Rugby Union and the East Penn Rugby Referees Society requests that all clubs observe a moment of silence prior to kickoff in all games from today through Sunday March 16. We pray that all of you finish the game as you started it. This moment of silence is also being observed in the Virginia and Potomac RUs.

I have been informed that this injury occurred to the player who with 'ball in hand' went into a tackler with proper technique. There was no foul play involved.

Dealing with the List

2008-03-10T12:57:00.004-04:00

As rugby players we seem to pride ourselves on our inclusiveness. We often times take the cast away from other sports. The people are disenchanted. The people who weren't quite good enough. The people who hated their high school coach. Or the folks who were never given a shot in the first place.

It's somewhat ironic that the rugby world loves lists. We love to think we're so enclusive.

If you're an athlete you're probably used to lists.

I got my first real taste of lists in 8th grade. After playing in a league sponsored by our local little league affiliate I decided to try out for my eighth grade team. I loved the coach, I had him for my two favorite classes and homebase (home room to the rest of yall.) I had never tried out for a team before, never been expected to show skills on demand while not actually playing. But I felt like I was going to make it, after all why wouldn't I?

I remeber seeing the list posted, sometimes things actually happen like in sports movies. I was crushed, I defintely cried and defintely was felt like the world had come to an end. So I went to my teacher/coach and asked if he had a manager for the season and he told me no. But he gently told me that he thought being the manager of the team would just make me feel worse and pointed me to the track team.

I did run track, well I actually pretty much just shot put, but it was more what I did back on the diamond that mattered. Something about not making that list reinvigorated me, I kept on playing for my little league team, even though it meant playing against people who knew I hadn't made the school team. But that didn't matter anymore, I hadn't made the list, but I was still playing. I had a great season playing for my league team, hit a home run off a field that no one hit home runs off of, got invited to do all star and in general had a great time.

Whenever a list begins to circulate I try to remember my14 year old self and my ability to move past the slight of me not being selected to play. Lists are a part of your rugby life. Whether you play for a large team and are excited to play the position you desire on a developmental side or are trying out for a select team for the first time, that list will always be there.

For people chasing that 2010 dream last week was a tail of two lists. Many folks recieved a note saying they were part of the national team pool. Another set of people recieved an email saying that they had been invited to a skills camp in April. The national team pool was not given out as a list, which for people who did not get one of those emails, is especially vexing. At least when you have an actual list you can sit there and get pissed off and be like, "god I can't believe xyz person made it she's so slow, unfit, bitchy, or whatever your personal green eyed monster loves to use.

But facing lists and learning to move past them is a really useful skill. It's one you're almost forced to learn unless you want go through an emotional fire storm every single time you are waiting for that magical email. But how can anyone remain a great teammate if they are so tightly wrapped in list madness? The reality is you can't. I have seen players I coach not make lists and then make lists, or make lists and then not make lists; in either case my platitude is the same, train and play for the sake of training and playing.

Play for the sake of playing, not because some your senior side coach, EPRU selector, MARFU selector or some WNT selector is out there...how can you ever just play if you play in fear of those selectors and their damn lists?

Play the game, love the game, because you never know when it will be your last game. Then you never worry about lists.

Sorority Women, Rugby Players,Cheerleaders and Dykes

2008-03-07T21:30:00.000-05:00

Over the weekend I found myself working in the Student Center, filling in for shifts that will hopefully be in the hands of student workers soon.

I was looking forward towards Saturday's program with a mixture of curiosity and trepidation. Our friends in Student Activities were hosting a Greek leadership event that focused on shared values. I was excited because I honestly don't know much about what it means to be Greek beyond the stereotypes and my individual experiences with members of the Greek community. I was nervous because those stereotypes and my personal experiences as an undergrad had been so negative.

The opening speaker for this event was a passionate, articulate and an overall very cool sorority woman. Her speech was an interactive, metacognative session that challenged the Greek attendees to ask why they became Greek and what it means to be Greek. It was interesting because you saw the entire range of responses, some of them fulfilling the stereotypes of Greeks, ie partying and others identifying admirable traits: family, service, high personal standards and ritual. The speaker skillfully created a taxonomy where negative stereotypes, for that matter actions in many cases, were the domain of Sorority Girls, where as the true meaning of being Greek was the providence of Sorority Women.

Or at least that was one perspective which I had following the discussion.

The other was the burning hatred of someone who had listened to a total hypocrite speak.

I met the speaker, a the national president of a major sorority and student affairs veteran, while setting up the sound. It was a Saturday and I felt intimidated, so I wore my Philly hoody to work, it was both a badge of pride and a amulet of protection. Mostly it became a conversation starter; the speaker noticing my sweatshirt asked if I played. I told her yes, at which point she proceeded to repeat 2 out of 3 of the unholy, godless stereotypes that make it hard to be a rugby player, coach or administrator.

"Oh wow that's a really rough sport. You must sure like to party!"

It is hard to say how I felt at that moment...but in that second it was disappointment more than anything else. Yet once I heard this person's background and her presentation my blood began to boil. It wasn't that she had put down rugby players (deservedly or not), it wasn't that she knew better than to make the comments or that she was about to go on stage and address the issue of stereotyping and representation. No, I was most pissed because I realized my negative Karma was at work.

Recently my father ended a very long, very tumultuous relationship. It's been a while since I have had to deal with the new girl friend situation and for the first time since my parents got divorced many many moons ago I was confronted with a stressful situation: a girlfriend with kids my age. I am sure I sound 14 right now but lets not underestimate how stressful these situations can be. Especially when this new girlfriend has an admirable, if somewhat annoying, motherly streak. My track record interacting with folks of a similar age is really bad, especially those who live in that bubble gum to beer, upper middle class, ubber straight mind set.

Which brings me to cheerleaders, as in the two cheerleaders who might be my step siblings. As in the cheerleader who I had a 30 second interaction with and conjured all the worst stereotypes, despite knowing she got back from cheer nationals. Cheerleaders, like my friend Jordan who was one of the coolest people I met as a freshman at Temple. Cheerleaders like some of the players I coach: fierce, loyal, tough and amazing. Cheerleaders, some of which are assholes like me and the sorority president and judge people without even knowing them.

Maybe I deserved to be called a dyke by the little idiots at practice last night, it's just Karma.

Asking to play, demanding to play

2008-03-06T13:11:00.003-05:00

I have posted before that I am intrigued by images of female athletes. I was recently looking for all the commercials that Nike was playing during last year's Soccer World Cup and stumbled upon some golden oldies.

I remember seeing these commercials and thinking cool, actually it was more of a feeling. Looking back on it, while these commercials are positive they are also kind of pathetic. The begging to play, who are we begging? Men? I hope not because that's bull. Other women, other mothers, sisters or friends? Better I guess but still bullshit. We shouldn't need to beg. Hence why I loved the new Nike commercials.

The main commercial, very cool.

I love it, call me cornball...but it makes my heart race just a little bit.

Checkout all the commercials.

A seriously good blog/news reader

2008-02-27T11:51:00.002-05:00

Fellow PWRFC blogger, Emily, wrote a short note about the benefits of getting your blog fix from google reader. Emily points out the versatility of this particular web application: blogs, news, or really any site that updates its self with content fairly frequently.

Of course rss feed readers have been around for a while. I used to use a desktop based rss reader to get my blog fix. The main problem is that desktop rss readers are cumbersome when you use multiple computers. With multiple computers you can't keep track of what you have read or not read. Hence why an online rss reader makes so much more sense. Especially when it has all the functionality of the desktop version.

Plus when you download google gears you gain the ability to use google reader while off line too. Perfect for when you're away from an internet connection. The only downside is that a lot of rss feeds are online partial stories or headlines.

Scrimmage Pictures

2008-02-26T23:18:00.002-05:00

Thanks to Kara for shooting these photos...despite being on crutches.

I wanna be a California Girl...

2008-02-19T23:09:00.003-05:00

I must be a jinx. Whenever I head to the SoCal during the winter months I seem to bring the crappy weather with me. Maybe it would be more accurate to call it weather that is less beautiful than SoCal typically is known for. So for the third year in a row I went to Southern California and it was warmer in Philadelphia for at least one day.

I could care less.

I was lucky enough to be in San Diego of the USA "A" camp last weekend. It was four amazing days of rugby, team building and tons of fun with 30 old and new friends. The rugby was great; we had a very focused objective for the camp, improving our offensive decision making and skills in both the open field and contact. We had four high paced but very productive practices over three and half days, culminating in an evenly matched, full on, 80 minute game on Monday. We had ample time to meet and get to know each other. Including a trip to Old Town for dinner on Friday night and an afternoon of team building along the beach on Saturday. All and all I couldn't have worked three six day weeks for a better reason.

My roommates, Angie (ATB), Buanamo and Tanya, and I were all refuges from the Boston/Philadelphia/Minnesota winter. We had common points of view on two important things, food and when to get up in the morning. We were the early risers as a group, which meant very little moaning and groaning when someone woke up before the alarm went off, because we were all already off. Some how the extra sandwiches from lunch always ended up in our room. (Really though, if you want to find food always look for the big girls and the little girls.)

The rugby was great all weekend. I was one of the few people with little previous exposure to Barb, Martha and Sue. In no small part that's because there were a lot of people who were part of the old u23 program. I was really comfortable with their approach to coaching the material and their general manner. I think I would have been a tighter, especially during some of the handling and evasive running drills, if not for their somewhat low key tempo.

Nothing we covered was brand new to me but there were some novel approaches and drills that I really liked . I was mentally checked in as both a player and a coach. I really liked some of the basic drills for both the contact and open field progressions, I felt like they were effective, scaled well with the number of players and were easily managed. They were a great way to awaken our muscle memory after several months of no rugby. Over the course of four skills sessions we built from those basic exercises to intense drills that challenged your mental and physical rugby skills.

Cathy and Candy (here after referred to as C^2) showed up at the end of our first training session on Sunday. Everyone knew going into the weekend that C^2 would be coming to watch the scrimmage and our last training. It was a reversal from last year at Chula where Barb and Martha came late. More importantly it was clear that the camp was Barb and Martha's baby and not C^2's. During the the scrimmage I glanced at the touch judge during our first line out and lo and behold it was Cathy. Yes, clearly this was not C^2's show.

Probably one of the big differences between my experience last year at Chula and this year in San Diego was how I approached the evaluative element. Obviously these camps are about working together and developing skills. But these events are also about assessing skills, conditioning, whatever; and evaluating change over time for both the program and individual participants. Part of my muted enjoyment and on the field showing last year, was linked to a feeling of, " shit I really want to perform well enough to get invited back." In part of much larger rethinking of my rugby life I decided to ditch that philosophy entirely.

The arrival of C^2 didn't matter to me because I entered the weekend with the goals of having fun, enjoying my first opportunity to play rugby in months, meeting new players, learning as much as I could and soaking up up the beautiful SoCal weather.

Monday we scrimmaged, I was on the black team, aka "Black Attack" and we were playing the white team, aka "The Polar Bears" - grrr. The game was a pretty intense affair that saw the Polar Bears strike first but after the half time break Black Attack came out strong, established some strong possession and came out on top. In the end, the score doesn't really matter, what mattered was going on, playing together and using all the skills we had been working on this weekend. I think we accomplished that.

I had to hustle to the airport to make my flight.

Did I mention that I took a header in a mud puddle during the game? So when I rolled into the airport was getting all sorts of looks. I didn't realize quite how bad it was till I got through security and went into the bathroom to wash up a little bit. I was a hot mess, sadly there are no pictures of it.

Jeeez how do you go back to your normal routine after a weekend like that?

The Lighter Side of Camp

2008-02-17T00:02:00.003-05:00

Well camp is turning out to be totally rocking...but until i get to a full blog next week you can check out the lighter side of things.

Results from Youth Rugby Injury Study

2008-02-07T15:14:00.000-05:00

Found this via Goff, abstract below via journal article:

Injuries Sustained by High School Rugby Players in the United States, 2005-2006

Christy L. Collins, MA; Lyle J. Micheli, MD; Ellen E. Yard, MPH; R. Dawn Comstock, PhD

Arch Pediatr Adolesc Med. 2008;162(1):49-54.

ABSTRACT

Objectives To describe the incidence and characteristicsof injuries among US high school rugby players and to identifypossible injury risk factors.

Design Descriptive epidemiological study.

Setting The 2005 and 2006 US high school rugby seasons.

Participants A convenience sample of 121 boys' and girls'US high school rugby clubs.

Main Exposures Exposure to playing rugby.

Main Outcome Measures Incidence, characteristics, andrisk factors of rugby injuries.

Results Enrolled clubs reported 594 injuries during 113 641total high school rugby athletic exposures (81 627 practiceexposures and 32 014 match exposures). Rugby injury rateswere 5.2 injuries per 1000 total athletic exposures, 1.3 injuriesper 1000 practice exposures, and 15.2 injuries per 1000 matchexposures. The mean age of the injured athletes was 16.5 years(SD, 1.2 years; range, 13-19 years) and 87.0% were male. Themost commonly injured body sites were the head (21.7%), ankle(13.3%), and shoulder (12.8%). Fractures (16.0%), concussions(15.8%), and ligament sprains (incomplete tears) (15.7%) werethe most common diagnoses. Practice and competition injurieswere similar with respect to the proportion of concussions andhead, shoulder, ankle, and knee injuries. More than half ofall injuries resulted from being tackled (30.8%) and tackling(28.8%).

Conclusions As the popularity of youth rugby continuesto grow in the United States, increasing numbers of physiciansand certified athletic trainers will find themselves treatingrugby-related injuries and answering questions from parentsabout the comparative safety of rugby. To our knowledge, thisis the first large-scale study to describe injury rates andidentify possible injury risk factors among US high school rugbyplayers.

Tentative WNT Schedule for 2008 (plus other info)

2008-02-06T09:03:00.000-05:00

Last night I got around to reading the 4th quarter WNT report from USA Rugby, which while in the public domain, is not on their website.

WNT Tentative Schedule for 2008:

Feb 15-18th: USA "A" Camp at Chula Vista (confirmed)
April (most likely weekend of the 19th): Positional Camp in Philadelphia (sounds like a done deal already)
June 13th-15th: Senior NASCs in TBD (confirmed)
July: Can-Am series, USA or USA "A"
August: Nations Cup in the UK, three test matches, USA. Still very much a work in progress, if this falls through Can-Am will probably be a USA event (not "A")

Other interesting tidbits from the report:

USA Rugby is working on a long term plan that extends all the way to the 7's RWC in 2013 and 15s RWC in 2010.
Short term goal for the 2010 campaign is to make it back to the final.
USA Rugby sees the need to more logically layout the select side/WNT seasons. A competitive select side season is considered important and an official territorial season is in the works for 2009.
The recognition that WNT needs more fully capped games
The recognition that better funding so that players can receive some sort compensation is the only real way to guarantee player availability for the WNT. (Though honestly we can't find money to eliminate tour/assembly costs, so this particular point is just as pie in the sky as it is accurate)
Apparently players had a 1.5 mile walk from the dorm to the practice pitches/meeting rooms while in the UK. That sucks...not much else to it.

Maxing Out

2008-02-01T10:04:00.000-05:00

So the time has come to max out in the three main lifts that the powers that be (PTB)seem to care about. Just for "fun" the PTB also sent the players in the pool a list of fitness, speed, agility, strength and weight standards. I decided to check myself against as many of the standard as I could do in doors (ooops no 300 M shuttle, damn.)

Wow, well kind of depressing I suppose. I am pretty close to meeting the standard in a bunch of places, I am less than 10% away in the jumps, cleans and weight. Front squat is troublesome because I am having difficulty getting my shoulder/arm's range of motion to the point where I can hold the bar again. But honestly my legs are plenty strong...it's matter of getting better at the exercise it's self.

I am really happy with the pull ups despite not being anywhere close to the standard yet.