Austin Adventures

Have you ever gotten really, really excited about something, and then for a brief moment were absolutely sure that some unexpected catastrophe was going to prevent it from happening, but then the catastrophe was averted and the awesome thing ended up being just as exciting as you expected and totally worth it?

Because that was my trip to Austin.

The unexpected catastrophe was my plane leaving late - very late - out of DC, and me (and six other hapless passengers) missing the connection to Austin, and US Airways telling me I was stranded in Charlotte, NC overnight and that they couldn’t get me to Austin until 4pm on Saturday afternoon, which would have made me COMPLETELY miss any rugby!

The “catastrophe averted” part occurred when US Airways reluctantly agreed that yes, maybe they could get me to some other part of Texas, like Houston, and my Fury ground troops in Austin (Rebecca, Jess, and Dilley) contacted the Houston team’s captain, Brandy, aka My Hero, who volunteered to pick me up at the Houston airport at midnight, let me sleep on her couch, and make sure I made it to the Austin Valkyrie’s pitch with the rest of the Houston team in time to play some rugby. Huge, HUGE thanks to everyone for making sure I eventually made it to Austin!!

The awesome part, of course, was everything else.

DC only managed to bring ten Furies down to Austin, but we were well supplemented with subs from local college teams and the Houston women. After watching the match between Houston and Austin B, the ten of us and our Furies-for-a-day warmed up and got ready to take the pitch.

I’ll admit, between our low numbers, hodgepodge of subs, and the Austin heat (85 and humid, as compared to 40 and raining at our last DC practice), I was a little worried we wouldn’t be able to deliver a challenging match to Austin. However, I’m happy to report that we definitely proved to be decent competition. Austin had us on our own try line several times, but we didn’t give up and pushed them back every time, leaving them to score their three tries on breakaways. DC answered with a penalty kick in the first half by Brenna and a try in the second, scored by Houston’s Brandy (not just Pink’s hero anymore!) and converted by Brenna. The final score was I believe, a highly symbolic 15-10 in Austin’s favor. I've been corrected - seems like the final score was 22-10. Ah, well, so much for symbolism!

After this match, the Houston and DC coaches decided that the second game would be replaced with a Houston/DC boat race. I am embarrassed to admit that DC was the hands-down loser in this matchup, but in the end, with beer and burgers and vegetables and cookies and other social-y goodness, everyone won.

The social also brought my first experience with a rugby kangaroo court, as the Valkyries placed offenders under “oaf” and brought charges of many heinous crimes against their players – and the ten of us! The Furies were charged and convicted of the truly heinous crime of bringing only ten players to a game of fifteens rugby; for our punishment, we performed an inspiring interpretive dance to the US National Anthem. However, in recognition of the fact that the real offenders were the other 45 rostered Furies who stayed home, we were also given the responsibility of enforcing – and recording! – the same punishment for the rest of our team.

Eventually, however, the social wound to a close, and we all headed back to our respective hosts’ homes to shower. For dinner, some of us then headed to a native Austin establishment called Freebird for burritos. Freebirds are kind of like Chipotles, except exponentially awesomer – the decorations were flying electric guitars, Lady Liberty on a motorcycle, and tin foil art.

For Round 2, we started with a gay cowboy bar called the Rusty Spur. This was definitely the highlight of my trip, especially when Pattie (my Valkyrie host) taught me how to two-step – the most Texas moment of my first trip to the Lone Star State! Later, Dilley and I attempted our own version of the two-step, which made up for in enthusiasm what it lacked in skill. I also met Heidi, who’d once played in Japan with some of my teammates from when I was in Kyoto – I love how interconnected the rugby world is!

Around 1:30am, some of us finally headed home, taking a pedi-cab back to the car. I got less than 4 hours of sleep before I had to wake up to get to the airport by 6 am, but luckily this time all my flights left on time and I made my connection.

Definitely a great Saturday, and worth all the trouble! Shout-outs to Brandy and the Houston team, for rescuing me and for helping us out with subs; and to Austin, for giving us a great game and being amazing hosts. It was my first time visiting Texas, and thanks to you all, I’m already looking forward to my next visit!

ETA: links to Wendy's video and Shalay's photos in the comments!