FINALLY – rugby is back in season!

Last Wednesday, my coworker asked me if I had any exciting plans for the evening. When I excitedly told him I had my first rugby practice of the season, he looked skeptical. Hadn’t I been playing rugby for a few weeks now?

Well, okay, the Saturday before I’d gone to Baltimore with American, my alma matter, to sub in during their game against Towson. I relived my first few seasons by playing wing, and had a great time rucking it up with my old teammates.

And sure, a few weekends before that I’d driven all the way to New Orleans for a tournament, and spend two weeks before that going to practice for the tournament.

But none of that’s the same as the season really officially starting. Practices reliably occurring twice a week! Games happening every Saturday! My inbox flooded with emails about meet times and practice details and selections and kit reminders! Playing “Dirt or Bruise” and, if I win, going to work looking like I lost a fight with a staircase!

Oh yes, there’s NOTHING like rugby season.

Spring is in the air

After four years of college, I started measuring time by the patterns of class – fall semester, winter break, spring semester, summer.

Now that I've graduated, however, things haven’t changed much. Thanks to rugby, my life follows nearly the same pattern: fall season, winter break (fitness), spring season, summer (sevens).

To be honest, there’s not a whole lot I like about winter. It’s cold, it’s dark, and – worst of all – there’s no rugby. Just going to the gym when it’s already dark, talking myself into layering sweats over underarmor to go running, and missing scrumming and tackling and contact.

But I can feel winter finally coming to an end. Not only did DC just have a week-long warm snap (it’s hard to hate global warming when you get seventy degree weather in February), but rugby is starting back up again!

Last week I started preseason practice with the Stingers to get ready to compete in the New Orleans Women’s Rugby Club’s Mardi Gras tournament. Though I’ve been working out and playing touch whenever I can, all the fitness and ball-handling in the world can’t compare to finally getting out on the pitch with some ruggers to do contact!

It would sound crazy to any non-rugger, but I LOVE my sore, rugby shoulders the day after a tackling and scrumming practice. I love it because I know it means I’m getting stronger and better, because it means I’ve been pushing people around with my body, and – best of all – because it means I’ll soon be out on a real pitch playing a real game.

Soon, rugby will start for real and it will finally be SPRING!!

Last night, I went to a pre-season practice with the Stingers to prepare for the Mardi Gras tournament in two weeks.

My ankle is inexplicably sore. There is sticky residue on the back of my hand from taping my wrist. Chewing my oatmeal hurts, because my jaw is sore from when I got a stiff arm to the chin.

Oh rugby! I missed you.

Excitement

On Monday I crashed GW's practice to keep my head and body in rugby-mode - I want to be sure I'm prepared for the U23 tournament this weekend. I had enough fun that I'm going again today.

I'm sitting here at work, trying to get a little more work done before I have to leave, but I'm finding it hard to concentrate. I keep bouncing my foot and looking at the clock - is it rugby time yet? Now? How about... now?

And I realize that this is why I'm so committed to rugby. I've been playing for a few years now and been to dozens and dozens of practices, but knowing that in half an hour I'll be out on a pitch (albeit rocky, slanted, and covered in DUCKS), my adrenaline starts flowing and I start getting excited. Because soon, I'll be doing what I love - RUGBY!

Now I'm a Stingers rook

RUGBY SEASON HAS STARTED! We had our first practice Thursday and I am MAD EXCITED to have my favorite thing back in my life. It's kind of interesting to be a rookie on a team where, between AU alums and Stinger 7s, I already know and have played with 90% of my 'new' teammates. Lacking in the excitement of meeting tons of new people, but of course a little less stressful.

At the first practice, there was also a legit rookie rookie, who's never played rugby before ever, but I think she's going to be a great player - she'd done soccer and football before, but she also got lifting in the lineout done perfectly by her second lift. Yay!

And life is good

Today, I had one of those days where, after leaving the house, I had literally 30 minutes to myself - 10 minutes for "lunch" (a quesadilla and a green tea protein shake - tasty, but slightly odd) and 20 minutes for dinner.

One of those days where, though nothing actually bad happened, you just get frustrated and feel this need to HIT something.

Well... lucky for me I'm a rugger!

Second real practice of the season; my first full practice (had to leave early for class on Thursday).

Oh man oh man oh man. Did it feel good.

Never mind the cold, the fact that I couldn't feel my hands or that I was shivering in underarmour and a nice thick jersey. Never mind the wind that made it hard to throw a ball or hear the coach.

It was RUGBY.

We ended practice with Real Rugby (a little scrimmage), and wow, it felt so good. Rucking and passing and even a little scrumming (I got to hook a little, and you know how I feel about being a hooker - whee!). Honestly, I feel so good about our team - even at the second practice of the season, we're looking good. Yes, our defensive line looks a little straggly; yes, there were a LOT of missed tackles; but we had a lot of good continuity, communication, support, etc. Definitely a good base to work off of.

And we'll get a good glimpse of HOW good a base this weekend - round robin with Catholic, Georgetown, and VCU (I don't think we're all playing everyone, but I'm not 100% sure on all the details).

Three tournaments to go for trophies in... this could be a VERY good season for my last one with the AUWRFC :D

Happy Valentine's Day!

Today was definitely one of the best Valentine's Days so far.

First off, I actually Had A Valentine. As in, I asked her with a home-made red-and-white paper card covered in glitter, and she said she'd be my Valentine. Yayyyyy :D

But second, I had my first real date with the real love of my life, the abusive lover that I've been in an emotionally and physically intense relationship for going on three years now.

That's right - RUGBY PRACTICE.

Practice was moved inside/made into a chalk talk Tuesday and Wednesday because of the weather, but today it was FINALLY nice enough to have it outside.

And it was SO FANTASTIC. It wasn't that cold, and the ground was nice and soft and muddy thanks to the rain, and I got to HIT PEOPLE OMG. Seriously, tackle grids feel soooo good.

Plus, to warm up for tackling we did this picking-people-up drill where you run at people as if you are going to tackle them, with good tackling form, but instead of tackling them you pick them up. And I'm usually not very good at the "picking people up" thing, but I got Adi off the ground EVERY TIME. Guess all those squats are paying off!

The Olympics and Thursday

First, the Olympics: I love them. I would never watch them on my own, but if someone else has them on, I'm glued to it. And of course Anna's had the pretty skating people on anytime she can, so of course I've been watching.

The Olympics always really get to me. I get all choked up and emotional, so even the commercials will bring tears to my eyes.

But honestly, isn't it awesome? How people from around the world come together, share in the victories and the defeat... how once someone's out there on the ice (or the slopes, or the field, or the court, or the track, etc.) it barely matters what nationality someone is, and you can't tell if they're from your country or anywhere else in the world just by watching them skate. Sport is an international language, probably even more so than music.

And when I'm done getting my global pride on, I start getting all patriotic: I love that the US competitors are so international themselves. Individuals of all histories and ethnicities and races are up there competing for the old red-white-and-blue; one of the pair skaters got his U.S. citizenship just in time for the games. Y'know?

So it never fails: watching the Olympics, I get all choked up and teary-eyed so easily, it's ridiculous and embarassing. But there you are. It's a beautiful thing.

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And then, Thursday.

Thursday is generally my hell day. I've got class, break (during which I usually cram in the rest of my art homework), art class, hurry to rugby practice, team TDR dinner, shower, a short break, and class.

Today, however, wasn't that bad. I enjoyed the art work I crammed in last minute, and in class the TA (who is AWESOME) taught instead of Professor Ass Crack (who was beautifully absent). Then Nips and I left early to get to RUGBY PRACTICE not horribly late, and practice was full of tackling drills - and the PUSHUP DRILL!!! (Which is sort of like a series of very short rugby scrimmages - it's about as close to a real game as you get in practice).

It makes me so unbelievably incredibly happy to be able to do contact again. After a whole season of just watching rugby, with only one week of experience playing (during which I was utterly, utterly befuddled as to what was going on), and now I get to be completely back in, a real player, rolling around in the dirt, running into/through people... it just makes me feel so amazing.

Someday I'll be a real rugger...

Right now I am listening to "Yoshimi Battles the Pink Robots: Part 1" by The Flaming Lips on Carmen and Neil's Radio show. It is an awesome song, even more so because it was dedicated to me!! It makes me feel very warm and fuzzy inside =^_^=

In other exciting news, today at rugby practice I got to pass the ball back and forth!!!!!

This was a VERY big moment for me. I didn't realize how much I'd missed it until I was back in there touching the ball and participating.

Then everyone else did a bunch of contact drills and it was back to being a gimp. But for one shining moment, I was a real player again!

Rugby is FUN!

Today I went to Bethesda and bought a mouthguard and cleats for rugby. Not too exciting, but I always enjoy going somewhere I've never been before and finding it by myself (I asked a very nice postal officer).

Then - RUGBY PRACTICE. Wow, rugby is SO MUCH FUN. I mean - doing a sport is always fun, and there's SO much emphasis on group work. We do running and drills "in line," meaning we literally have to stay in a line with the other players. Plus there's no way to break the ice like shoving your shoulder into her crotch, wrapping your arms around her thighs and dragging her to the ground as you pillow your head in her ass - all while wearing an ill-fitting mouthguard that prevents normal speech and makes you feel even stupider than you already do because you have no idea how to tackle. AND we all went to to the dining hall afterwards. And I have a rucking pad in my room. And bruises.

Lots of bruises.

Sports practice

Today, I woke up and went to rugby practice, and from thence to the rookie BBQ (they didn't BBQ us - they fed us). It was SO fun - all the girls playing seem awesome, and I've been christened "Pink" by Maddy, the captain (I even had to change my nametag). This is going to be great.

Then I returned to campus and hung out for a bit before going to soccer practice. When did I become this athletic, sporty girl!? Nonetheless, it was fun - we had a very relaxed practice, albeit in a unmown field with a high bug population.

And now, I'm fresh and so clean clean from the shower that I've wanted more than any shower in my life: first, obviously from rugby/soccer sweat and grass particles and bugs, but also because I haven't showered since I dyed my hair pink, and I still had dye EVERYWHERE and it was beginning to get to me.