Ruggerfest is kind of like a rugby Christmas for me: tons of rugby teams coming together, just like families get together at holidays, and there's the same build-up and sense of anticipation. Although instead of presents - we get rugby games!!
This year is even more exciting than previous years, when I just participated in Ruggerfest as a guest. This year, I'm a host of the tournament as a player for the Furies. This means showing up early to help set up, being on my best and most helpful hostess-ing behaviour during, and staying late after to help take everything down. It's kind of like running the show instead of just sitting in the audience to watch.
Not that I won't get involved! Actually, with the Furies entering 3 sides, I'll probably play more rugby at Ruggerfest than ever before. Between playing 8 for Furies Gold, staying kit up and warm ready to sub in for Furies Competitive, and participating in Eamonn Hogan's clinic at the end of the tourney, there will only be 2 hours between 8 and 5 that I'll be able to sit down and eat my PB&J!
Add to all of that predicted highs near 90 all weekend and "isolated thunderstorms" on Saturday, and you'd better believe it's going to be a crazy fun exhausting weekend.
I doubt I'll be doing any blogging when I get home Saturday night, so if there's anyone who reads this blog who won't be at Ruggerfest themselves, I believe Jo is keeping Wendy updated on the day's scores.
Just 14 hours until the fun begins... I can't wait!
Showing posts with label tournaments. Show all posts
Showing posts with label tournaments. Show all posts
Friday, April 24, 2009
Wednesday, March 4, 2009
NOLA/Mardi Gras write-up: the FUN part
I am writing up my weekend trip to New Orleans in chunks, because it was too much experience for just one blog entry! Read about the road trip, a cemetery, and the rugby tournament too.
Crawfish and Mardi Gras
A few Stingers with our second place trophy
Post-tournament, fifteen members of the Stingers headed out to a crawfish boil. Q later reported in the Stinger's Weekly Buzz that the fifteen of us consumed:
25 lbs of crawfish
8 lbs of potatoes
15 ears of corn
1 dozen crabs
1 lb of shrimp
3 baskets of crackers
2 baskets of fries
and of course...
9 pitchers of beer
After that, it was time for showers and MARDI GRAS. We failed a little bit on Saturday night (although we did receive a truly beautiful second placetrophy boot – painted silver and decorated with beads – at the tournament social!), but we made up for it on Sunday.
We spent the afternoon and evening exploring Mardi Gras New Orleans, doing line outs in the crowd to get MORE BEADS (even though our necks and shoulders were already sore from the weight of the ones we had!) and singing “Saturday’s a Rugby Day” as we strolled down Canal Street. We also enjoyed our share of NOLA cuisine, including beignets drowning in powdered sugar, hand grenades complete with little green plastic grenades, and hurricanes in souvenir glasses eighteen inches high. (Yes, I am counting beverages as cuisine.) Finally, we ended up dancing the rest of our night away at a bar called the Rugby Fruit Jungle.
All in all, a weekend that lived up to expectations.
More photos on Facebook: one and two and three
Crawfish and Mardi Gras
A few Stingers with our second place trophy
Post-tournament, fifteen members of the Stingers headed out to a crawfish boil. Q later reported in the Stinger's Weekly Buzz that the fifteen of us consumed:
25 lbs of crawfish
8 lbs of potatoes
15 ears of corn
1 dozen crabs
1 lb of shrimp
3 baskets of crackers
2 baskets of fries
and of course...
9 pitchers of beer
After that, it was time for showers and MARDI GRAS. We failed a little bit on Saturday night (although we did receive a truly beautiful second place
We spent the afternoon and evening exploring Mardi Gras New Orleans, doing line outs in the crowd to get MORE BEADS (even though our necks and shoulders were already sore from the weight of the ones we had!) and singing “Saturday’s a Rugby Day” as we strolled down Canal Street. We also enjoyed our share of NOLA cuisine, including beignets drowning in powdered sugar, hand grenades complete with little green plastic grenades, and hurricanes in souvenir glasses eighteen inches high. (Yes, I am counting beverages as cuisine.) Finally, we ended up dancing the rest of our night away at a bar called the Rugby Fruit Jungle.
All in all, a weekend that lived up to expectations.
More photos on Facebook: one and two and three
Tuesday, March 3, 2009
NOLA/Mardi Gras write-up: the rugby part!
I am writing up my weekend trip to New Orleans in chunks, because it was too much experience for just one blog entry! Read about the road trip and a cemetery, too.
Rugby!
Stingers vs. Buffalo Girls, photo thanks to Dee
The Mardi Gras tournament is a pretty friendly affair, and our hosts, the Halfmoons, squooze all three of our games into one Saturday so we could spend Sunday better appreciating the finer points of New Orleans at Mardi Gras. Despite these allowances, Saturday was no lazy rugby day. As both the first rugby day of the year, and my last games with the Stingers (I'll be moving to play for the DC Furies this spring), it had a lot to live up to - and it did.
Our first game was against the Baton Rouge Barbarians. It was a close, tough fought match: the Stingers scored in the first half, but after that play ranged back and forth between try lines with no further score. After two 25-minute halves of hard play, the Stingers emerged victorious, 5-0.
Later in the afternoon, the Stingers took the pitch again, this time against our hosts the Halfmoons. Play in this game was looser and messier, with a lot of pick-and-go from the forward packs. However, the Stingers were able to capitalize on the chaos and play another shut out game, with a final score of 19-0. A highlight of the game for all was when Jen Dean, in her last games as an active rugger before retiring, not only scored a try but kicked a successful conversion!
Finally it was time for our last game, with no break. We were playing the mysterious Buffalo Girls - up until Saturday morning, I figured they were some D2 team from Kansas or something. But over a Continental breakfast at our hotel, a chat with one of the players from the Oklahoma college side enlightened me: "The Buffalo Girls? Watch out! That's the Old Girls - they're tricky!"
Tricky indeed! For when we took the pitch, we found that we recognized more than a few Buffalo Girls from Back in Black, who narrowly defeated the Stingers at Ruggerfest in the spring. Determined to turn the tables, the Stingers played a good game; but, true to predictions, the Buffalo Girls were full of tricks, as well as hard tackling and good footwork. It was a well-fought match on both sides, but in the end, the Buffalo Girls shut out the Stingers for tournament gold and we received the silver.
More photos on Facebook: one and two and three
Rugby!
Stingers vs. Buffalo Girls, photo thanks to Dee
The Mardi Gras tournament is a pretty friendly affair, and our hosts, the Halfmoons, squooze all three of our games into one Saturday so we could spend Sunday better appreciating the finer points of New Orleans at Mardi Gras. Despite these allowances, Saturday was no lazy rugby day. As both the first rugby day of the year, and my last games with the Stingers (I'll be moving to play for the DC Furies this spring), it had a lot to live up to - and it did.
Our first game was against the Baton Rouge Barbarians. It was a close, tough fought match: the Stingers scored in the first half, but after that play ranged back and forth between try lines with no further score. After two 25-minute halves of hard play, the Stingers emerged victorious, 5-0.
Later in the afternoon, the Stingers took the pitch again, this time against our hosts the Halfmoons. Play in this game was looser and messier, with a lot of pick-and-go from the forward packs. However, the Stingers were able to capitalize on the chaos and play another shut out game, with a final score of 19-0. A highlight of the game for all was when Jen Dean, in her last games as an active rugger before retiring, not only scored a try but kicked a successful conversion!
Finally it was time for our last game, with no break. We were playing the mysterious Buffalo Girls - up until Saturday morning, I figured they were some D2 team from Kansas or something. But over a Continental breakfast at our hotel, a chat with one of the players from the Oklahoma college side enlightened me: "The Buffalo Girls? Watch out! That's the Old Girls - they're tricky!"
Tricky indeed! For when we took the pitch, we found that we recognized more than a few Buffalo Girls from Back in Black, who narrowly defeated the Stingers at Ruggerfest in the spring. Determined to turn the tables, the Stingers played a good game; but, true to predictions, the Buffalo Girls were full of tricks, as well as hard tackling and good footwork. It was a well-fought match on both sides, but in the end, the Buffalo Girls shut out the Stingers for tournament gold and we received the silver.
More photos on Facebook: one and two and three
Monday, March 2, 2009
NOLA/Mardi Gras write-up: tourist time
I am writing up my weekend trip to New Orleans in chunks, because it was too much experience for just one blog entry! Read about the road trip, too.
New Orleans: The Educational Part
Our tour guided at the family tomb of Marie Laveau, Voodoo Queen
On Friday afternoon, because I have never been to New Orleans before and really wanted to get to know a little bit about the city, I went on a Cemetery and Voodoo tour with Kelley B, Kellie Cav, and Tiff. Our tour guide was a very energetic blond woman who gave us lots of fantastic background about New Orleans as we walked to St. Louis Cemetery - for example, did you know that New Orleans was Spanish for just as long as it was French? The thing is, it was French first, so when the Spaniards came in and changed the street names and insisted everyone spoke Spanish, everyone basically ignored them, and just changed the street names back to French when they left.
St. Louis cemetery was one of the several Catholic cemeteries in the city. It is full of those above-ground tombs that I'd always figured were popular in Louisiana because the ground is too marshy for underground burial. But, our tour guide explained, they were popular because they're a very efficient use of space: a family (or neighborhood association) would own a plot in the cemetery, and build a tomb on that plot that had a number of casket sized spaces - one, or two (like Marie Laveau's), or in the case of the neighborhood-owned or common tombs, more like fifteen or thirty. When you died, your body would be put into a coffin, which would go into that space in the tomb. Not so efficient so far, right? But here's the nifty part - after a minimum of a year and a day (this amount of time has something to do with Catholicism), when, say, your cousin dies and needs that space, they take out your coffin, take out your decomposed remains, shove them to the back of the tomb where they fall into a little cave in the bottom along with all the bones of your previously dead relatives. And hey presto! A new storage space for your dead cousin!
After wandering around the cemetery for an hour or two and learning lots more fun facts about New Orleans, burial grounds, and voodoo practices (those triple-X marks on the tombs of voodoo queens [and they are always queens, never kings] are a silly tourist thing. You shouldn't mess around with someone else's religion if you don't understand it, and anyways, all real voodoo practitioners are also staunchly Catholic. Our tour guide was also very opinionated), we went to visit a voodoo temple. There, we visited a room absolutely full of stuff - hangings on the wall and trinkets and statues stacked on the furniture and rolled up dollar bills and cigarettes stuffed everywhere. Then a woman (I guess... a voodoo priestess?) talked to us - or rather, at us - at great length about staying true to ourselves and not changing the outside because that will never change our insides. She seemed both insightful and a bit crazy - definitely an experience.
This was the end of our tour, and by then, having driven all night and then walked around a cemetery all afternoon, I was exhausted, so I met up with Dee and Q to head back to the hotel for a nice early bedtime of 5pm.
More photos on Facebook: one and two and three
New Orleans: The Educational Part
Our tour guided at the family tomb of Marie Laveau, Voodoo Queen
On Friday afternoon, because I have never been to New Orleans before and really wanted to get to know a little bit about the city, I went on a Cemetery and Voodoo tour with Kelley B, Kellie Cav, and Tiff. Our tour guide was a very energetic blond woman who gave us lots of fantastic background about New Orleans as we walked to St. Louis Cemetery - for example, did you know that New Orleans was Spanish for just as long as it was French? The thing is, it was French first, so when the Spaniards came in and changed the street names and insisted everyone spoke Spanish, everyone basically ignored them, and just changed the street names back to French when they left.
St. Louis cemetery was one of the several Catholic cemeteries in the city. It is full of those above-ground tombs that I'd always figured were popular in Louisiana because the ground is too marshy for underground burial. But, our tour guide explained, they were popular because they're a very efficient use of space: a family (or neighborhood association) would own a plot in the cemetery, and build a tomb on that plot that had a number of casket sized spaces - one, or two (like Marie Laveau's), or in the case of the neighborhood-owned or common tombs, more like fifteen or thirty. When you died, your body would be put into a coffin, which would go into that space in the tomb. Not so efficient so far, right? But here's the nifty part - after a minimum of a year and a day (this amount of time has something to do with Catholicism), when, say, your cousin dies and needs that space, they take out your coffin, take out your decomposed remains, shove them to the back of the tomb where they fall into a little cave in the bottom along with all the bones of your previously dead relatives. And hey presto! A new storage space for your dead cousin!
After wandering around the cemetery for an hour or two and learning lots more fun facts about New Orleans, burial grounds, and voodoo practices (those triple-X marks on the tombs of voodoo queens [and they are always queens, never kings] are a silly tourist thing. You shouldn't mess around with someone else's religion if you don't understand it, and anyways, all real voodoo practitioners are also staunchly Catholic. Our tour guide was also very opinionated), we went to visit a voodoo temple. There, we visited a room absolutely full of stuff - hangings on the wall and trinkets and statues stacked on the furniture and rolled up dollar bills and cigarettes stuffed everywhere. Then a woman (I guess... a voodoo priestess?) talked to us - or rather, at us - at great length about staying true to ourselves and not changing the outside because that will never change our insides. She seemed both insightful and a bit crazy - definitely an experience.
This was the end of our tour, and by then, having driven all night and then walked around a cemetery all afternoon, I was exhausted, so I met up with Dee and Q to head back to the hotel for a nice early bedtime of 5pm.
More photos on Facebook: one and two and three
NOLA/Mardi Gras write-up: the road trip
Oh, man. This trip, as might be expected, was absolutely EPIC AND AMAZING. So much so that, in order to be able to handle it, I had to break up it up into a few different sections - I'll post them one by one as I finish them!
Road trip
Q and Dee in their killah shades, somewhere in Alabama
1,200+ miles, 7 states, 18 hours of driving - and that's just one way. But Dee, Q, and I are all both dedicated to rugby andcheapskates adventurous, so we decided to drive from DC to New Orleans, Louisiana - overnight Thursday and Friday morning to get there, then all of Monday (day and night until it was almost day again!) to get home.
It wasn't as bad as I had expected - mostly because I sleep like a baby in moving cars. But there was also scenery, and rest stops (6 am McDonalds!), and late night discussions about all the important things in life (sex, love, and rugby), and the license plate game. Q and Dee laughed at me, but pretty soon they were just as excited as I was when they saw a state like California or Minnesota. By the time we'd gone to NOLA and back, we'd seen 31 states, plus DC, diplomat plates, and two Canadian provinces.
More photos on Facebook: one and two and three
Road trip
Q and Dee in their killah shades, somewhere in Alabama
1,200+ miles, 7 states, 18 hours of driving - and that's just one way. But Dee, Q, and I are all both dedicated to rugby and
It wasn't as bad as I had expected - mostly because I sleep like a baby in moving cars. But there was also scenery, and rest stops (6 am McDonalds!), and late night discussions about all the important things in life (sex, love, and rugby), and the license plate game. Q and Dee laughed at me, but pretty soon they were just as excited as I was when they saw a state like California or Minnesota. By the time we'd gone to NOLA and back, we'd seen 31 states, plus DC, diplomat plates, and two Canadian provinces.
More photos on Facebook: one and two and three
Wednesday, February 18, 2009
NOLA road trip: T minus one day!
This is the route I'll be driving overnight on Thursday to get to Mardi Gras tournament in New Orleans.
View Larger Map
I AM SO EXCITED!
View Larger Map
I AM SO EXCITED!
Thursday, September 11, 2008
Pumpkinfest 2008
This past weekend was my first time at Pumkinfest. After a long drive, made longer by getting lost before we found Pennypack Field (tucked cozily between a river and a jail-slash-mental-hospital), I was ready to kit up, get out on the pitch, and play. The weather was oppressive - Hurricane Tropical Storm Hanna was heavy in the air, and everyone was drenched in sweat just a few minutes into warm-ups.
However, that did not deter the Stingers. Our first match was at 9:00am versus Atlanta, and we were ready for what would be a long, tough game. Though we only played two 20-minute halves, it felt much longer to me as I locked in scrum after scrum after scrum, painfully aware both of how out of shape I am and that Maryland had no second row subs.
When the ball stayed in tight, the match was fairly even, and neither team could create enough of an advantage to score. However, Atlanta clearly had the upper hand on the outside, scoring two tries in each half by capitalizing on their speed and ball-handling skills and our slowness in spreading the defensive line to turn the corner on the wing. With no conversions, the final score stood 20-0 in Atlanta’s favor.
Shortly thereafter, it began raining, and park officials announced they were closing the park at 1:00, effectively canceling the rest of the games for the afternoon. We headed back to the hotel to check in, shower, and relax for a few hours.
The Maryland Stingers, dressed en theme as Charlie Brown and the Great Pumpkinfest, met up for team dinner at Lucy’s Hat Shop. Over french fries, quesadillas, chicken fingers, and adult beverages, a great time was had by all.
After finishing off our food and figuring out the tab, most of us headed over to Cavanaugh's Riverdeck for the official social. It was great to see all the teams’ costume themes. Personal favorites were Nova as secret agents, the Raleigh superheroes, and all of Frederick as Rosie the Riveters. Philly handed out glow bracelets freely, and the weather had cleared up enough to open up an outdoor dance floor overlooking the water and the night skyline; however, it had been a long day and it wasn’t long before your humble Pink headed back to the hotel for some much needed sleep.
Sunday dawned beautiful, clear, and breezy – perfect rugby weather. The Stingers kitted up to play New York at 9:40. We played another strong game, improving our defense to put pressure on NY, but despite an excellent performance on our part, the game still ended a lot to nothing in New York’s favor.
We wrapped up the tournament with a consolation match versus a motley side of Rochester and Frederick (some of whom were still sporting their Rosie lipstick from the social!). After prepping against two very tough teams, the Stingers came out strong to set the tone of the game. We kept up a strong defense and were able to put into play an aggressive offense with great support, resulting in several tries. I was overjoyed in the second half to be relieved at lock by my old teammate and American’s current captain, Nips, who capped off her Stinger’s cameo with a try. Final score was 26-7, Stinger’s favor.
Didn’t stay long enough to figure out what the final tournament results were, but I will be sure to post them when I can find them online!
However, that did not deter the Stingers. Our first match was at 9:00am versus Atlanta, and we were ready for what would be a long, tough game. Though we only played two 20-minute halves, it felt much longer to me as I locked in scrum after scrum after scrum, painfully aware both of how out of shape I am and that Maryland had no second row subs.
When the ball stayed in tight, the match was fairly even, and neither team could create enough of an advantage to score. However, Atlanta clearly had the upper hand on the outside, scoring two tries in each half by capitalizing on their speed and ball-handling skills and our slowness in spreading the defensive line to turn the corner on the wing. With no conversions, the final score stood 20-0 in Atlanta’s favor.
Shortly thereafter, it began raining, and park officials announced they were closing the park at 1:00, effectively canceling the rest of the games for the afternoon. We headed back to the hotel to check in, shower, and relax for a few hours.
The Maryland Stingers, dressed en theme as Charlie Brown and the Great Pumpkinfest, met up for team dinner at Lucy’s Hat Shop. Over french fries, quesadillas, chicken fingers, and adult beverages, a great time was had by all.
After finishing off our food and figuring out the tab, most of us headed over to Cavanaugh's Riverdeck for the official social. It was great to see all the teams’ costume themes. Personal favorites were Nova as secret agents, the Raleigh superheroes, and all of Frederick as Rosie the Riveters. Philly handed out glow bracelets freely, and the weather had cleared up enough to open up an outdoor dance floor overlooking the water and the night skyline; however, it had been a long day and it wasn’t long before your humble Pink headed back to the hotel for some much needed sleep.
Sunday dawned beautiful, clear, and breezy – perfect rugby weather. The Stingers kitted up to play New York at 9:40. We played another strong game, improving our defense to put pressure on NY, but despite an excellent performance on our part, the game still ended a lot to nothing in New York’s favor.
We wrapped up the tournament with a consolation match versus a motley side of Rochester and Frederick (some of whom were still sporting their Rosie lipstick from the social!). After prepping against two very tough teams, the Stingers came out strong to set the tone of the game. We kept up a strong defense and were able to put into play an aggressive offense with great support, resulting in several tries. I was overjoyed in the second half to be relieved at lock by my old teammate and American’s current captain, Nips, who capped off her Stinger’s cameo with a try. Final score was 26-7, Stinger’s favor.
Didn’t stay long enough to figure out what the final tournament results were, but I will be sure to post them when I can find them online!
Monday, July 14, 2008
Rugerrama 7s
This turned out to be the last week of sevens for the Stingers - indeed, a truly sad state of affairs - but Ruggerama was definitely a good ending note.
The tournament is hosted by the NoVa women at Rosecroft Raceway right outside DC, and it's the only all-women's tournament we've been to this summer. After seeing most of the same teams every weekend for the past month or so, playing a tournament that was both local and single-sex felt kind of cozy. There were only two pitches to play on, 11 teams in 2 divisions, and lots of camaraderie.
The Stingers entered in the social division, and in the morning we played the Furies' second side and Georgetown for two wins before losing to the Maryland Exiles' second side. After a short break (during which I was convinced to buy one of the awesome tournament T-shirts - I am so broke, but it was so cute - green with a pink fish!), everyone was seeded for the finals.
We were seeded third (I believe) to play the Exiles 2 again. We lost (again), and ended up playing Furies 2 (again) and won (again). It was overall a great day of sevens rugby - I felt like I was finally getting the hang of how to play this bastard step-child version of the fifteens game I know and love... just in time for the end of sevens season. Oh, well!
NoVa 4 ended up winning our division, and then everyone was treated to a U15 exhibition sevens game. I hadn't even realized that there were U15 girls' teams in the area, but apparently there are two! Both were from Virginia, and we were all pretty impressed with the girls' skills. They had a lot of smart runs and good tackles, and all the spectators were cheering hard for both sides. I hope most of those players stick it out through college and club-side teams - I'm sure ten years from now, some of them will be playing for the national Eagles team and representing the US at the world cup!
The day finished up with a game slightly closer to Eagle-level as NoVa 1 played the Furies to win their tournament (again). Everyone then gathered for a raffle and presentation of our winnings - pitchers for the teams that placed, and bottles of champagne for everyone who participated!
And thus ended my first sevens season. I have to say, I really enjoyed this new kind of rugby. It's much faster and more dynamic than fifteens, and the game gives me an opportunity to do the things I don't get to do as much when I play in the scrum, like passing the ball and making long runs. I think I definitely improved my ball-handling and sprinting skills, and I might be starting to figure out my footwork as well. I also ended up playing scrumhalf, which was a new position for me (though very different from a 15s scrumhalf) and quite fun. I do wish that our season could have run longer (or that fewer of the Stingers took the summer off!), but I'm already looking forward to next summer.
The tournament is hosted by the NoVa women at Rosecroft Raceway right outside DC, and it's the only all-women's tournament we've been to this summer. After seeing most of the same teams every weekend for the past month or so, playing a tournament that was both local and single-sex felt kind of cozy. There were only two pitches to play on, 11 teams in 2 divisions, and lots of camaraderie.
The Stingers entered in the social division, and in the morning we played the Furies' second side and Georgetown for two wins before losing to the Maryland Exiles' second side. After a short break (during which I was convinced to buy one of the awesome tournament T-shirts - I am so broke, but it was so cute - green with a pink fish!), everyone was seeded for the finals.
We were seeded third (I believe) to play the Exiles 2 again. We lost (again), and ended up playing Furies 2 (again) and won (again). It was overall a great day of sevens rugby - I felt like I was finally getting the hang of how to play this bastard step-child version of the fifteens game I know and love... just in time for the end of sevens season. Oh, well!
NoVa 4 ended up winning our division, and then everyone was treated to a U15 exhibition sevens game. I hadn't even realized that there were U15 girls' teams in the area, but apparently there are two! Both were from Virginia, and we were all pretty impressed with the girls' skills. They had a lot of smart runs and good tackles, and all the spectators were cheering hard for both sides. I hope most of those players stick it out through college and club-side teams - I'm sure ten years from now, some of them will be playing for the national Eagles team and representing the US at the world cup!
The day finished up with a game slightly closer to Eagle-level as NoVa 1 played the Furies to win their tournament (again). Everyone then gathered for a raffle and presentation of our winnings - pitchers for the teams that placed, and bottles of champagne for everyone who participated!
And thus ended my first sevens season. I have to say, I really enjoyed this new kind of rugby. It's much faster and more dynamic than fifteens, and the game gives me an opportunity to do the things I don't get to do as much when I play in the scrum, like passing the ball and making long runs. I think I definitely improved my ball-handling and sprinting skills, and I might be starting to figure out my footwork as well. I also ended up playing scrumhalf, which was a new position for me (though very different from a 15s scrumhalf) and quite fun. I do wish that our season could have run longer (or that fewer of the Stingers took the summer off!), but I'm already looking forward to next summer.
Thursday, July 10, 2008
Cape Fear
Rugby, the beach, fireworks, hot athletic women, meeting new people in hilarious and alcohol-tinged escapades... if Julie Andrews and I were hanging around in lacy nightgowns talking about my favorite things, the list might go a little something like this.
But as much as I love Julie Andrews, that's not what I'm thinking about to distract me from a big scary thunderstorm. That list's more like my schedule of events from this past July 4th weekend.
A seven-hour drive, thirteen ruggers in a six-person hotel room three blocks from a beach in North Carolina, the "oldest and largest sevens rugby tournament in the United States," and a stream of alcoholic beverages as steady as the crashing of the waves on the sand. That, in a nutshell, is Cape Fear Sevens.
The weekend started off at the ungodly hour of 5am on July 4th. But though I might have been reluctant to leave my warm, cozy (and, might I add, double-occupancy) bed at an hour when even the birds were barely beginning to consider that perhaps it might begin to be morning soon, I had to admit that the timing was right when we arrived at Wrightsville Beach by noon with plenty of time to pull on bikinis, slather on some sunscreen, grab a cooler full of beer and enjoy the sand and the sun like the proper American citizens we are.
I must take a second here to mention how much I love the beach. It's not often I get an opportunity to visit one, but when I do I can't help but gush over the beauty of a carpet of shells ground to a fine powder by the hypnotically mesmerizing repetition of beating buckets of salt water. And you'd better believe that we hit that beach every single day that we were down there, and that every time we were there I made it out into the ocean to play chicken with the cresting waves.
But one cannot live on beach alone (much as I'd like to try!), and after all, it was July the Fourth, the Day of Our Nation's Independence Celebration - and being as I haven't been in the country for the holiday for the past two summers, I couldn't wait for that seminal expression of what countless generations of patriotic American citizens have fought, bled, and died for: the freedom to ignite large, loud, colorful explosives in front of crowds of hot, sweaty people.
And oh, but friends, those fireworks were worth the wait. Though only Nuge and I were interested enough in our country's freedom to fight through the crowds to find a small square of sidewalk from which we could watch the show, instead of staying home and drinking by the hotel pool, we definitely felt that it was everyone else missing out on all the fun. It's been so long since I've gone to see a firework show, I forgot how fantastic they were - the explosions! the colors! the rockets that screech on the way up and the ones that sizzle on the way down! rainbow fireworks, red-white-and-blue fireworks, silver and gold and purple and green fireworks!
You can, I hope, forgive my mature, adult, twenty-two-year-old self for literally jumping up and down and clapping and laughing with glee.
The long traffic-jam home, followed by a joyful reunion of friends, beer, and splashy fun in the hotel pool rounded out my happy celebration of our Independence Day.
***
Saturday dawned on phone alarms and joking and the organizational acrobatics of thirteen girls with one bathroom. Eventually, however, everyone had successfully collected themselves and their kits and we headed off to the Cape Fear pitch, where the tournament coordinator (happily lurching about under a fisherman's hat and a boozey aura) directed us towards our first match. We kitted up, donned our warm-ups, and headed over.
Now, a quick word about our team uniforms: our usual jerseys are heavy, tough affairs, several sizes too large for just about anybody and as breathable as your average raincoat. Not ideal for a game which is essentially two seven-minute halves of sprinting in the Carolina heat. So on the way to the beach, a car full of teammates was dispatched to Target to pick up some nice, light, sleeveless tops - which they did, choosing a not-quite-eye-scarring shade of greenish-turquoise.
On the way to the register, however, they chanced to pass by the sale rack in the Outrageous department, and impulsively decided that we required warm-up jackets as well.
Short-sleeved, midriff-baring, zebra-lined, gold-accented, big-hooded warm-up jackets.
Which we all wore with the necessary accessories of sunglasses and acapella renditions of J Lo.
Representing the "Stingers From the Block" in the Women's Social division, we played "Whores R Us" (Savannah/Charleston) and won, then lost to the Raleigh Venom and the Hustlers. The team took a bit to gel - a lot of players who don't normally do sevens show up just for this tournament, so we hadn't exactly played together before - but we had some pretty nice plays, including a try by yours truly who managed to get the ball down in the try zone despite a rather speedy Hustler having caught up enough to get one hand in my waistband and the other on my collar.
Between our games, we guzzled water and Gatorade and wandered over to watch some of the excellent matches in the Women's Premier division. DC area represented with NOVA and the Furies, who were in turn matched against the Northeast territorial team, two USA developmental sides, and the Atlanta women. It is always a treat to be able to observe a field full of fit, talented, experienced athletes match their skills and speed against each other, and the games this weekend were no exception.
But let's be honest - Cape Fear is only somewhat about the rugby. The rest is about the socializing and the drinking. So we prepared for an evening of just that, lazing about on the beach, taking naps and showers and generally refueling. Our relaxed evening was only breifly interrupted by two of our teammates getting caught in the elevator and having to call 911 for a firetruck to come get them out.
It's perhaps one of my favorite scenes from the weekend: two of us hidden in the elevator, one (soberly and anxiously) standing on the street corner watching for the fire truck, the rest of us standing on the balcony, beers in hand, excitedly pointing out the flashing lights we'd just sighted a few blocks away.
After that, it was a typical long night of story-telling and making new friends to the tune of $2 beers, and the clock was reading well past midnight by the time we made it back to the room to crash three-to-a-bed to sleep. But come morning, we were up and at 'em again - after all, there were bagels to eat, teammates who came home at 7:30 am to tease, and most of all, rugby to be played.
Not that we seemed prepared for an intense day of athletic endeavor. The sunglasses were on, the zebra-striped hoods were up, and to call our warm-up half-hearted would be generous. By some coincidence of bracketing, we were playing Whores R Us for the second time, and they seemed determined to make up their loss of the day before: while we stood in a circle and lazily tossed around a ball, they ran opposed plays off of scrums and lineouts.
I've got to admit that in the first moments before stepping onto the pitch, I did not feel optimistic about our chances. But when the whistle blew, it was like a switch had been flipped, and we abruptly forgot that we were supposed to be tired and hungover and started doing what we do best: playing rugby. All our playing time together the day before finally paid off, and we started playing together like a team instead of seven individuals. We not only beat the Whores for a second time, but also kept them from scoring a single try of their own.
Walking back to our tent, warm-ups on and a teammate holding up speakers blaring "Move, Bitch, Get Out the Way," I did feel like a giant asshole, yes; but a try-scorin', ass-kickin', rugby playin' asshole.
Our momentum held up for the first half of our second game against Raleigh (which I did not play, since I was also feeling like a slightly concussed asshole who forgets that she ought not pull people down on top of her head in the tackle and whose vision has gone all spackled on one side), but by the second half it became obvious which was the better team. Raleigh's speedy wingers took advantage of our untidy, bunchy defensive line to run around the outside and score a bunch of tries.
After their win, Raleigh ended up in the final against the Hustlers (I swear there were six teams in our division, but we didn't ever see the other two). It was an exciting, close-fought match that displayed the skills of both teams, but the Hustlers clearly had a tighter, faster game, and swept in an excellent win before a crowd of cheering spectators.
Having finished with the rugby portion of our weekend, we said goodbye to those of us who had not been fortunate enough to get off work on Monday, tracked down some food and then went off to the beach again before we headed out to the NOVA house for more genial socializing.
The NOVA women, it turns out, had not been lazing about. They had gotten right into the business of partying, partially in celebration of someone's birthday but mostly just because that's what you do when you have a rugby house on the beach. We had dance parties and sing-a-longs and (as per the birthday girl's request) a drinking game to the Beep "http://coachingrugby.blogspot.com/2007/02/you-love-to-hate-it-beep-test.html">Test, which was simultaneously the most terrifying and most fantastic method of imbibing alochol that I have ever been fortunate enough to participate in.
Then, of course, it was out to the bar again. It's hard to pin down the best story of the evening - was it the over-enthusiastic 'cheers' that ended up with a smashed Corona bottle? The two girls who had hooked up the night before and studiously avoided each other all day collapsing on each other and then disappearing into the night for two hours? Our declaration that we would find a man for our single straight teammate, followed by her taking out a cute man with a British accent to the beach until 4 am? Or perhaps the local lesbian who showed up and practically went into shock to see the numbers of hot lesbians who had inexplicably shown up at her favorite beach bar, who of course twenty minutes later was my best friend? Or how she became the second hot girl of the evening to show up with (and make out with) someone else, but spend a good chunk of time flirting with me before insisting that we exchange phone numbers so we could maybe hang out again later?
And those are only the best stories.
Eventually, though, all good times must come to an end. Last call inevitably comes, beers must be finished, tabs closed, and beds (eventually) returned to.
Morning on Monday was a sluggish affair, as you may well imagine. But we managed to roll out of bed, rescue any remaining food in the room (all the alcohol was unsurprisingly already gone), and checkout of the hotel in time for a last few hours at the beach.
And then it was home again - home by way of Wawa and outlet shops, home slowly but surely. And by ten at night, I had returned, exhausted and salty with sand in places that sand really shouldn't be, but infinitely content.
But as much as I love Julie Andrews, that's not what I'm thinking about to distract me from a big scary thunderstorm. That list's more like my schedule of events from this past July 4th weekend.
A seven-hour drive, thirteen ruggers in a six-person hotel room three blocks from a beach in North Carolina, the "oldest and largest sevens rugby tournament in the United States," and a stream of alcoholic beverages as steady as the crashing of the waves on the sand. That, in a nutshell, is Cape Fear Sevens.
The weekend started off at the ungodly hour of 5am on July 4th. But though I might have been reluctant to leave my warm, cozy (and, might I add, double-occupancy) bed at an hour when even the birds were barely beginning to consider that perhaps it might begin to be morning soon, I had to admit that the timing was right when we arrived at Wrightsville Beach by noon with plenty of time to pull on bikinis, slather on some sunscreen, grab a cooler full of beer and enjoy the sand and the sun like the proper American citizens we are.
I must take a second here to mention how much I love the beach. It's not often I get an opportunity to visit one, but when I do I can't help but gush over the beauty of a carpet of shells ground to a fine powder by the hypnotically mesmerizing repetition of beating buckets of salt water. And you'd better believe that we hit that beach every single day that we were down there, and that every time we were there I made it out into the ocean to play chicken with the cresting waves.
But one cannot live on beach alone (much as I'd like to try!), and after all, it was July the Fourth, the Day of Our Nation's Independence Celebration - and being as I haven't been in the country for the holiday for the past two summers, I couldn't wait for that seminal expression of what countless generations of patriotic American citizens have fought, bled, and died for: the freedom to ignite large, loud, colorful explosives in front of crowds of hot, sweaty people.
And oh, but friends, those fireworks were worth the wait. Though only Nuge and I were interested enough in our country's freedom to fight through the crowds to find a small square of sidewalk from which we could watch the show, instead of staying home and drinking by the hotel pool, we definitely felt that it was everyone else missing out on all the fun. It's been so long since I've gone to see a firework show, I forgot how fantastic they were - the explosions! the colors! the rockets that screech on the way up and the ones that sizzle on the way down! rainbow fireworks, red-white-and-blue fireworks, silver and gold and purple and green fireworks!
You can, I hope, forgive my mature, adult, twenty-two-year-old self for literally jumping up and down and clapping and laughing with glee.
The long traffic-jam home, followed by a joyful reunion of friends, beer, and splashy fun in the hotel pool rounded out my happy celebration of our Independence Day.
***
Saturday dawned on phone alarms and joking and the organizational acrobatics of thirteen girls with one bathroom. Eventually, however, everyone had successfully collected themselves and their kits and we headed off to the Cape Fear pitch, where the tournament coordinator (happily lurching about under a fisherman's hat and a boozey aura) directed us towards our first match. We kitted up, donned our warm-ups, and headed over.
Now, a quick word about our team uniforms: our usual jerseys are heavy, tough affairs, several sizes too large for just about anybody and as breathable as your average raincoat. Not ideal for a game which is essentially two seven-minute halves of sprinting in the Carolina heat. So on the way to the beach, a car full of teammates was dispatched to Target to pick up some nice, light, sleeveless tops - which they did, choosing a not-quite-eye-scarring shade of greenish-turquoise.
On the way to the register, however, they chanced to pass by the sale rack in the Outrageous department, and impulsively decided that we required warm-up jackets as well.
Short-sleeved, midriff-baring, zebra-lined, gold-accented, big-hooded warm-up jackets.
Which we all wore with the necessary accessories of sunglasses and acapella renditions of J Lo.
Representing the "Stingers From the Block" in the Women's Social division, we played "Whores R Us" (Savannah/Charleston) and won, then lost to the Raleigh Venom and the Hustlers. The team took a bit to gel - a lot of players who don't normally do sevens show up just for this tournament, so we hadn't exactly played together before - but we had some pretty nice plays, including a try by yours truly who managed to get the ball down in the try zone despite a rather speedy Hustler having caught up enough to get one hand in my waistband and the other on my collar.
Between our games, we guzzled water and Gatorade and wandered over to watch some of the excellent matches in the Women's Premier division. DC area represented with NOVA and the Furies, who were in turn matched against the Northeast territorial team, two USA developmental sides, and the Atlanta women. It is always a treat to be able to observe a field full of fit, talented, experienced athletes match their skills and speed against each other, and the games this weekend were no exception.
But let's be honest - Cape Fear is only somewhat about the rugby. The rest is about the socializing and the drinking. So we prepared for an evening of just that, lazing about on the beach, taking naps and showers and generally refueling. Our relaxed evening was only breifly interrupted by two of our teammates getting caught in the elevator and having to call 911 for a firetruck to come get them out.
It's perhaps one of my favorite scenes from the weekend: two of us hidden in the elevator, one (soberly and anxiously) standing on the street corner watching for the fire truck, the rest of us standing on the balcony, beers in hand, excitedly pointing out the flashing lights we'd just sighted a few blocks away.
After that, it was a typical long night of story-telling and making new friends to the tune of $2 beers, and the clock was reading well past midnight by the time we made it back to the room to crash three-to-a-bed to sleep. But come morning, we were up and at 'em again - after all, there were bagels to eat, teammates who came home at 7:30 am to tease, and most of all, rugby to be played.
Not that we seemed prepared for an intense day of athletic endeavor. The sunglasses were on, the zebra-striped hoods were up, and to call our warm-up half-hearted would be generous. By some coincidence of bracketing, we were playing Whores R Us for the second time, and they seemed determined to make up their loss of the day before: while we stood in a circle and lazily tossed around a ball, they ran opposed plays off of scrums and lineouts.
I've got to admit that in the first moments before stepping onto the pitch, I did not feel optimistic about our chances. But when the whistle blew, it was like a switch had been flipped, and we abruptly forgot that we were supposed to be tired and hungover and started doing what we do best: playing rugby. All our playing time together the day before finally paid off, and we started playing together like a team instead of seven individuals. We not only beat the Whores for a second time, but also kept them from scoring a single try of their own.
Walking back to our tent, warm-ups on and a teammate holding up speakers blaring "Move, Bitch, Get Out the Way," I did feel like a giant asshole, yes; but a try-scorin', ass-kickin', rugby playin' asshole.
Our momentum held up for the first half of our second game against Raleigh (which I did not play, since I was also feeling like a slightly concussed asshole who forgets that she ought not pull people down on top of her head in the tackle and whose vision has gone all spackled on one side), but by the second half it became obvious which was the better team. Raleigh's speedy wingers took advantage of our untidy, bunchy defensive line to run around the outside and score a bunch of tries.
After their win, Raleigh ended up in the final against the Hustlers (I swear there were six teams in our division, but we didn't ever see the other two). It was an exciting, close-fought match that displayed the skills of both teams, but the Hustlers clearly had a tighter, faster game, and swept in an excellent win before a crowd of cheering spectators.
Having finished with the rugby portion of our weekend, we said goodbye to those of us who had not been fortunate enough to get off work on Monday, tracked down some food and then went off to the beach again before we headed out to the NOVA house for more genial socializing.
The NOVA women, it turns out, had not been lazing about. They had gotten right into the business of partying, partially in celebration of someone's birthday but mostly just because that's what you do when you have a rugby house on the beach. We had dance parties and sing-a-longs and (as per the birthday girl's request) a drinking game to the Beep "http://coachingrugby.blogspot.com/2007/02/you-love-to-hate-it-beep-test.html">Test, which was simultaneously the most terrifying and most fantastic method of imbibing alochol that I have ever been fortunate enough to participate in.
Then, of course, it was out to the bar again. It's hard to pin down the best story of the evening - was it the over-enthusiastic 'cheers' that ended up with a smashed Corona bottle? The two girls who had hooked up the night before and studiously avoided each other all day collapsing on each other and then disappearing into the night for two hours? Our declaration that we would find a man for our single straight teammate, followed by her taking out a cute man with a British accent to the beach until 4 am? Or perhaps the local lesbian who showed up and practically went into shock to see the numbers of hot lesbians who had inexplicably shown up at her favorite beach bar, who of course twenty minutes later was my best friend? Or how she became the second hot girl of the evening to show up with (and make out with) someone else, but spend a good chunk of time flirting with me before insisting that we exchange phone numbers so we could maybe hang out again later?
And those are only the best stories.
Eventually, though, all good times must come to an end. Last call inevitably comes, beers must be finished, tabs closed, and beds (eventually) returned to.
Morning on Monday was a sluggish affair, as you may well imagine. But we managed to roll out of bed, rescue any remaining food in the room (all the alcohol was unsurprisingly already gone), and checkout of the hotel in time for a last few hours at the beach.
And then it was home again - home by way of Wawa and outlet shops, home slowly but surely. And by ten at night, I had returned, exhausted and salty with sand in places that sand really shouldn't be, but infinitely content.
Monday, April 7, 2008
AUWRFC and Pink: together for the last time
This weekend I played for AUWRFC for the last time. We entered into Ruggerfest, an all-female tournament hosted by the DC Furies.
Saturday, we played and beat Towson, then played (well) and lost to Nova's C side. The combination of the win/loss record and our point differential put us in a semifinal game vs. Lancaster. We lost, but it didn't feel like it - we played hard and well and scored two tries.
Now, one of those was a very special try - I scored it!!!! My third and final try for AU, in my last game playing for them.... and it was caught on video!!!!!!
What a way to end my AUWRFC career. Man.
However... the day wasn't over yet. Lancaster ended up needing subs for the final match, and I and one of my teammates volunteered. (My logic was that we'd played so well in the semifinal, AU deserved representation in the final!).
The ref we had was... abominable. Now, there are some pretty horrible refs out there... but this guy was the WORST I've ever had.
I bring this up to justify how I actually ended my season... not with an awesome game with AU in which I scored a fantastic try.
Nope.
Ended it with a sin bin. A yellow card. Kicked out of the game to spend ten minutes in the try zone while my team played one down.
In my defense, both Lancaster AND Nova (the other team) thought it was a BS call (which was also what we thought about... well, all of the ref's calls). My coach (now ex-coach, I guess?) also thought it was the most hilarious thing she'd heard all day and got really excited to tease me about it (she proposed that they change my nickname to "Sin Bin").
So that was it - a try, a yellow card, tons of bruising (including a few on my neck that look like hickies), a golfball sized lump on my shin, and lots and lots of mud.
And thus ends my AUWRFC career...
Saturday, we played and beat Towson, then played (well) and lost to Nova's C side. The combination of the win/loss record and our point differential put us in a semifinal game vs. Lancaster. We lost, but it didn't feel like it - we played hard and well and scored two tries.
Now, one of those was a very special try - I scored it!!!! My third and final try for AU, in my last game playing for them.... and it was caught on video!!!!!!
What a way to end my AUWRFC career. Man.
However... the day wasn't over yet. Lancaster ended up needing subs for the final match, and I and one of my teammates volunteered. (My logic was that we'd played so well in the semifinal, AU deserved representation in the final!).
The ref we had was... abominable. Now, there are some pretty horrible refs out there... but this guy was the WORST I've ever had.
I bring this up to justify how I actually ended my season... not with an awesome game with AU in which I scored a fantastic try.
Nope.
Ended it with a sin bin. A yellow card. Kicked out of the game to spend ten minutes in the try zone while my team played one down.
In my defense, both Lancaster AND Nova (the other team) thought it was a BS call (which was also what we thought about... well, all of the ref's calls). My coach (now ex-coach, I guess?) also thought it was the most hilarious thing she'd heard all day and got really excited to tease me about it (she proposed that they change my nickname to "Sin Bin").
So that was it - a try, a yellow card, tons of bruising (including a few on my neck that look like hickies), a golfball sized lump on my shin, and lots and lots of mud.
And thus ends my AUWRFC career...
Cherry Blossom Tournament 2008
For some odd reason, I'm feeling pretty good about life. That's odd because nothing has been particularly good in the past week or two, but I've just been generally more cheerful.
Maybe it's the spring - things blooming, getting warmer? Maybe it's the planets aligning? Who knows.
One of the effects of this renewed happiness has been me falling back in love with rugby. Now, don't get me wrong, I never really fell out of love... but sometimes, when I'm busy and tired and it's cold/rainy, I get a little cranky that I still need to go to rugby where I will inevitably get hit and be sore and be even MORE tired and I need that time to do work! Not to mention all the business I have to take care of as treasurer.
But over the past week or so, I remembered how much I care. Not for any particular reason, but instead of "oh MAN, something else to do!" I've been working hard in the gym and trying to find time to watch the World Cup games I still have on my DVR and generally having "rugby player" moved up on my list of priorities.
This weekend we went to the Cherry Blossom Tournament, a big annual tournament that used to be on the mall (under the cherry blossoms), but isn't anymore because... well, spring = rain + ruggers = really messy ground = not nice for tourists. So now it's held at a racetrack.
Saturday was supposed to be awful weather, but ended up beautiful - mid-fifties, cloudy but with patches of sun. We started off the day playing West Virginia on a muddy pitch with quite a few lakes and patches of ankle-deep mud. I was flanking strong-side (MY FAVORITE, especially when the opposition's flyhalf is a cute as the WV's was - I do enjoy tackling an attractive rugger girl!). AU played really, really well - especially considering the ref was about as bad as you can get: we scored a try that he wouldn't call because "he couldn't see it".
However, we just went back and scored another try about 30 seconds later. So that worked out okay. I was very proud of us, because usually we get really upset at bad refs (or other teams playing dirty, i.e. the UMD game in the fall) and we get caught up in our heads and don't play as a team, but Saturday we realized that "you can't do anything about the ref" and kicked ass despite having an AWFUL ref. Final score: 12-7, AUWRFC.
In the afternoon, we played Xavier University, which is apparently located in Cincinnati? By then the sun was out and the ground was much dryer (we were on a different pitch, too, which had fewer puddles to start with). This game I locked, and oh man... I have NEVER wanted to be flanking instead so badly! AU had a little more trouble with this game, even though when we'd watched Xavier play WV earlier we'd thought they'd be easy (big girls, but slow, didn't run low, and didn't come up hard). AU was not nearly as aggressive as we needed to be (thus me DYING to be flanking), but we did well enough to keep them back and score one try of our own. FInal score: 5-0, AUWRFC.
This put us in the top bracket for Sunday - which dawned as cold and miserable as Saturday had been supposed to be. We played Army at 9:30 am on a pitch that was part mud, part lake.
It's been a long time since I played a game that messy, but AU played REALLY well. Despite the mess and the cold and the wet and the mud (I probably weighed about ten pounds extra, between the mud and the water soaking me all the way to my underwear), we never stopped and never slowed down and kept coming up hard and aggressive. I was strong-side flanking again, though I ended up eighting for a bit at the end. We lost, not too surprisingly, but we definitely kept them from scoring as much as they could've AND scored a try against them! Final score: something - 5, Army.
I haven't done a lot of game writeups this season, but generally I'm beginning to feel really good about my playing. Between being sick and busy, I'm still not as strong or fast as I'd like to be, but technically I think I've really improved. I've started making different decisions in rucks (like long-body rucking or sealing over my teammates) and reacting to how both AU and the other team are arranged across the field. I've also gotten a lot better at scrumming - I've figured out flanking much better, and over just the past week or so I've really figured out a good locking body position.
I do still need to work on my form in tackles (I am aggressive and effective, but with better form I'd use less energy and hurt myself less), and I'd like to be a bit better at lineouts. Flanking, I'm not always off the scrum fast enough, and overall I do still have some work to do on field awareness and strategy - for example when to use a short vs. long lineouts, etc.
But there will always be room for improvement. Overall, I'm definitely feeling good!
More or less related: on Saturday, I experimented with wearing my new molded cleats (the ones with spike cleats) instead of metal. And, oh man, RIGHT CHOICE. Maybe not if I'd been locking, but my feet felt SO much lighter without those nasty heavy metal spikes weighing me down. If I ever feel the need to get metal again, I've gotta look smaller and lighter, but I think I'm sticking to molded for now.
Maybe it's the spring - things blooming, getting warmer? Maybe it's the planets aligning? Who knows.
One of the effects of this renewed happiness has been me falling back in love with rugby. Now, don't get me wrong, I never really fell out of love... but sometimes, when I'm busy and tired and it's cold/rainy, I get a little cranky that I still need to go to rugby where I will inevitably get hit and be sore and be even MORE tired and I need that time to do work! Not to mention all the business I have to take care of as treasurer.
But over the past week or so, I remembered how much I care. Not for any particular reason, but instead of "oh MAN, something else to do!" I've been working hard in the gym and trying to find time to watch the World Cup games I still have on my DVR and generally having "rugby player" moved up on my list of priorities.
This weekend we went to the Cherry Blossom Tournament, a big annual tournament that used to be on the mall (under the cherry blossoms), but isn't anymore because... well, spring = rain + ruggers = really messy ground = not nice for tourists. So now it's held at a racetrack.
Saturday was supposed to be awful weather, but ended up beautiful - mid-fifties, cloudy but with patches of sun. We started off the day playing West Virginia on a muddy pitch with quite a few lakes and patches of ankle-deep mud. I was flanking strong-side (MY FAVORITE, especially when the opposition's flyhalf is a cute as the WV's was - I do enjoy tackling an attractive rugger girl!). AU played really, really well - especially considering the ref was about as bad as you can get: we scored a try that he wouldn't call because "he couldn't see it".
However, we just went back and scored another try about 30 seconds later. So that worked out okay. I was very proud of us, because usually we get really upset at bad refs (or other teams playing dirty, i.e. the UMD game in the fall) and we get caught up in our heads and don't play as a team, but Saturday we realized that "you can't do anything about the ref" and kicked ass despite having an AWFUL ref. Final score: 12-7, AUWRFC.
In the afternoon, we played Xavier University, which is apparently located in Cincinnati? By then the sun was out and the ground was much dryer (we were on a different pitch, too, which had fewer puddles to start with). This game I locked, and oh man... I have NEVER wanted to be flanking instead so badly! AU had a little more trouble with this game, even though when we'd watched Xavier play WV earlier we'd thought they'd be easy (big girls, but slow, didn't run low, and didn't come up hard). AU was not nearly as aggressive as we needed to be (thus me DYING to be flanking), but we did well enough to keep them back and score one try of our own. FInal score: 5-0, AUWRFC.
This put us in the top bracket for Sunday - which dawned as cold and miserable as Saturday had been supposed to be. We played Army at 9:30 am on a pitch that was part mud, part lake.
It's been a long time since I played a game that messy, but AU played REALLY well. Despite the mess and the cold and the wet and the mud (I probably weighed about ten pounds extra, between the mud and the water soaking me all the way to my underwear), we never stopped and never slowed down and kept coming up hard and aggressive. I was strong-side flanking again, though I ended up eighting for a bit at the end. We lost, not too surprisingly, but we definitely kept them from scoring as much as they could've AND scored a try against them! Final score: something - 5, Army.
I haven't done a lot of game writeups this season, but generally I'm beginning to feel really good about my playing. Between being sick and busy, I'm still not as strong or fast as I'd like to be, but technically I think I've really improved. I've started making different decisions in rucks (like long-body rucking or sealing over my teammates) and reacting to how both AU and the other team are arranged across the field. I've also gotten a lot better at scrumming - I've figured out flanking much better, and over just the past week or so I've really figured out a good locking body position.
I do still need to work on my form in tackles (I am aggressive and effective, but with better form I'd use less energy and hurt myself less), and I'd like to be a bit better at lineouts. Flanking, I'm not always off the scrum fast enough, and overall I do still have some work to do on field awareness and strategy - for example when to use a short vs. long lineouts, etc.
But there will always be room for improvement. Overall, I'm definitely feeling good!
More or less related: on Saturday, I experimented with wearing my new molded cleats (the ones with spike cleats) instead of metal. And, oh man, RIGHT CHOICE. Maybe not if I'd been locking, but my feet felt SO much lighter without those nasty heavy metal spikes weighing me down. If I ever feel the need to get metal again, I've gotta look smaller and lighter, but I think I'm sticking to molded for now.
Sunday, March 2, 2008
VWIT
I have returned from Charlottesville, where I have been all weekend playing rugby for VWIT (the Virginia Women's Invitational Tournament).
I have returned with the knowledge of how it feels to have the U.S. Military beat up on you for two hours: we were seeded with Women's Army Rugby (WAR) and Women's Navy Rugby (WNR). We played two thirty-minute halves against each, and lost by... considerable amounts.
I have returned without skin on my knees and portions of my face: we played on not particularly kind turf, and the turf burn was horrendous. I also am very stiff and sore and will probably have trouble walking for the next few days.
I have returned with purple hair.
But I have also returned... with VICTORY.
Our consolation match was on Sunday, with the University of Maryland (UMD). AU and UMD have some beef - they recently moved up to D1, and beat us in the fall (in a game that no one at AU wants to talk about or generally remember), so they are going to playoffs and we are not.
But today, we played them for two thirty-minute halves and ten minutes of overtime. No tries scored in the first half. We then scored our first try fairly early on the in the second; later, they caught up with us by scoring their first try [illegally, but let's not dwell on that]. Then in overtime, we put our try in and held them far away from our try zone the whole time.
It felt AMAZING - not just winning, not just being matched up against a team that we could REALLY compete with, but playing such a good, tight game. UMD made some mistakes, definitely, but they played really well; we just played better.
We played really and truly fifteen-as-one, everyone on the field paying attention to where their teammates were and where the other team was. We supported each other, reset fast and came up aggressively on defense, made smart decisions on offense, and (a big deal for my team, which usually loses their heads in these circumstances) kept out of our heads and on the pitch in the face of some questionable tactics used by the other team and some interesting calls by the ref.
It was what we'd been working for all weekend - we'd started off slow in the first half with Army, but picked it up, and played pretty decently against Navy, but we still weren't at our best; it's hard to keep your head and your aggression up when the other team is running tries into the tryzone every few minutes. But today, it just all came together and looked beautiful.
As for me personally, I had a pretty fantastic weekend (as a first, I played the same position all weekend: strong-side flanker). I didn't do as well as I could've in the first half against Army, but after the game was over, Deanna came up to me with a very serious expression on her face and said, "Pink. Do you know what you did? Pink," and just as I was getting worried that I'd done something very wrong, she finishes with, "You did exactly what a strong-side flanker is supposed to do. You made their flyhalf look for you every play because she was so nervous you'd hit her! You came up hard and aggressive on defense and wanted the ball every time."
And I don't think I've gotten a better compliment in my life.
And that's how I played all weekend.
And it was SO GOOD.
[PS - photos of the hair and the facial turf burn and the skinless knees whenever I get off my ass and upload them!]
I have returned with the knowledge of how it feels to have the U.S. Military beat up on you for two hours: we were seeded with Women's Army Rugby (WAR) and Women's Navy Rugby (WNR). We played two thirty-minute halves against each, and lost by... considerable amounts.
I have returned without skin on my knees and portions of my face: we played on not particularly kind turf, and the turf burn was horrendous. I also am very stiff and sore and will probably have trouble walking for the next few days.
I have returned with purple hair.
But I have also returned... with VICTORY.
Our consolation match was on Sunday, with the University of Maryland (UMD). AU and UMD have some beef - they recently moved up to D1, and beat us in the fall (in a game that no one at AU wants to talk about or generally remember), so they are going to playoffs and we are not.
But today, we played them for two thirty-minute halves and ten minutes of overtime. No tries scored in the first half. We then scored our first try fairly early on the in the second; later, they caught up with us by scoring their first try [illegally, but let's not dwell on that]. Then in overtime, we put our try in and held them far away from our try zone the whole time.
It felt AMAZING - not just winning, not just being matched up against a team that we could REALLY compete with, but playing such a good, tight game. UMD made some mistakes, definitely, but they played really well; we just played better.
We played really and truly fifteen-as-one, everyone on the field paying attention to where their teammates were and where the other team was. We supported each other, reset fast and came up aggressively on defense, made smart decisions on offense, and (a big deal for my team, which usually loses their heads in these circumstances) kept out of our heads and on the pitch in the face of some questionable tactics used by the other team and some interesting calls by the ref.
It was what we'd been working for all weekend - we'd started off slow in the first half with Army, but picked it up, and played pretty decently against Navy, but we still weren't at our best; it's hard to keep your head and your aggression up when the other team is running tries into the tryzone every few minutes. But today, it just all came together and looked beautiful.
As for me personally, I had a pretty fantastic weekend (as a first, I played the same position all weekend: strong-side flanker). I didn't do as well as I could've in the first half against Army, but after the game was over, Deanna came up to me with a very serious expression on her face and said, "Pink. Do you know what you did? Pink," and just as I was getting worried that I'd done something very wrong, she finishes with, "You did exactly what a strong-side flanker is supposed to do. You made their flyhalf look for you every play because she was so nervous you'd hit her! You came up hard and aggressive on defense and wanted the ball every time."
And I don't think I've gotten a better compliment in my life.
And that's how I played all weekend.
And it was SO GOOD.
[PS - photos of the hair and the facial turf burn and the skinless knees whenever I get off my ass and upload them!]
Sunday, April 30, 2006
Ruggerfest part 2
So today was day 2 of Ruggerfest (the all-women's rugby tournament this weekend) and it was just as fun as yesterday!! Well, actually slightly less fun, because we only played one game and we lost that, but it was a well-played game and I got to play wing in my favorite back triangle (me and Scrappy on wings, and Petrides at fullback). As I said we lost the game, but we still played quite well, and ended our season on a good note.
After the game was over, I decided to stay rather than come back to campus with most of the team - the Maryland Stingers had invited any of us who could to stay and maybe play with them. I didn't end up getting to play (they needed forwards more than backs, so Keen played while Scrappy and I watched), but it was still really great to warm up with the Stingers, wear a sub jersey, and watch the game. The Stingers are a women's club team that has a really good relationship with AU - that is, half their team is AU alum - so I'm getting to know and recognize some of their players.
Following the Stingers' game, the three of us who'd stayed hung out with Deanna and Maria (two of our coaches who were also there) and watched the final game of the highest bracket.
Then Maria gave the three of us a ride back to campus (after we stopped off at the KFC/Taco Bell combo for food with Primo), and I got back juuuuuuust in time to get to work in the oh-so-exciting library reserves.
And so here I am - hyped up on rugby, beer, and a little caffeine, not too sore yet (thanks to ibuprofin and the sun), avoiding studying for my Japanese oral final tomorrow! Hurrah!
After the game was over, I decided to stay rather than come back to campus with most of the team - the Maryland Stingers had invited any of us who could to stay and maybe play with them. I didn't end up getting to play (they needed forwards more than backs, so Keen played while Scrappy and I watched), but it was still really great to warm up with the Stingers, wear a sub jersey, and watch the game. The Stingers are a women's club team that has a really good relationship with AU - that is, half their team is AU alum - so I'm getting to know and recognize some of their players.
Following the Stingers' game, the three of us who'd stayed hung out with Deanna and Maria (two of our coaches who were also there) and watched the final game of the highest bracket.
Then Maria gave the three of us a ride back to campus (after we stopped off at the KFC/Taco Bell combo for food with Primo), and I got back juuuuuuust in time to get to work in the oh-so-exciting library reserves.
And so here I am - hyped up on rugby, beer, and a little caffeine, not too sore yet (thanks to ibuprofin and the sun), avoiding studying for my Japanese oral final tomorrow! Hurrah!
Saturday, April 29, 2006
Mid-Ruggerfest update
Rugby today? SO MUCH FUN! Today and tomorrow (yay! I get to play again tomorrow!) are the last times playing rugby this season (there's the rookie party next weekend, but that's a totally different kind of playing). We're at Ruggerfest, which is an all-women's rugby tournament. Today I got to play all 80 minutes of our two 40 minute games, at wing. I didn't tackle anyone, but I only got one or two opportunities to, and I DID shove four or five girls into touch (that's a good thing). The more I play this sport the more I love it. The newest thing that I love? RUCKING. Oh my god is rucking FUN. Seriously! Running into people with your shoulders and pushing them back? AMAZING feeling!
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