So I've been poking around the blog Saturday's a Rugby Day, which is about women's rugby... and kept running into things that reminded me that this is my world. Not just one I look into or enjoy, but a place I play in, live in.
First off was the article about Division I national championships. For the third year in a row the final match has been between Penn State and Stanford; this year, Penn State won.
Cool, right? But what's even better - Penn State is one of the three teams in PRU Division I. The other two are Navy - and American. And last time we played Penn State? We held our own. We didn't kick ass (even if it felt like it) but we did damn good for a club side team with barely a grand of financial support a year from our university.
Then I read an update on the MARFU U23 team at Ruggerfest. Not only does it specifically pick out one of my teammates for comment (and why not? 'Cause Sheri seriously rocks), but I've played with at least 3 other girls on the MARFU team (PRU what!) and have met one of the other women mentioned in the article.
It doesn't hurt that today was an especially awesome rugby day here in Kyoto - our original ground was rather small and full of baseball players, so we ended up holding a rather abbreviated practice in the tryzone of a lovely turf field (with no baseballs flying through the air to endanger us). But then we just chilled and watched the men's games going on - it was a serious of short matches versus alumni sides of Hanazono High School, celebrating the school's 50th anniversary (or so I surmise). I got teased by my teammates when a touch judge missed a lineout because he was too busy hitting on me, learned one of the girls can breakdance (and boy was she was excited when I told her about AUWRFC danceoffs), and just had a generally good few hours watching some rugby.
That day back at the beginning of sophomore year when I decided maybe rugby could replace martial arts as my "get beat up for fitness" activity? I made one of the best decisions of my life.
Monday, June 11, 2007
Sunday, June 3, 2007
Thursday, May 17, 2007
Facts about women's rugby in Japan
- In Japan, there are about 400 women who play on about 25 rugby teams.
- Only one of those teams is a school-affiliated team; the rest are independent clubs.
- The Kansai region has only four women's rugby teams: one in Hyogo (I think that's the name of the area, anyways), one in Kyoto (mine!), and two in Osaka.
- This Sunday the KWRFC will play the Hyogoken Ladies.
I gathered all this information through a conversation entirely in Japanese with my teammates. Today a number of them remarked on how much my language skills have improved. I've got to admit, I've noticed a difference myself - this was part of a conversation which also included a discussion of rice, rice balls, what granola is, and what people eat for lunch in the States. It's AWESOME.
- Only one of those teams is a school-affiliated team; the rest are independent clubs.
- The Kansai region has only four women's rugby teams: one in Hyogo (I think that's the name of the area, anyways), one in Kyoto (mine!), and two in Osaka.
- This Sunday the KWRFC will play the Hyogoken Ladies.
I gathered all this information through a conversation entirely in Japanese with my teammates. Today a number of them remarked on how much my language skills have improved. I've got to admit, I've noticed a difference myself - this was part of a conversation which also included a discussion of rice, rice balls, what granola is, and what people eat for lunch in the States. It's AWESOME.
Sunday, April 1, 2007
Kyoto rugby and the return of Pink the back
I have arrived in Japan! And today I was picked up from my dorm at 8:30am by two Japanese women (Shima, who drove, and Umi, who translated) to go play RUGBY.
We drove across the city (maneuvering streets that I didn't believe that cars could go down and still don't believe cars can go down, even though I was in a car at the time I was on them), ending up at what appeared to be a high school (Umi didn't know, because apparently they change fields every practice, with Shima sending out an email 2 or 3 days ahead of time with directions).
And I guess I shouldn't call it a "field" - it was a big area covered in... sand? I thought that was really, really strange, but when I pointed it out to Umi and said our fields back home were all grass, she looked impressed and explained that around here only the very good schools have grass fields.
Practice itself was a bit of an adventure. Umi and one other girl, Haruka, kind of spoke English, but no one else did, so I mostly hung back and watched to figure out what was going on. The team's ball handling is very good, and after we spent the whole first hour or so of practice doing purely ball handling drills, I figured out why.
We then did some contact drills, which were run very... interestingly. I somehow ended up in the group that didn't do more than very basic contact (just one-man rucking, no mauls, no going down, etc.), and the coaches apparently didn't care if people just stepped out of the drill to hang out for awhile. Because I was the foreigner and apparently very interesting, people kept stopping me and talking to me while I looked wistfully over their shoulders at the rucking going on the background. But it was pretty cool, and I definitely will be improving my Japanese with all that practice.
One interesting "oh hay gaijin!!!" moment was when one girl with kind of a rebel look introducing herself (forgot her name, though), declaring us friends ("Furendsu!"), and then standing up in my personal space to point out how long my legs were and how tall I was. Another was me explaining to two girls, Kira and Azu, that I had a girlfriend - no not a woman friend - no not a boyfriend - no not a girlfriend which is the same as a friend - hey what? Apparently rugby teams in Japan are NOT the same bastion of lesbianism as they are in the US.
Then we split into backs and forwards, and I was told to be a back. Furthermore, I was put into the position of fullback. For those of you following along at home, I haven't played as a back since last fall season, and even then I was primarily a wing and only occasionally subbed in as fullback. Add to that the fact that we were running multi-phase plays, when AUWRFC organizes only one-phase plays, and I was way confused. The coach kept explaining to me in Japanese, and even though the position names are the same and I understood words like "enter" and "right" and "left," it took a couple of tries and eventually the coach just running along after me and pushing me into place before I understood.
But, apparently the team has a game the last Sunday of April, and not enough of the team can make it - so I'll be playing in a game for them in just a month!!!
We drove across the city (maneuvering streets that I didn't believe that cars could go down and still don't believe cars can go down, even though I was in a car at the time I was on them), ending up at what appeared to be a high school (Umi didn't know, because apparently they change fields every practice, with Shima sending out an email 2 or 3 days ahead of time with directions).
And I guess I shouldn't call it a "field" - it was a big area covered in... sand? I thought that was really, really strange, but when I pointed it out to Umi and said our fields back home were all grass, she looked impressed and explained that around here only the very good schools have grass fields.
Practice itself was a bit of an adventure. Umi and one other girl, Haruka, kind of spoke English, but no one else did, so I mostly hung back and watched to figure out what was going on. The team's ball handling is very good, and after we spent the whole first hour or so of practice doing purely ball handling drills, I figured out why.
We then did some contact drills, which were run very... interestingly. I somehow ended up in the group that didn't do more than very basic contact (just one-man rucking, no mauls, no going down, etc.), and the coaches apparently didn't care if people just stepped out of the drill to hang out for awhile. Because I was the foreigner and apparently very interesting, people kept stopping me and talking to me while I looked wistfully over their shoulders at the rucking going on the background. But it was pretty cool, and I definitely will be improving my Japanese with all that practice.
One interesting "oh hay gaijin!!!" moment was when one girl with kind of a rebel look introducing herself (forgot her name, though), declaring us friends ("Furendsu!"), and then standing up in my personal space to point out how long my legs were and how tall I was. Another was me explaining to two girls, Kira and Azu, that I had a girlfriend - no not a woman friend - no not a boyfriend - no not a girlfriend which is the same as a friend - hey what? Apparently rugby teams in Japan are NOT the same bastion of lesbianism as they are in the US.
Then we split into backs and forwards, and I was told to be a back. Furthermore, I was put into the position of fullback. For those of you following along at home, I haven't played as a back since last fall season, and even then I was primarily a wing and only occasionally subbed in as fullback. Add to that the fact that we were running multi-phase plays, when AUWRFC organizes only one-phase plays, and I was way confused. The coach kept explaining to me in Japanese, and even though the position names are the same and I understood words like "enter" and "right" and "left," it took a couple of tries and eventually the coach just running along after me and pushing me into place before I understood.
But, apparently the team has a game the last Sunday of April, and not enough of the team can make it - so I'll be playing in a game for them in just a month!!!
Sunday, March 4, 2007
You know you're a rugger when...
I can't remember where I took these from, but they do sound awful familiar... :P
- You have gone home on a Saturday after a game, passed out, and then woken up and kept drinking.
- You can want to fucking kill someone from the other team during a game and then get shitfaced with them afterwards.
- When people walk slowly, you have to resist the urge to tackle them from behind.
- You frequently get the songs from the drink-ups stuck in your head
- You don't actually know the real names of your teammates, only their nicknames
- You know that Jesus can’t play rugby cause his dad would fix the game
- The number of gay people on your team outnumbers the number of straight people
- You have gotten the “what the fuck is that group of annoying girls doing” look in denny’s after a big game
- You steal beer after a drink-up so that you can keep drinking
- You learn about what happened Saturday night at brunch Sunday morning with your teammates
- You are trying to facebook people that you met after a game but can't because you can't remember if you ever actually learned their real name
- You know shooting the boot doesn’t have anything to do with a gun
- On the weekends you pee in the bushes more often than in the bathroom
- You’ve dreamt about sleeping with one your referees and commented on how good he looks in his short little rugby shorts
- Your excuse for everything is "I Play Rugby"
- You have gone home on a Saturday after a game, passed out, and then woken up and kept drinking.
- You can want to fucking kill someone from the other team during a game and then get shitfaced with them afterwards.
- When people walk slowly, you have to resist the urge to tackle them from behind.
- You frequently get the songs from the drink-ups stuck in your head
- You don't actually know the real names of your teammates, only their nicknames
- You know that Jesus can’t play rugby cause his dad would fix the game
- The number of gay people on your team outnumbers the number of straight people
- You have gotten the “what the fuck is that group of annoying girls doing” look in denny’s after a big game
- You steal beer after a drink-up so that you can keep drinking
- You learn about what happened Saturday night at brunch Sunday morning with your teammates
- You are trying to facebook people that you met after a game but can't because you can't remember if you ever actually learned their real name
- You know shooting the boot doesn’t have anything to do with a gun
- On the weekends you pee in the bushes more often than in the bathroom
- You’ve dreamt about sleeping with one your referees and commented on how good he looks in his short little rugby shorts
- Your excuse for everything is "I Play Rugby"
AU vs. VCU/Nova
This Saturday's rugby schedule was an A-side vs. VCU and a B-side vs. Nova (a very good women's team... better than our A-side and definitely better than our B-side. We'd understood the B-side game would be VCU/Nova motley). We kicked ass A-side 44-5. We lost B-side, but played well. One of the best things about both of our games so far is to see which mistakes we are and aren't making - we're still a little scattered and discombobulated, but we're supporting each other so well and making our tackles (our tackle rate against the huge Nova girls women was really good) that we're playing a very good game.
Personally, I'm at about the same place. I feel really good about my 8ing, and less good about my locking (I kept going to my knees in the scrum - very not good). My tackling continues to be good in the sense that I nearly always get my woman down, but I'm improving in the ability to do that with good form so I don't hurt myself. However, during Saturday's game I brought some girl down on her shoulder and injured her... oops.
After the game, we hung out and ate pizza with Nova (VCU had gone home), then headed over to the 42nd Street house for some socialling slash pregaming the social at the men's house. The night ended up being long, ridiculous, and fun - typical rugby Satruday!
Personally, I'm at about the same place. I feel really good about my 8ing, and less good about my locking (I kept going to my knees in the scrum - very not good). My tackling continues to be good in the sense that I nearly always get my woman down, but I'm improving in the ability to do that with good form so I don't hurt myself. However, during Saturday's game I brought some girl down on her shoulder and injured her... oops.
After the game, we hung out and ate pizza with Nova (VCU had gone home), then headed over to the 42nd Street house for some socialling slash pregaming the social at the men's house. The night ended up being long, ridiculous, and fun - typical rugby Satruday!
Sunday, January 7, 2007
Rugger family is international
Today I met up with some members of the Kyoto women's rugby team for what I thought was a morning of cherry blossom viewing, and what ended up being a whole day of chilling and awesomeness. I am very tired, have to get up in the morning to practice, and have to also shower/bath and write a nice long email to girlfriend before I sleep, so y'all get bullets:
- Eri, the girl who met me on the train (an 18-year-old who just graduated high school), is a sweetheart and I love her, but I wish she'd realize that I can do things like buy my own train ticket and put it in the machine.
- Aki is def. my favorite Kyotoruggergirl. This is largely because she's the one person who's had actual conversations with (she slogs through my terrible Japanese to discuss things like what kind of jobs she's done and how I feel about sports).
- Kumiko (34-year-old), who I just met today, is awesome, though I think she thinks of me as just another kid to take care of. Her kids (Mira [girl, 8] and Kaito [boy, 10]) are even awesomer. Mira especially spent the day trying to get me to understand her 8-year-old Japanese and taking pictures of me and marveling at my blue eyes and blond hair.
- When they say don't make eye contact with the monkeys? DON'T MAKE EYE CONTACT WITH THE MONKEYS. They will try to prove their dominance and chase you down and you will get teased about it for the rest of the day.
- Kitsune soba (fox soba, or soba with fried tofu in it) is delicious.
- It is apparently impressive that I not only know how to use chopsticks, but know to use the back end of them to pick food off of communal plates.
- Whichever Japanese soap opera was on the minivan TV while we drove all over whoknowswhere was HILARIOUS.
- Somehow I ended up in some hospital that was possibly halfway to Osaka to say hi to someone (I assume a rugger) with a leg wrapped and immobilized to the thigh. I also found out I apparently have high blood pressure, which has never been the case before.
- Fuku (pufferfish) can be poisonous if not prepared right. So if I drop dead in the next few hours, you can blame me breaking my vegetarianism to eat fuku just to have a story to tell.
- Sitting on tatami mats around low tables while Yuka's parents bring dish after dish of strange Japanese dishes and everyone is talking loudly in a language you barely understand and someone's kid is taking a million pictures of you because you look so damn funny and every so often the whole table tries to ask you a question in Japanese and draws on all their synonyms and body language and you end up with an 8 year old curled in your arms as she writes in your "memo" book while a 20-year-old sports addict corrects her kanji - somehow, it feels similar to bumming around a student rental at 6 pm on a Saturday. I guess rugger family is international, and I am +10 glad I found that out.
Plus? The beer totally tastes the same.
- Eri, the girl who met me on the train (an 18-year-old who just graduated high school), is a sweetheart and I love her, but I wish she'd realize that I can do things like buy my own train ticket and put it in the machine.
- Aki is def. my favorite Kyotoruggergirl. This is largely because she's the one person who's had actual conversations with (she slogs through my terrible Japanese to discuss things like what kind of jobs she's done and how I feel about sports).
- Kumiko (34-year-old), who I just met today, is awesome, though I think she thinks of me as just another kid to take care of. Her kids (Mira [girl, 8] and Kaito [boy, 10]) are even awesomer. Mira especially spent the day trying to get me to understand her 8-year-old Japanese and taking pictures of me and marveling at my blue eyes and blond hair.
- When they say don't make eye contact with the monkeys? DON'T MAKE EYE CONTACT WITH THE MONKEYS. They will try to prove their dominance and chase you down and you will get teased about it for the rest of the day.
- Kitsune soba (fox soba, or soba with fried tofu in it) is delicious.
- It is apparently impressive that I not only know how to use chopsticks, but know to use the back end of them to pick food off of communal plates.
- Whichever Japanese soap opera was on the minivan TV while we drove all over whoknowswhere was HILARIOUS.
- Somehow I ended up in some hospital that was possibly halfway to Osaka to say hi to someone (I assume a rugger) with a leg wrapped and immobilized to the thigh. I also found out I apparently have high blood pressure, which has never been the case before.
- Fuku (pufferfish) can be poisonous if not prepared right. So if I drop dead in the next few hours, you can blame me breaking my vegetarianism to eat fuku just to have a story to tell.
- Sitting on tatami mats around low tables while Yuka's parents bring dish after dish of strange Japanese dishes and everyone is talking loudly in a language you barely understand and someone's kid is taking a million pictures of you because you look so damn funny and every so often the whole table tries to ask you a question in Japanese and draws on all their synonyms and body language and you end up with an 8 year old curled in your arms as she writes in your "memo" book while a 20-year-old sports addict corrects her kanji - somehow, it feels similar to bumming around a student rental at 6 pm on a Saturday. I guess rugger family is international, and I am +10 glad I found that out.
Plus? The beer totally tastes the same.
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