Chesapeake in the news!

Interesting article in the Sunday Baltimore Examiner on Chesapeake making it to nationals (although I'm not sure where they got the idea that Chesapeake is the only women's senior team in Maryland - USA Rugby claims three and I can think of at least two more!)


These women really love a good scrum

By Emily Campbell
Examiner Staff Writer 10/24/08



The Chesapeake Ospreys is only senior women’s rugby team in Maryland.

In her junior year at LaSalle University, Baltimore resident Jillian Szczepaniak-Gillece started a women’s rugby team. The reason?

“We were bored, and we wanted to hit people,” she recalled, laughing. “Stupid things seem really smart when you’re in college.”

But the “wrong” decision turned out to be quite right. Now 27, Szczepaniak-Gillece is the vice-president and an active member of the Chesapeake Ospreys, the only senior women’s rugby team in Baltimore.

“I really missed being on a female team. And this is a very diverse group. We have girls that have never played a team sport in their lives; we have some girls who have played rugby for 10 years,” she said. “It’s not a group you would necessarily see put together in public, but we look really mean on the field.”

The team is made up of 30 women, ranging in age from 19 to 36. There are teachers, scientists and financial advisors among the group. Szczepaniak-Gillece, a social worker, said that playing on the team serves to relieve aggression from everyday stress.

“It’s a lot of discipline and teamwork, and it’s tremendous to be able to play with such great people. The camaraderie is just outstanding, and being competitive in a sport is something a lot of people don’t have access to. Plus, once you get into it, you get really hooked. Not only is it a neat sport to watch, but there’s a very social aspect to it as well.”

Jeff Adamczyk, head coach for the women’s rugby team at Towson University, has been playing rugby for the past 15 years and coaching for seven. “Rugby is an emerging sport,” Adamczyk, 35, said.

“Most people my age started playing rugby in college, but there are a lot of high school teams now, both boys and girls. It’s in a different mindset than it was five years ago. There’s a barrier to be broken, but it’s getting there, and [the sport] will continue to grow.”

Adamczyk said a lot of people are surprised by how popular rugby has become.

“Pretty much every college in the country has a rugby team. I think it’s around more than most people think,” he said. “And it’s one of the true gender equity sports — the rules are exactly the same for men as they are for women.”

The Ospreys are heading to Florida Nov. 7 to compete at the Mid-Atlantic Rugby Football Union Championship. They are the only Maryland team competing.

“When we’re out on the field, we’re definitely having a really good time, but we’re really ferocious and competitive,” Szczepaniak-Gillece said. “We’re the third birds in town, and we’re just as tough.”

LEND THEM A HAND
The Ospreys are hosting a benefit on Wednesday at Padonia Station, 63 E. Padonia Road in Timonium, to raise money for their championship bid in Florida. For information, visit chesapeakerugby.com.

Nationals part 2

Spent most of Sunday driving to and from the PRU U23 tryouts all the way out in Salisbury. Turn out was pretty low, owing to the location (sorry, Salisbury, but you're in the middle of nowhere) and to a number of PRU college teams having matrix matches. The day ended a bit earlier than expected, so my Furies carpool-mates and I stopped on the way home to buy pumpkins and feed goats.

We also got real-time text updates from Missouri on the Furies game vs. Beantown... as you'd guess from the final score (86-5), it was none too pretty. Bummer for them - looks like DC and NOVA are going all the way to Florida just to play each other!

Full results:

Day 2
Minnesota Valkyries 31, Keystone 0
San Diego Surfers 36, Philadelphia 8
New York 28, NOVA 5
ORSU 27, Glendale 24
Beantown 86, Washington Furies 5
Seattle 13, Chicago North Shore 12
Berkeley All Blues 64, Twin Cities Amazons 8
Atlanta Harlequins 19, Boston 5

And games for D1 national finals in Florida:

Championship Semis
Berkeley All Blues vs. Minnesota Valkyries
New York vs. Beantown

Plate Semis
Twin Cities Amazons vs. Keystone
NOVA vs. Washington Furies



Down in the Bahamas, the women's US 7s team lost 14-19 to Canada in the finals, qualifying both teams for the world cup. I believe the game will be posted online at some point... can't wait to watch it!

Couch rugger - NAWIRA and Nationals, day 1

It's been a pretty good rugby Saturday even though I haven't played a minute myself - spent the day watching the NAWIRA qualifiers live, which was wonderful even though I could never really figure out who was playing who. It seems that the US women kicked ass, though.

And out in Missouri at Nationals, MARFU women had a pretty good showing - NOVA beat ORSU 15-5 and Furies beat North Shore 37-12, though Philly lost 10-41 to the Minnesota Valkyries. Can't wait to hear how the matches tomorrow go - although I'll have to wait until I get home, as instead of watching the itty bitty feed from the Bahamas and refreshing USA Rugby looking for scores, I'll be spending the day up in Salisbury trying out for the PRU U23 team. Mmmm, rugby weekend.


From USA Rugby:

MARYLAND HEIGHTS, Mo. – The USA Rugby Senior Women’s Club Playoffs kicked off at Sportport sports complex on Saturday, with all but one of the higher seeded teams emerging out front in day one of competition.

The day kicked off with the No. 4 seeded Minnesota Valkyries taking on Philadelphia. In the end it was the Midwest team that prevailed, 41-10 at the final whistle. Minnesota will take on Keystone RFC, who started out its playoff run with a 17-5 victory over the San Diego Surfers in the first match of the day when competition resumes on Sunday.

No. 3 seeded New York pushed past Glendale 43-12 and will now face Northern Virginia (NOVA) in Sunday’s competition. The No. 11 seed NOVA team pulled the day's only upset, muscling past No. 6 Oregon Sports Union (ORSU) in the first round 15-5 to stay in the hunt for the title.

Meanwhile, last year’s Championship runners up from Beantown put up the strongest showing of the day, putting down Seattle 89-12 in their playoffs opener. The Boston team now goes on to face fellow Mid-Atlantic competitors the Washington Furies, who defeated Chicago North Shore 37-12, in tomorrow’s competition.

Rounding out a full day of play, reigning champions the Berkeley All Blues topped the Boston Women 45-10 and will now face the Twin Cities Amazons when the tournament resumes tomorrow. The Minnesota squad shut down the Atlanta Harlequins 45-12 in day one

Competition picks up again bright and early on Sunday morning, lasting from 9:30 a.m. through about 4:30 p.m. Please see below for the complete match schedule. Tickets to the event will be sold at the gate for $5 per day.

As the road to crowning the 2008 Women’s Club champions continues, the top eight finishers will next travel to the Seminole Soccer Complex in Sanford, Fla. for the Championships on November 7-9, 2008.
For more information on the USA Rugby Women’s Club Playoffs or Championships series, please visit www.usarugby.org or contact Director of Competition Dan Payne at dpayne@usarugby.org.

Senior Women’s Club Playoffs
Results – Day 1, October 25
Minnesota Valkyries 41, Philadelphia 10
Keystone 17, San Diego 5
New York 43, Glendale 12
Northern Virginia (NOVA) 15, Oregon Sport Union (ORSU) 5
Beantown 89, Seattle 12
Washington Furies 37, Chicago North Shore 12
Berkeley All Blues 45, Boston 10
Twin Cities Amazons 45, Atlanta Harlequins 12

Day 2 Schedule, October 26
9:30 a.m. Field A – Minnesota Valkyries vs. Keystone
9:30 a.m. Field B – Philadelphia vs. San Diego Surfers
11:15 a.m. Field A – New York vs. NOVA
11:15 a.m. Field B – Glendale vs. ORSU
1 p.m. Field A – Beantown vs. Washington Furies
1 p.m. Field B – Seattle vs. Chicago North Shore
2:45 p.m. Field A – Berkeley vs. Twin Cities
2:45 p.m. Field B – Boston vs. Atlanta Harlequins

D2 Nationals

Found the D2 Nationals info! Apparently Women's D2 Rugby has its own website... who knew?!


November 8/9, 2008
TENTATIVE SCHEDULE!!!
Saturday

Game 1 - 9:00am: Detroit vs Chesapeake
Game 2 - 9:00am: Miami vs Northeast #1
Game 3 - 11:00am: Cincinnati vs Brandywine
Game 4 - 11:00am: Orlando vs Northeast #2

Game 5 - 1:00pm: Winner Game 1 vs Winner Game 2
Game 6 - 1:00pm: Loser Game 1 vs Loser Game 2
Game 7 - 3:00pm: Winner Game 3 vs Winner Game 4
Game 8 - 3:00pm: Loser Game 3 vs Loser Game 4


Sunday - Times TBA to coordinate with DI National Finals

Game 9 - xx:xxam: Loser Game 6 vs Loser Game 8
Game 10 - xx:xxam: Winner Game 6 vs Winner Game 8
Game 11 - xx:xxam: Loser Game 5 vs Loser Game 7
Game 12 - xx:xxpm: Winner Game 5 vs Winner Game 7

Standings for Nationals

I will admit, I'm not usually very good at following rugby outside of my own union. But whenever playoffs roll around, my interest in the state of US women's rugby peaks - especially this season, my first on the club side of things rather than the collegiate. And since the first round of nationals are this weekend, I've spent the afternoon figuring out which of my MARFU teams are playing who:


MARFU D1 rankings:
1 Washington
2 NOVA
3 Philadelphia

And MARFU D2 (even though it seems they play nationals Nov 1/2? I'm having a hard time figuring this out, if anyone wants to help!):
1 Brandywine
2 Chesapeake
3 Norfolk
4 Severn River


October 25th schedule:

Saturday
1 Minnesota Valkyries (MW #1) vs. Philadelphia (MARFU #3)
2 Keystone (NRU #3) vs. San Diego Surfers (SoCal #1)
3 New York (NRU #2) vs. Glendale (West #1)
4 ORSU (PC #2) vs. NOVA (MARFU #2)
5 Beantown (NRU #1) vs. Seattle Breakers (PC #3)
6 Washington Furies (MARFU #1) vs. Chicago North Shore (MW #3)
7 Berkeley All Blues (PC #1) vs. Boston (NRU #4)
8 Atlanta Harlequins (South #1) vs. Twin Cities Amazons (MW #2)

Sunday
9 Winner match 1 vs Winner Match 2
10 Loser Match 1 vs. Loser Match 2
11 Winner Match 3 vs. Winner Match 4
12 Loser Match 3 vs Loser Match 4
13 Winner Match 5 vs. Winner Match 6
14 Loser Match 5 vs. Loser Match 6
15 Winner Match 7 vs. Winner Match 8
16 Loser Match 7 vs. Loser Match 8

WNT MARFU camp

This Sunday I had the opportunity to attend a MARFU camp led by Women's National Team coaches Kathy Flores, Candi Orsini, and Krista McFarren. It was a great experience to be exposed to some very high-level coaching with a group of high-level players. The group was mostly Maryland, DC, and NOVA, with pretty good representation from Philadelphia. I have to admit, it was a little intimidating to be out there with such a talented group of women – I had to keep reminding myself that I'm a Division I A-side athlete, too, even if I'm nowhere near the same level as most of the players!

We warmed up with a game of double-touch and stretched before splitting into backs and the forwards. We forwards spent our entire split time on the same drill - running it, stopping and discussing, then running it again, over and over. It was incredibly rewarding to learn so much from a very intensive session with one simple drill.

Next, backs and forwards recombined to do a tackling drill working on body position in the tackle, with the tackled player trying to pike or lay full-out to provide the smallest gate possible and the tackler attempting to get up facing forward ready to poach the ball as soon as possible. Eventually one offensive supporter was added to protect against the poach by staying low and directly over the body of her tackled teammate. Then our last drill before lunch worked with different decision making in a wide field versus a narrow space.

After lunch, we warmed up with a game of ruck touch before spending the afternoon working on defensive alignment. We focused a lot on defending against an overload - Kathy introduced the concept of setting up a slightly staggered defensive line, so that the defender on the outside would be able to watch her teammate on the inside, who focused on "pushing" the line out.

We then did a few drills on the defensive alignment around a ruck, focusing on positions I've previously called "post, guard, runner"; that Kathy called "post, X, Y"; and that the Furies called "anchor, guard dog, ATTACK DOG!!" Regardless of your terminology, the first position focuses on the ball and the channel directly next to the ruck; the second takes care of forwards on a punch, the scrumhalf on a scoot, or the flyhalf; and the third position guns it for "one" or the flyhalf position. Finally, we combined these concepts with our earlier drills on overloads and "pushing."

All in all, it was an extremely educational day. I took a lot away about how to improve my personal performance and about new ways to think about my team on the pitch, and went home full of a love of the game - and a strong desire for a nap!

ACL injury prevention

Ages and ages ago, I read and bookmarked this New York Times article, The Uneven Playing Field, that talks about how women and girls tear their ACLs disproportionately often in comparison to men.

One of the causes of this (according to the article) is that females tend to move differently than men - for example, "Girls tend to run differently than boys — in a less-flexed, more-upright posture — which may put them at greater risk when changing directions and landing from jumps."

The article also describes "a customized warm-up of stretching, strengthening and balancing exercises," designed to prevent ACL injuries. Of course I read that and thought, Sign me up! Like most rugby players I've had teammates tear an ACL (or MCL, or meniscus...) and it's something I want to avoid if at all possible.

Of course, the New York Times article didn't actually describe what those exercises were.

But recently, I found this American Physical Therapy Association pdf - Exercises to Help Prevent ACL injuries. Six exercises designed "to improve strength, flexibility, and coordination,
as well as to counteract incorrect existing patterns of movement that may be damaging to their joints".

Score! I know what I'm adding to my fitness routine.