World Cup Musings Part 2: Residency

The first USA Women's Rugby 15s residency program started in September of 2016, and I, along with Hope Rogers, Jordan Gray, Molly Kinsella, and Jamila Reinhardt (Jam would arrive in October and live in her own apartment) were all a part of the first residency class. First, I am proud that I was a part of the first USA Rugby Women’s 15s residency program. I am proud to have been selected for it. I am proud that I made the move to San Diego to train full time, and I am proud to have stuck it out. I am also grateful for the opportunity.

With that said, the USAR Women’s 15s residency program wasn’t exactly smooth sailing. Of course, with anything in its maiden voyage, there are bound to be a few bumps in the road and a hitch here and there. With the residency program, it seemed like we started that voyage in the middle of a forest, with only a compass in hand. 

We had issues from the start, namely that we couldn’t actually start training full time, because we couldn’t get into the Olympic Training Center (now the Chula Vista Elite Athlete Training Center) to train. The 7s program wouldn’t start training again until October, and it didn’t make logistical sense to have only four players on site training with no coach (we didn’t have a coach right away either). USAR had set us up, to kick off residency program, with Atavus Academy and Les Spelman, who was working with them at the time, so for the first month of 15s residency, we had four two-hour sessions a week with Atavus and two sessions with the San Diego Surfers (we’d be playing the 2016 WPL season with the Surfers).

Here’s where that journey cliché really gets revved up. Though training with Atavus wasn’t what we had originally signed up for, it certainly had its benefits. For one, Les has a background in speed and agility, and while I hesitate to speak for my teammates (though, I’m sure I could in this instance), I saw a marked improvement in my running form—something that keeps improving as I continue to implement techniques I learned with Les.

Along with our improvements in running mechanics, we also worked on rugby skills and strength and conditioning with Atavus. Perhaps one of the greatest benefits was that training with Atavus eased us into a full-time training schedule without throwing at us eight hours of training, film, and meetings all at once.

That month of “training in limbo,” as I like to think of it, also gave us a bit more free time to look for jobs. Heading into residency, we’d been told that USAR would help us to find jobs. Let’s go on a little tangent here, because some of my rugby-novice readers may be wondering why we would need jobs if we were part of a full-time athletic program. Yes, we needed jobs. While part of a full-time residency program, we were only provided with an apartment and access to the training center, which included meals and medical. Therefore, anything else we wanted or needed was an out-of-pocket cost, and we needed paper in the pocket to afford those costs—like bills, transportation, entertainment, food that wasn’t from the cafeteria, clothes, the internet, etc.

Let’s stop and recap for a second, so that I’m sure that I haven’t derailed us completely. In mid-September of 2016, I was two weeks into living 3,000 miles away from my point of origin, my family, most of my friends, and my support system, living on the edge of broke, without a full-time job, and not even living the “dream” of being a full-time athlete yet. But I was loving it.

Needless to say, USAR hadn’t come through, right away, on all of the promises of a pro-athlete training environment, all expenses paid, with only the responsibility of some minimal part-time work to keep ahead of bills. But there I was, waking up at 4:30am during the week to train two hours and then spend the rest of my sunny day lounging by the pool, working on extra skills, hanging with my teammates, reading, exploring, or whatever my little heart could find to fill itself. 

I worked some on Wednesdays, testing a ride share app (a gig procured through a west-coast friend, and not by anything USAR put in motion), and did some leg work and odd jobs here and there for other friends. I played rugby with the Surfers or went to the beach on the weekends, the farmer’s market on Sundays, took naps by the pool in the evenings, and for the most part enjoyed my days without getting too stressed about the meager flow of my income or the fact that the four of us were on a bit of an island and didn’t really know what our rugby futures held in store.

October rolled around, the four of us still looking for jobs and trying to figure out how to make our lives work out financially, and we weren’t able to get into the center when the 7s girls came back. Looking back now, it seemed like every time we had a “supposed to” date, whatever that thing was, which was supposed to happen, never happened when it was supposed to—like starting at the center or when our meals would kick in, or when we’d get a Strength and Conditioning coach or a forwards coach.

Here’s where I’ll digress again, before I get on a roll with the “supposed to” stuff. With any project, you can almost certainly expect delays, and I don’t think anything is as smooth or as efficient as it could possibly be when it first starts up. I could go into all of our set-backs with the program, and I’ve already given a few examples. I could detail the shortcomings we experienced with our organization. I could vent all of the frustrations we had. But I won’t. Of course we had frustrations aplenty, and USAR has plenty of shortcomings, and the residency program could’ve been better planned and executed, but I don’t want to turn this into a bash session. However, I do feel it necessary, in the context of my blog recounting my experiences with USAR, that there are a lot of things our organization needs to do better. USAR needs to be better for its players. Too often we (especially the women) get a very, very short stick. In the same breath, I offer thanks to the people at USAR who try to make things better. With all of their flaws and good intentions, we have some great people working for the program.

Now, back to October. We finally got into the center and started training with the 7s program. We trained four days from about 7am until around 3pm. Now, we didn’t spend all that time running around or throwing around weights. We had meetings, meals, film, and other team activities (check out my article on The Rugby Breakdown for more on our day-to-day-rugby lives).

We trained at the center during the day, practiced with the Surfers two nights a week, and played on the weekends. We would win a WPL National Championship with the Surfers (see my blog) and travel to France for a tour over the Thanksgiving holiday. We visited the infamous Tigertown over the week of New Years. From October through the first part of January, we were engulfed in rugby from all sides, and had gotten into that full-time environment we’d been expecting, and it was amazingly busy, hard, rewarding, and stifling all at once.

Over the winter, Jordan eventually decided to move a little further north and play the spring season with Life West. Molly decided to pick up with her real life in Steamboat, CO, and Hope and I got two new housemates—Megan Foster and Nicole Strasko. Foster and Strasko had been training at the center, since October, so it wasn’t a big shock to the system to change around our living situation. I also started a new job in January, at the UFC Gym, as a personal trainer (something I love to do). With my new job, life got busier and harder, but ultimately more rewarding. While it was certainly rewarding, it was difficult to balance, and I don’t think I could keep up with the pace at which I was living permanently. However, I did it for seven months and I had a hectic blast while at it.

What made balancing work and training the hardest was the travel for rugby. I got the job in December, but waiting until after the Tigertown camp to start. Then there was the Falcons tour to Japan in February, the Vegas stop in March (check out the Rugby Breakdown article), the CanAm series in April (though I didn’t play in the series due to injury, I was at every team event), and another camp in June, before long camp started at the end of June. Needless to say, I was out of town or not available to work for a week at a time, nearly every month from January to July. Personal training, makes that kind of schedule more manageable, but it’s not ideal for clients. Fortunately, my clients were very supportive of my rugby journey, and though it was tough, I managed.

My injury also made life just a wee bit harder. I have a herniated disc in my c-spine, and though I’m not symptomatic daily, it makes for some nasty stingers when I get hit or hit someone awkwardly. Because of the disc, I had to take some time and give those nerves a break (after a stinger at nationals, one in France, one in Tigertown, and a couple others in training), and I got a couple of cortisone shots for good measure. I’d be back in action in June, but I took April and May to have myself checked out and get the shots.

So here we are in June, on the verge of long camp. The above paragraphs essentially sum up our first 15s residency program. There were other challenges we faced that I could get into, as well as other changes, and other rewards. There was the day-to-day struggle with keeping our apartment clean after six rugby players crashed following a day of practice. There were the trips to the farmers market, the dinner outings, the shopping trips, and all of the normal things roommates do. We did all of the things everyone else does, only we trotted the globe playing rugby as well. Take all of the difficulties I mentioned above, and they disappear when you’re traipsing around the world with a rugby ball in your hands. They melt away as soon as you step foot on the pitch.

Stay tuned for Part 3 of my World Cup Musings, in which I’ll get into our long camp. 

World Cup Musings, Part 1: The Journey

I haven't been blogging these last few months. I've been busy, for sure. Rugby took up most of my time. There was a World Cup thing I did. Of course, it only makes sense that I write about the World Cup thing in this, my first blog in months, and of course, that's just what I plan to do.

When I sat down, five minutes ago, to plug away at this blog, the first thing I typed was some maudlin cliche about a journey. Certainly, this World Cup thing was a journey. We athletes, we people, are always on one sort of journey or another. Hell, life is the grand journey. I don't want to start in on the whole concept of a journey. I write something like, "Now that the journey that was World Cup is over..." and already, you know where it's going. I know where it's going. I say, "World Cup was a journey," and you know the rest of the story--it was hard in the beginning, at some point things changed, something clicked, we learned, we met setbacks, we endured, things probably didn't go as planned, but there was a lesson and everyone was better for it. I suppose you could probably fit most experience into that mold.
So, now that the journey that was World Cup is over, and I have had time to reflect, I'm still not sure what it all meant, or if it meant anything, or if meaning is necessary at all. I'm not sure of the lesson. And I'm not sticking to the journey mold. I see it as something particularly important in my life.

It was very important in my world, but a little over three months later and it seems like a dissipating vapor of a memory. Part of me wants to write about it so that I may relive it all. It was, after all one of the most gratifying, toughest, most enjoyable, and most draining experiences of my life.

So here we go: Part 1 in my World Cup Musings. Since it was indeed a journey, despite my reservations about tapping into that cliche, I plan on giving my readers a brief synopsis of the journey in this blog, and then in subsequent blogs, I plan to get into all of the happenings on this wonderful journey.

This last World Cup cycle started three years ago, when the 2014 World Cup ended (the USA WNT finished in 6th place in 2014). I was a reserve on that 2014 squad. Personally, there was unfinished business to handle, so my journey started in 2011. But then I'm getting behind here. There's a Buddhist saying that goes, "You are the sum total of everything it has taken to produce you since before the beginning of beginningless time," but if we take that approach, we'll have to go back to before beginningless time. So, for brevity's sake, we're going to start the journey with 15s residency.

Our first Women's 15s residency ever started in September 2016. Myself, Hope Rogers, Jordan Gray, and Molly Kinsella were the first class. We all lived in an apartment adjacent to the training center, and we all played for the San Diego Surfers in 2016.

In November the 15s WNT played France in a two-match series, and in January 2017, we had a 15s camp. We also got new housemates in January, with Jordan and Molly pursuing other rugby and life goals. Nicole Strasko and Megan Foster then moved in with Hope and me. Caitlin Singletary, our video analyst also moved in.

We continued training with the 7s team at the Chula Vista Elite Athlete Training Center until March, when all of our 15s friends came out to Southern California for a CanAm series. In June, we had another camp. In July, we started our month-long World Cup Prep Camp, and World Cup rolled around in August.

Needless to say, it was a whirlwind of a year, and as with any journey, it was full of good times and not-so-good times. In my upcoming blogs, I'll get into those good times and not-so-good times. Hopefully, I'll get my fix with reliving it all and my readers will get a little insight on the USA WNT's road to a 4th place finish at the 2017 World Cup. Stay tuned!!

Eagles Show Promise in CanAm Series

No, a 39-5 defeat isn't something for which many teams are proud. Neither is a 37-10 loss. The Women's National 15s team isn't pleased with either result. We know that neither game was indicative of our capabilities. We know we under-performed. We fell short of our mark. We also know that we are far less experienced than the Canadian side, and we play and practice together far less. In fact, we play and practice together far less than most of the top ten teams in the world. We realize we're shooting from behind the eight ball when it comes to together time. However, looking at our performance against Canada with that filter (the "no together time" filter), one doesn't see 30-point massacres. Instead, one sees promise.

Think about it this way. Let's say you've been lifting five days a week, following a strength program with the hopes of hitting a big number on your squat max. You've been training for a year now, and your gains have become incremental, but you're still progressing. This is where Canada sits. They've had lots of time training together and will field a World Cup team with most of the players having played in a previous World Cup.

On the other hand, the USA are like sinewy armed amateurs, who are just starting a strength program--with a good athletic foundation, but lots of room for gains. We had five new caps on this tour alone (and a few on the last on to France), the last tour before World Cup. We will only have a handful of players, who have played in a previous World Cup, going to this WC. And on top of all of that, we've only played 10 test matches, since the 2014 World Cup (on a tangent, the lack of test matches for the WNT is a separate issue that I won't address here, but I would like to leave this little tidbit of information: the Men's National Team played 10 test matches last year, and are slated to have as many this year...a year that is a Women's World Cup year).

If look at the match-up this way, it's not surprising that Canada are three to four tries better than us. However, with a July residence in our future, we will soon close that gap. The USA WNT World Cup squad will be living and training together for the entire month of July. That means more gains.

Now, this isn't revolutionary. Most of the top women's national teams already have a residency program. My point is that we haven't had this opportunity, and with it we can improve in leaps and bounds. This is why I believe the CanAm series showed promise. We've been together, as a squad, about six times, in the last two years, for about 10 days at a time (on average)--that's 60 days in two years--and still we compete with the top teams. Our problem is consistency, and consistency is what comes when you build habits, and habits come from practice, from "together time."

We won't have a lot of "together time"--we'll have a fraction of what the tops women's teams have--but we will utilize that coveted bonding time. Our team is a group of hard working women, and we will make the most of our residency. We have a good foundation--promise--and now it's time to build on that.

Falcons Take Okinawa 7s Cup in Unbeaten Performance

In case you've missed all of the social media posts and articles from various rugby outlets, the USA Falcons (we) took gold in Okinawa (there were actually no medals). There are some great recaps up on The Rugby Breakdown and USA Rugby, so I'll try to stay away from too much repeated information.

On day one, we faced Japan's A and B squads in the first and last matches of the day, and took on France between those matches. Though we didn't take a loss, we only won one of those games, as we tied both of the Japan squads 19-19 (that's right, both of our Japan matches ended in 19-19 ties).

Both of the Japan matches followed the same story line. We had trouble maintaining possession due to Japan's effectiveness around the breakdown. On a couple of occasions we had players make great line breaks, but support was slow, and Japan turned over the ball. When we were able to maintain possession, around line breaks, we scored. Those two games were our two worst offensive efforts in pool play, and our two worst defensive efforts of the tournament. It was limited possession that was the deciding factor in what could've been two more wins for the Falcons.

The game against France was a different story. Not only did we maintain possession, we supported well and ran our system effectively. Like most French squads, this France team was a scrappy team, and were able to claw out some line breaks and put a try on the board. However, in the end, we were the more disciplined team, and while they were scrappy, they were no match for our physicality. Behind two Kate Zackary tries, we tallied 29 points for the match.

In the first match of day two, we ran into an opponent that could match our physicality. The Netherlands brought a squad of big, hard running locomotives. In this match, we decided not to try to out physical a physical team and instead relied on ball movement and a balanced attack to take the 33-0 victory. We had five different players score in this match.

In our final pool match, we faced a tough Australia team. While the match was close for most of the 14 minutes, we ended up pulling away after a sneaky chip kick, by Cheta Emba, that bounced perfectly into her hands and led her down the sideline for a score. Kelsi Stockert followed that score with one of her own as the horn sounded, and we took a 26-17 victory going into the Cup Finals.

The Finals would be a repeat of the last pool match, as we faced Australia again. Australia switched up their game plan right off the bat and sent the opening kickoff deep into our end. A momentary cerebral shutdown and a blocked kick led to a quick Australian try. They followed their score with another deep kick, but this time we handled it better and after scores from Naya Tapper and Emba, we took a 12-5 halftime lead.

The second half was a lot of back and forth play. The game grew more and more physical after we scored again and Australia scrambled to close the gap. They would bring the score to 19-12 as the horn sounded and their final effort on the ensuing kickoff would be a good one, but not enough as the Falcons claimed the Okinawa 7s title.

Upon receiving the blue glass Okinawa Cup, we got a grand ovation by a group of Americans who lived or were stationed in Japan. Though Japan boasted the largest fan base at their home tournament, we had the second largest, and perhaps the loudest.

Okinawa 7s brought us some valuable tournament time, a chance to play with new players and try out new things. We also had a blast, and our wonderful fans helped to make it fun.

Falcons Fly to Japan for Okinawa Invitational

Corny titles aside, the USA Falcons, the USA Eagles' developmental side, will face off against some tough international opponents in the upcoming Okinawa Invitational tournament at Shimonoba Cape Ball Park. Six international teams will play round robin games, followed by a 1st v 2nd seed matchup, 3rd v 4th, and 5th v 6th, to determine the winner of the weekend, in the Land of the Rising Sun.

Japan has entered two teams in its tournament. HSBC World Series teams, France and Australia, each have a team competing, and the Netherlands have thrown in their hat as well. The Falcons will face the two Japan teams and France tomorrow, and will have the Netherlands and Australia on Sunday, followed by their final match, depending on how they finish in pool play.

Seven Falcons players have been capped in the 7s game, and of those seven, only five were a part of the Eagles squad that won silver in Sydney on the last World Series stop. Naya Tapper comes in as reigning HSBC Player of the Final, after her 45-point performance in Sydney.

Ryan Carlyle, Nicole Heavirland, Cheta Emba and Kate Zackary comprise the veteran talent for the Falcons, with Zackary captaining the squad. Lily Durbin and Nicole Strasko have also earned 7s caps, but represent some of the youth that will be on display in this squad.

Tia Blythe is coming off an impressive 15s season with the San Diego Surfers, winning the National Championship and earning Club Player of the Year honors. Sam Pankey (yours truly) was also a member of that Surfers squad, and brings her own experience as a capped 15s player.

Kelsi Stockert and Megan Foster, also capped 15s players, round out the squad. Both Stockert and Foster are no stranger to 15s championships themselves, each having won a Club National tournament with their respective clubs, Seattle and Life West.

Andrew Locke, USA Eagles assistant coach, will be at the helm over the weekend. The USA staff hope to give some newer 7s players a chance to demonstrate their talent against international opponents, try out new combinations, and give all players an opportunity to take some risks and try new things within their skill sets.

This tournament is a wonderful opportunity for more field time and a creative outlet for both USA players and staff. However, don't think that development is the only focus in Okinawa. This Falcons squad has sights set on the cup.

Women's 7s Take Silver in Sydney

Coming off an 11th place finish in Dubai, the USA Women's 7s Team was itching for a little redemption, but their road wouldn't be an easy one. They would have to make it past the third (Russia) and fourth (England) place finishers, from Dubai, to progress through pool play and qualify for the Cup quarterfinals.

As in Dubai, the Eagles' faced Russia in their opening match. In Dubia, the USA was able to eke out a two-point win, 12-10. However, Russia would turn the tables, in Sydney, and hold the Eagles to only 10 points (their lowest scoring game of the tournament), while tallying 19 of their own.

Going into their second match, against England, the Eagles were behind the eight ball. They would have to beat the Brits to keep their shot at the Cup alive. Down 14-5 late in the first half, it wasn't looking promising for the USA. However, a try with less than a minute left put the score at 14-10 and kept the Eagles in the game. Strong defense in the second half held England scoreless, and the Eagles added two more tries to take the win, 22-10.

The Spanish women were the Eagles' last pool opponents. While this side has given the Eagles trouble in the past, the USA dispatched with Spain easily, holding them to only five points while scoring 20 themselves. With two wins in pool play, on Friday, the Eagles would advance to the Cup quarterfinals on Saturday.

The Eagles continued their defensive dominance over Ireland in their quarterfinals match, holding the women in green to only five points. With that defensive performance, three tries would be plenty to seal a 17-5 victory.

In their semifinal match-up, the Eagles ran up against the World Series leaders, New Zealand. Again, the Eagles' defense would hold strong, as they held New Zealand scoreless through the first half, while dotting down two tries of their own. They would allow two New Zealand tries in the second half, but added another of their own to take a 19-10 victory and head into the Cup Finals against Canada.

The all-North American final was a nail-biter of a match, with the two sides trading scores. The USA struck first, but Canada added two tries of their own to take a 14-7 lead into the half. The second half saw more try swapping, as the Eagles closed the gap, and then Canada widened it again. In the end, the Eagles could catch up to the Canadians, and Canada took the Cup with a 21-17 victory.

Despite the disappointing finish, the Eagles' overall performance was wonderful. Not only did they get that sought-after redemption, they put their collective hand up as a World Series contender. With a second place finish and the tournament's Player of the Final, in Naya Tapper, the Eagles hope to ride this momentum into their home-field tournament, in Las Vegas.

Kingfishers Dominant Performance Closes Out Winter NASC

With their lineups slightly altered, the Kingfishers (WNT coaches' top 15 picks) and the CuckooRollers  (coaches' next 15) squared off again to close out the Winter 2016 NASC, in Tigertown, Florida. Like the first match, the Kingfishers controlled the tempo of the match and were able to rack up the points, while the CuckooRollers struggled to gain momentum. 

The Kingfishers struck first in the match, with an early try from Alev Kelter on an offload from Molly Kinsella. Kelter would score a second time, quickly after her first on a good support run after a Jess Wooden line break. Offloads and quick ball from the breakdown would be the story of the match for the Kingfishers, while trying to stop that momentum would prove to be the bane of the CuckooRollers.

Though the CuckooRollers struggled to string together consistent phases, they has some moments of brilliance. One of those came off a good scrum by their forwards, a nice half-break by Nana Fa'avesi, and a great strike run and try-scoring finish by Kris Thomas. This was as close as the game would get, however, as the Kingfishers tacked on three more tries to end the half--one a return favor from Kelter to Wooden and two from Naya Tapper on two great breaks. 

Six tries in a half makes for some exciting rugby, and the Kingfishers wouldn't let down the fans in the second half. Though they wouldn't match their first-half total of five, they were only one try shy, with Tapper and Kelter leading the scoring once again. 

Tapper ended the first half with two scores, and she began the second with two. Certainly she had some great breaks and broke tackles, but three of those four tries began with quick ball, offloads and great ball movement. One of those four was a stellar 90-meter break away run, in which she beat everyone down the sideline. 

Kelter's third try of the game, came off another great support line. It started with a smart read by flyhalf, Hunter Griendling, spotting a gap for herself, then putting Kelter through another for the score. 

The CuckooRollers, though held scoreless in the second half, weren't silent. Behind some smart reads and great line breaks by players like Stacey Bridges and JoJo Kitlinski, they threatened to score on several occasions, but just couldn't muster the manpower to put second-half points on the board. 

The Kingfishers would put a final flashy stamp on the game in their last try. A behind the back flip, by Phaidra "Old School" Knight, led to a Wooden break, a connection to Christiane Pheil and another to AnnaKaren Pedraza, who scored in her first senior side NASC match. 

Though the games may not have been close, the execution by the Kingfishers, with their wonderful support lines and dynamic play, was a welcome outcome, especially after the Women's National Team's lackluster performance in France. There is definitely a great foundation for these women to build a winning World Cup team, and the players are excited to continue their journey to Ireland and the world stage, in August. 

Kingfishers Control Tempo and Win Opening Winter NASC Match

(photo credit: Paul Rudman)

The first senior side match of the 2016 Winter NASC pitted 48 of the best women's rugby players in the country against each other. The Kingfishers started the players the coaches felt are "the current top 15" and the CuckooRollers started the players the coaches felt are "the 'next' 15."

Both teams came out of the gates in attack mode, but jitters would be the story of the opening "quarter" (the match was divided into four 20 minute quarters, so that coaches could experiment with different combinations of players). There were quite a few scrums in the first 10 minutes of the game, as some good phase play was lost on missed connections and the ball going to the ground. The Kingfishers were still able to capitalize on good field position, as Christiane Phiel powered a try in from the one-meter mark, and Sam Pankey stole a lineout overthrow on the five and sneaked in for a try.

The squads cleaned up their play quickly, and the rest of the first half saw some great offense on both sides. The CuckooRollers' backs displayed great footwork and ball movement and broke the Kingfishers' defensive line on a couple occasions, with Kelsi Stockert streaking down the sidelines trying to finish those plays. However, the Kingfishers were able to stop those drives, turn over the ball, and capitalize with Jordan Gray and Cheta Emba dotting down tries.

The Kingfishers continued to roll with their momentum and control the tempo of the second half. They kept the ball alive with offloads and quick ball from the breakdown and were able to handle some good tactical kicking from CuckooRollers' flyhalfs, Hannah Stolba and Lauren Rhode. Cheta Emba would score again in the second half, as would Naya Tapper and Alycia Washington.

Overall, both squads put together some great phase play, with the Kingfishers scoring off of, in the words of Associate Head Coach, Peter Bagetta, "one of the best phases of rugby I've seen since I've been a part of the Women's National Team." The deciding factor was the Kingfishers' control of tempo and set pieces. With their forwards setting good platforms, backs attacking into space, and their ability to keep the ball alive and quick with offloads and quick rucks, the Kingfishers executed their game plan effectively and came away with a decisive victory.

For the second match, the coaches have made some lineup changes, so they can see different player combinations, but mostly the lineups are the same. Both squads have kinks to workout, and the hard work that all players have been putting into this assembly will once again be on display tomorrow morning.