Your Scrumhalf Connection - Women's Rugby Blog

U.S. Women’s Sevens Program to Host National Tryout Camp in Arkansas

BOULDER, Colo. – Women’s National Sevens Team Coach Julie McCoy has announced the pool of players selected to attend the 2008 Senior National Tryout Camp in Little Rock, Ark. on January 18-20.

Team selections for the San Diego Invitational tournament to be held February 7-8, will be made following this assembly. The USA and USA A squads are set to compete in the International Women’s portion of the event with Samoa, South Africa, Canada, Canada A and Canadian Collegiate squad the Pandas.

The player pool for the upcoming Hong Kong Sevens in March and Amsterdam Sevens in May will also be selected after this January camp, while the Women’s Developmental Sevens side will be chosen from a separate camp led by Coach Pete Steinberg during the week prior to the USA Sevens in San Diego.

Women’s Sevens athletes invited to the 2008 Tryout Camp include:

Annie Antar (Atlanta Harlequins), Stacy Bennett (NOVA), Tanya Carlson (New York), Dana Creager (NOVA), Amy Daniels (Beantown), Liz Dilley (Washington), Jenna Flateman (New York), Yancy Graf (Beantown), Tyshawn Henry (New York), Ellie Karvoski (New York), Pam Kosanke (Chicago North Shore), Phaidra Knight (New York), Teena Mastrangelo (Chicago North Shore), Tasha Mannino (Atlanta Harlequins), Melissa McKibben (Kansas City Jazz), Daniela Mogro (New York), Alison Price (New York), Christy Ringgenberg (Minnesota Valkyries), Ines Rodriguez (Keystone), Jen Starkey (NOVA), Lo Stender (Las Vegas), Lindsey Stephenson (Orlando), Donna Thomas (Kansas City Jazz), Kitt Wagner (Beantown), JoAnne Ward (Albany), Kelly White (Belmont Shore), and Heidi Whitman (Austin Valkyries).

USA Women’s Sevens staff includes: Head Coach Julie McCoy, Assistant Coach Chris Ryan, Assistant Coach Drew Fautley, Developmental Coach Peter Steinberg, staff coaches Nancy Fitz, Sheri Hunt, Laura Hertel and Erina Queen, managers Sadeana Green, Christine Franz, and Suzy Cox, and physio staff Dr. Rose Livingston and Brian Mahoney.

For more information on the Women’s National Sevens Team, please visit www.usarugby.org/goto/Womens_Sevens. To learn more about the San Diego Invitational tournament, log on to www.usasevens.com.

Women’s U-20 Program Announces Elite Camp Attendees
Coaching staff seeks five additional players to complete camp roster

BOULDER, Colo. – Coach Bryn Chivers has announced the 45 athletes set to attend the U-20 Women’s National Team Elite Camp to be held February 28 – March 2 at the Cocoa Expo Center in Florida.

A majority of the players were selected for the camp either based on their participation at several regional camps throughout 2007 or through recommendations from their coaches, although 12 athletes were chosen based on their performance at the 2007 U-19 Invitational National All-Star Championship this past November.

Twenty-three of the athletes have experience playing for the USA Women’s Age Grade program at some level, with 14 members of the U-19 squad that competed in international matches against England, Wales and Canada in March 2007 scheduled to attend the assembly.

The players selected to attend the U-20 WNT Elite Camp include:

Sadie Anderson (Fort Collins, Colo.), Candace Barley (Maryville, Tenn.), BrieAnna Barto (Summit, Colo.), Lorelei Boone (Ravenwood, Tenn.), Shannon Boone (Ravenwood, Tenn.), Stacey Bridges (Texas A&M), Megan Buford (Univ. of Georgia), Lauren Danielsen (Summit, Colo.), Kayla Ellingson (BYU), Gina Fanelli (Ohio State Univ.), Mindy Foster (BYU), Jozy Gessner (Summit HS, Colo.), Katherine Glerum (Brown), Hanna Gregor (Keystone Women), Alexandria Hartley (Brown), Lisa Henneman (Seattle Women), Jay-Marie Hill (Stanford), Brittany Houston (UW-Milwaukee), Ima Isang (Oakridge, Tenn.), Mallory Ives (Colorado State), Joanna Kitlinski (Grand Valley State), Brook LeGate (Maryville, Tenn.), Erin LeGate (Maryville, Tenn.), Alisa Ly (Univ. of Minnesota), Adetayo Mafe (Michigan State), Maude Marandet (Indiana Univ.), Blaine Martin (Brown), Tyra McGrady (Indiana Univ.), Kayla Morrisoli (San Jose State), Kelsey Moss (Stanford), Maggie Reidy (Divine Savior, Wisc.), Maddie Robinson (Fort Collins, Colo.), Brittany Rose (Westchester East, Pa.), Nichole Roth (UW-Madison), Rachel Sachs (Syracuse), Seymira Salami (State College, Pa.), Rachel Sommer (Canby, Ore.), Kristen Spencer (Ball State Univ.), Marie Timm (Army), CJ Turnerdrown (Riverton, Utah), Mika Underwood (Budd Bay, Wash.), Jessica Waterfield (Bowling Green), Jessica Watkins (Stanford), Erica Wheeler (Univ. of Illinois) and Brittany Woodard (Hyde School, D.C.).

The U-20 Women’s National Team staff is still looking to add five more players to the camp and will be scouting players at the Stanford Invitational Tournament on Saturday, January 19, and at the U-20 Camp in Fullerton, Calif. on Sunday, January 20. All U-19 and college coaches are encouraged to recommend players to the U-20 WNT Program and should contact Head Coach Bryn Chivers at bryn.chivers@gmail.com for more information.

**Congratulations to Heidi Whitman from the Austin Valkyries, Melissa McKibben from the Kansas City Jazz and Stacey Bridges from the University of Texas A&M!

Yea its time for another edition of Rugby Here & There! Found some really great stuff on the web this last week when I was laid up for surgery. Back at work this week though and loving all the emails about rugby!

• I want a ‘Match of the Day’ for rugby
  from The Rugby Blog
  
  This is a worthy new campaign that merits the support of readers of The Rugby Blog, and I urge you to join.
  
  Like most of us, Ben Cook wants to see a ‘Match of the Day’ type program for rugby, and is actually doing something about it.
  
  Take a few minutes to follow the link below and sign the petition which will hopefully result in the BBC providing a ‘regular’ TV slot at a sensible hour, dedicated to showing highlights from the weekend’s rugby union across the UK.
  
  http://www.motdrugby.com
  
  If you too feel strongly about this then visit the website, sign the petition, get a t-shirt and then email every single one of your contacts on Hotmail, Gmail, Outlook, Yahoo and BT Internet and tell them to do exactly the same as you.
  
  There is also a Facebook group with over 17,500 members, so join that too.
  
  
• Referee Development Program Updates from USA Rugby:
  
  Dear USA Rugby Member,
  
  You have received this email because you are a member of USA Rugby and an official USA Rugby referee training course is scheduled in your area! USA Rugby, in conjunction with the Southern California Rugby Referees Society will be hosting a Level 2 Officiating course in San Diego, CA February 23-24, 2008!
  
  COURSE DETAILS
  The course will be held at:
  
  * San Diego State University - 5500 Campanile Drive, San Diego, CA 92182
  * Classroom TBD
  
  Estimated start time of the course is at 8a.m. on both Saturday and Sunday with the course expected to end around 4p.m. on Sunday.
  
  In order to be eligible to take this course, participants will need to have obtained Level 1 Referee certification, and have officiated at least one season.
  
  Also, interested participants are asked to start journal/diary of all the matches you are participating in. You should include the teams, score, any conditions that may effect the match (ie: weather, poor field), then include an assessment of your abilities, what went well, what needs improvement, what changes can you make.
  
  Course cost is $75 and all interested participants should contact Mark Kottke (mkottke@mail.sdsu.edu) to register for the course.
  
  To find out more about the Level 2 Officiating course, please visit: www.usarugby.org/goto/Training_Courses
  
  Jennifer Gray
  Match Official Administrator
  USA Rugby
  
  
• The ad man's dream: Rugby and Sex
  
  It's the easiest - some would say least creative and laziest - way to draw attention. But using a sexual theme to advertise rugby - or anything, for that matter - is, not surprisingly, very popular. And, undoubtedly, very effective. But, however easy it may be, it still requires that creative spark to make a really good commercial, regardless of the vehicle you choose to communicate it.
  
  Here are some of my favourites:
  
  1. The no hand's approach
  2. The DIY approach
  3. This guy's got a one-tracked mind
  4. Rugby dominatrix
  5. You Tarzan, Me Jane
  
  I found this from one of the Rugbyfanz.com blogger and couldn't resist re-posting it. It is hilarious! Be careful, maybe you shouldn't open these videos at work!
  
  
• Surgery date for blogger friend Chasing Down Life
  
  I just had my ACL surgery and now Chasing Down Life has scheduled hers. It will be interesting to learn about her rehab and such with recovery. Good luck!
  
  
• Shout-out to Let's Talk Business
  
  Congrats for finishing your referee course! Your first game will be nerve-wracking but it only gets better! Here's to learning more about the game!

I think that's it for me today. Have a wonderful Tuesday! I might be blog about my AWESOME visit to the Doctor this morning later today... :)

I thought Goff's Annual Awards was a pretty cool idea, so I thought I would let those of you who don't have a subscription see who won. Of course to read the whole article you will have to log in, but the list is interesting enough! Congrats to all the winners.

ERugbyNews Youth Player of the Year 2007
Candace Barley, plays rugby for club Maryville in Tennessee. She is also a member of U19 squad where she plays #8 and recently played in the U19 UK tour for the US.

ERugbynews Breakout Player of the Year 2007
Blair Groefsema plays for Berkeley the current National Club D1 Champions. She is also a member of the Women's National Team and plays #8. She had just returned from the UK Tour for the Women's National Team.

PLayer of the Year 2007
Player of the Year: Kristin Zdanczewicz. Despite a cruel knee injury in England and her club not going as far as you would have expected, Zdanczewicz is, in the words of Flores, "the gold standard of open side flankers." We agree. This is the player to lead the Eagles back to glory.

Forward of the Year 2007
Jamie Burke. And the women to take on that other leadership role must be Burke, a fearsome front rower with huge talent.

Back of the Year 2007
Vanesha McGee. Very young, but also very explosive, she helped jump-start Philadelphia into a top-flight club, and remains one of America's most electric attackers.

College Player of the Year 2007
Emily Bydwell, Brown. Just an enormous influence on what has become a really strong side.

Young Player of the Year 2007
Laura Parker, Kansas City. Parker is a brilliant leader and, says USA U20 coach Bryn Chivers, she is hugely unselfish. She is an excellent leader on the field and almost an extra coach in the way she can see how the team is going and consult with the coaches. She plays in a way that makes everyone else better.

Since I have been mainly stuck in the house since surgery I really wanted to try and get out of the house this weekend. The weather was gorgeous outside and Jake was dying to get some play time...so the girl and I decided to go to the Austin Blacks tournament here in Austin on Saturday. So we packed the crutches and grabbed the pup and we were on our way!

While the car ride did make me a little sick, it was nice to have the wind blowing in my hair and my two best friends in the world out for an adventure with me. Once we got to the fields we decided to walk around first so we could say hi to everyone and Jake could get some play time. I was surprised at how mobile I was feeling and so we probably stayed for two hours.

The rugby was good as we got to see the Dallas Harlequins, Austin Huns, Shreveport and the Austin Blacks play. Meg (roommate) was reffing and so we watched her ref for a bit too. I know it sounds weird to say "we watched the ref...." but now that I am a ref, it is helpful to study other refs to pick up skills, tactics etc with dealing with players. Meg had to give her first red card today as a player elbowed another in the back...crazy! Now she has to file a report and that player will miss two other games as a result.

Other than that the afternoon was perfect as Jake got to chase his ball, we laid out a sleeping bag and had a little picnic with our capri suns and sunshine. It was beautiful! Of course I was very swollen and tired when we got home, but it was worth it!

Read below for the recap of the tournament from the Blacks list serv:

Dear all,

This past weekend the 40th Annual Austin Rugby Tournament was held at Burr Field with Dallas Harlequins taking home the honors in both divisions.

In the Social Division, Harlequins-2 defeated Huns-2, Alamo City, and Ft. Worth to take home the Championship. Ft. Worth was runners-up with a 2-1 record.

In the Premier Division both Austin Blacks and Dallas Harlequins entered the final match of the day undefeated. Austin kicked-off deep and flanker Matt Price blocked the Quins clearance kick and pounced on the ball just over the Quins goal-line for a try in the 1st minute of play. Blacks fly-half Justin "Juddy" Wootton" converted for a 7-0 lead for Austin. However, the Quins came storming back and spent the rest of the 20 min. half in the Austin end of the field, aided by repeated Austin penalties spotted from referee Mitch Damm. The Quins could seem to do no wrong as, by game end, they were awarded 12 penaltys compared to a single penalty for the Blacks.
Due to a combination of hard running by the Quins and sloppy tackling by Austin, the Quins racked up a 20-7 lead with only 10 minutes left in the game (3 trys, 1 conversion, and 1 penalty). However, Austin finally woke up and new Austin winger, Jeff "Barbarino" Gatlin, weaved through the Quins defense for a try converted by Juddy (20-14). The Quins kicked off deep and Austin maintained possession until Juddy broke free and dotted down in the left corner to bring the score to 19-20 with no time left. Juddy's conversion attempt missed by inches and the Quins preserved the win and the championship. Nevertheless, Justin "Juddy" Wootton was the unanimous choice for Most Valuable Player of the tournament.

All participants agreed that it was an excellent tournament and a perfect start for the 2008 Spring season. Thanks to the following club members for a highly successful tournament -- Mason Herring (Tournament Director), Chris Callan (STRR referees), Steve Wiley (AAHS-concessions), Gary Jones, Robert Brennes and Chris Bugge (t-shirts and beer), Mike Graham and Royce Lemoine (fields) and Matt Fry and Pete Dufrene (parking). Apologies to any others I left off this list.

Next weekend is the official start of the Spring season with home matches against the Austin Huns. The 1st XV match kicks off at 2:00 followed by the seconds at 3:30. There will also be three other matches at Burr Field, with Huns-3 vs. Midland, UT Grads vs. McAllen, and Austin Area High School vs Stony Point High School.

The 40th Anniversary of the club's founding has been set for March 1st when we host the Dallas Harlequins at Burr Field. There will be a number of special events associated with the Anniversary celebration and we invite our Old Boys to help us organize the event. In particular, we need to contact as many of our former players as possible, especially the members of the land owners group.

Alan Sharpley
President, Austin RFC

Feeling better and better everyday and craving rugby more and more. My team started practice Wednesday night and it was hard to sit on the couch at home when I knew my teammates were out there busting their arses. I can't start anything remotely active until day 10, so I will continue to rest my body.

I have been using my CPM machine to move my knee for 6-8 hours everyday and that is about the limit of my physical abilities right now. I have also thrown aside the crutches (the gf hates that!) and have started hobbling around the house. The ice machine is still my best friend though as its rumbling soothes me to sleep...read on for some good rugby tidbits, as the web is my fix right now!

• Blog Counter, Broke 50,000!
  
  Thank you for all my readers out there, we have broken the 50,000 mark! I have worked hard over the last few months to read more blogs and to comment more. In return I have found more readers and have more and more links on my sidebar. I am always looking for new rugby blogs, so email me your blog or leave it in the comments! THANKS!
  

• USA Women's 7s Team Raffle
  from Womeneagles.com
  
  1.7.08 - The USA Women's National Team is holding a fundraiser to help support the program. They will be selling raffle tickets for a trip for two to San Diego 7s, including airfare, hotel, and tickets to tournament or $1000). Each tickets is a $10 donation or you may buy three for $25. To purchase tickets e-mail USA National Team manager Sadeana Green at sgreen24@yahoo.com. The winning ticket will drawn January 20 in Little Rock, Arkansas at the National Team Try-outs. Thanks for support our national 7s team!
  
  
• IRB targets Olympic sevens breakthrough
  By Brendan Gallagher
  
  The International Rugby Board have not yet given up on getting sevens included in the Olympics but in the murky world of International Olympic Committee politics their New Year's resolution in Dublin is to start 'boxing clever' and play the voting game much more effectively and not simply rely on the 'rights' of their case. Read more here.
  
  
• Free college gear expected next month
  from Gainline.us by Kurt Oeler
  
  Applications for USA Rugby's collegiate equipment program closed this week, and some teams could receive their National Guard-branded gear as soon as February 15.
  
  'At this point the National Guard and [USA Rugby] are willing to kit out every team that has applied,' Court Jeske, director of marketing services, said in an email.
  
  'We have a 5-week turnaround time from "orders-in" until the packages are delivered. Almost every team should receive their kit between Feb 15-March 1, if they complete the application properly,' he added.
  
  As part of a multifaceted agreement, the National Guard is underwriting the cost of uniforms and training and match equipment for hundreds of collegiate teams. The November announcement marked the union's highest-profile commercial agreement since the 2005 sale of the USA 7s.
  
  
• Collegiate Quidditch takes off — figuratively, at least
  By Craig Wilson, USA TODAY
  
  MIDDLEBURY, Vt. — The broomsticks they hold between their legs can't help them fly. The Snitch is not a winged golden ball but a young man who sprints across the field at lightning speed. And at times, the game looks like the mongrel offspring of rugby, dodge ball and soccer. But somehow it all works.
  
  The first intercollegiate Quidditch match was held here this month, and though this version of the game is earthbound, it's taking off. Originally played by wizards darting about on broomsticks in the Harry Potter novels, the game is now taking root on college campuses.
  
  "We were all Harry Potter's age when the books started," says Sam Libby, 20, a Middlebury College junior geography major from Richmond, Vt. "And Quidditch is one of the most creative things that came out of the books. We were able to create that here, follow all the rules, except the ability to fly. It just caught on."
  
  Quidditch surfaced at Middlebury two falls ago when a handful of students gathered to play a rudimentary form of the game on Sunday afternoons, making up rules extrapolated from the books.
  
  By this month's Intercollegiate Quidditch World Cup Fall Festival, there were banners, team processions worthy of Olympic opening ceremonies, halftime entertainment and 12 seven-person coed Middlebury teams vying for the chance to play the visiting team from Vassar College. Read more here.
  

Just in from USA Rugby, the Experimental Law Variations will not become part of the Law until late 2008 or early 2009. What are these experimental law variations anyways? Check out these videos I found on Youtube, they come in three parts and Paddy O'Brien explains each video:

So with much anticipation my friends and I sat down Sunday night to watch the return of the show American Gladiators! And we were not disappointed!!! The show was a complete success and would have only been better in my opinion if the show had been followed up by a showing of an older Gladiator show.

View some of the best clips from the new show and some old shows below:

The first video here is from the Sunday night Eliminator with a HUGE comeback by Venus. The second video is of a competitor "giving him the business." (If you saw the football video where the ref makes this call, this clip is hilarious!) The third clip is from the original show and just shows a few of the events.

The show has kept a few of the same events like the eliminator, but have added their own twists to a few. The Assault (my favorite!) now has a random sand pit that they have to search for the arrow to shoot at the target. We also keep seeing the preview of a gladiator being defeated in Assault, but we have yet to see it.

I am SO EXCITED about the show and am loving it. Years ago one of our teammates was on the show and it looks like we might have a repeat! There are rumors that one of our rugby players will be on season two next year some time. Hell yeah!

Feeling pretty good this morning after surgery yesterday. The doc said that surgery went very well and that he had to completely replace the ACL as it was non-existent. He was amazed that I wasn't in much more pain and that I was even walking, much less playing rugby. There was a small amount of meniscus tearing, but nothing major. Elevating, icing and having completed my morning exercises, I am ready to blog a little! Enjoy.

• Ozark Tournament 2007 Pictures
  
  Found a link to some pictures from the Ozark Tournament in November 2007. Looks mostly to be pictures of the college teams, but still pretty cool. Thanks to Michelle for sending me the link!
  
  
• Whole Lot of Linkage!
  
  I have been slowly adding more and more links to my sidebar, mostly rugby, some not. Make sure to check these blogs out because they are doing their thing! I love all the blogs appearing all over the place and he growth of the rugby bloggers!
  
  
• Finished Blogging for Rugby Dirt
  
  I did a 6 month stint on Rugby Dirt, blogging for them...it was a ton of fun, but the time has come for them to find a new blogger. Looks like they found another, check out Blaise Alter, the new blogger. My blogs are still available for searching and archiving as well.
  
  
• Rugbyfanz.com Blogging
  
  I have started posting my blogs on Rugbyfanz.com and have really enjoyed the visitors and comments I have received. The site seems to be pretty popular and is easy to navigate and has hundreds of bloggers. Make sure to check it out!
  

I will be down for a few days as I am having ACL reconstructive surgery tomorrow morning at 7am. Have a great week and I will be back blogging towards maybe Thursday or Friday.

Peace.

Found this on the web today in my surfing around...the source is here. While some of these descriptions are not entirely correct...Virgo and Pisces they are pretty funny to read. Enjoy and remember they are in good fun!

Aries - Also known as the Ram; usually plays in the scrum and hence ends up with scrolled ears. Ready to battle and lock horns at any moment, these muscular specimens are best suited to no. 8’s or blindside/openside flankers. The Ram is not afraid to go where others fear to tread (or put their heads).

Taurus – The Bull; bigger and beefier than the Ram, the Bull is the most stubborn and aggressive of the signs. These animals usually have big bollocks and do not take instructions very well from smaller forwards. Fiercely loyal and practical, this creature is easy to ire and prone to stomping or rucking. Flaring nostrils are its “tell” and one should avoid direct eye contact once nostrils have been activated. Make great props.

Gemini – The Twins. This pair work best in tandem and have a give and take system going. Usually found in lock positions, these two generally decide before who is going for what so that there is no doubling up or misunderstanding of moves. Unusual for them both to catch the bouquet at the same time, but both are good jumpers. Thank goodness most are not identical.

Cancer – The Crab can move at remarkable pace and, due to its sideways moving proficiency, makes an excellent (no, not soup) scrum half. Also well known (notorious) for nipping at referees’ ankles and being incessantly talkative. Don’t be fooled by their size; if they grab hold of you with their pincers they can hold on for dear life and may need to be prized off. Boiling water can help with this or if desperate, urine works just as well, apparently.

Leo – The Lion. This dominant beast rules the center section of the line. Ferocious, fierce and agile these centres can break lines and bring down any of the other big five opposition. Good defenders and attackers. Often have flowing mains (dreaded) and can tend to be vain if left unchecked.

Virgo – The Virgin. A shy, reticent creature, the Virgin is extremely rare and not often spotted on the paddock or in the changing rooms. Difficult to identify as never admits to being part of this genus.

Libra – The Scales. This skilled professional has great balance, good judgement and is not afraid of the up-and-unders. Plus these full backs traditionally have lots of pace, sense of fair play and their point of reference is the back line. Can get unbalanced when under pressure and lose concentration when there is too much action near them messing with their equilibrium.

Scorpio – The Scorpion is the most vengeful of all the signs. Mean and cunning, this anthropoid-type creature is most suited as flanker. It has a tough outer armour and venomous sting, and will do almost anything to get what it wants. Often has a distinctive fluorescent marker in its hair.

Sagittarius – The Archer. Half man half horse (we all know which half we would prefer) the archer is tough as a stead but can still manage to elegantly arch back and throw quite accurately. These hookers sometimes get confused with lots of combinations being called out mixed in with crowd noise. This can lead to a crooked throw, an incorrect placement or loss of possession. In these situations the Archer is then transformed into a half idiot half ass.

Capricorn – The Goat-fish. One of the most versatile of the lot, this species is good at running over rocky opposition or swimming through defensive lines. Quite methodical by nature and good at tactical decisions, often found at fly-half. The conservative nature and practical aspect can lead to obsessive and anti-social behaviour in some cases.

Aquarius – The Water Carrier. The least favorite of the signs, the water carrier is never by choice, but depends on injury, form or reconditioning selections. Can adopt other signs' characteristics if given a chance but sometimes these unfortunates are confined to the bench and the sheds for long cycles.

Pisces – The Fish is the final sign of the constellation and is a versatile, adaptable, and creative creature. These prefer the wings and if confined tend to create space. They can be small and fast, or big and strong depending on their migration lines. Can also apparently drink like fish.