Your Scrumhalf Connection - Women's Rugby Blog

**This is a writeup from the Coach of the Austin Valkyries, Meg Pace and was re-posted on Goffonrugby.com as well as this blog.

The West women's club season started for the Austin Valkyries as they hosted the Kansas City Jazz for their only cup match of the Spring.

The game started out with both teams probing the other for weaknesses. The Jazz kicked off to the Valks who played a strong possession game early but gained little ground as the Jazz attempted to pin the ball down in the Austin half of the field. The change came when the Valks committed a penalty just outside the 22 meter line which KC converted for a 3-0 lead.

Not jolted by this setback Austin regathered and pressured well off the restart. A powerful scrum deep in Jazz territory and a well-taken eight man pick with pass out to the scrumhalf Meg Pace led to a try.

From this point, the Valks dominated the first half. They pinned the KC team down in their own end for an extended time and forced their opponent into a crucial error - a turnover in a ruck gave a chance for a KC clearance kick, but the kick missed touch and wing Heidi Whitman weaved through the entire Jazz 15 to score. After that effort the Valks maintained possession and field position but did not score again in the first half though the run of play favored them.

Halftime score: Valks 12 Jazz 3

The second half started with the Valks kicking into a setting sun and coming out firing on all cylinders. They pushed the Jazz backwards consistently and about 15 minutes into the half, the pack executed a series of crashes all the way over the line for a try by Traci Schmidtke, 17-3. The Jazz fought back and scored two well-worked tries in the backline, and identified where they could breach the Austin defense.

But the Jazz continued to have troubles up front, but looked dangerous anytime they got good ball. After tying the score at 17, KC was unable to take it over the top as the Austin backline solidified once again and continued the pressure defense and hard tackling of the first half to stop their opponents. With the score tied, Austin upped the pressure once again and through a series of strong crashing play mixed with hard hitting defense, slowly drove back down the field. Approximately 30 minutes into the second half, Austin attacked off a stolen scrum and scored off a weakside play to lead 22-17.

KC worked hard to recover, but was not able to break the Valks or even move forward out of their own end. With about five minutes left in the game, the Austin pack stole the ball and maintained possession over several dominating rucks before dishing weak to Whitman for her second.

Whitman could be heard calling out "I'll take it if you want." And then she took it all the way.

4-19 Black Ice vs Glendale Denver, CO
4-19 Boulder Babes vs St. Louis Sabres Boulder, CO

5-3 Glendale vs Boston USA Rugby Challenge Match Glendale, CO
5-17 St. Louis Sabres vs Black Ice St. Louis, CO

Just a short update today....

Austin Valkyries 29 Kanasas City Jazz 17 (League Match)

Glendale 32 vs Chicago 0 (Thanks Karl!)
**Not a challenge match as I thought.

More details and pictures of the Valkyries match later.

ENJOY YOUR SUNDAY!!

What a day, what a day. April 10, 2008 by far has been the worst day in awhile.

I won't bore you with the details of my horrible day, but will just get right to the worst part of the day. When I have a bad day I like to eat bad food and that bad food is usually pizza. I ordered a large pizza with half ham and half cheese (The Girl likes cheese...yuck!) and the Parmesan bread sticks. If you haven't had the Parmesan bread sticks...you must partake...they may change your life.

Anyways, so I was sitting here watching the Simpsons waiting for my pizza, then it dawned on me that sometimes The Girl uses my log on to order pizza for her office. And lo and behold I had ordered the pizza and then had it delivered to her office. But yet, that is not the tip of the iceberg.

The tip of the iceberg is that The Girl is an accountant and we are 4 days from April 15, 2008. So basically that means that it is 7:35pm and she probably won't be home until around 9pm. So here are my choices:

a) go across to town get the pizza
b) guilt The Girl into coming home early
c) call and try to get a refund
d) wait

You know what reason I chose? D...because I have had one to many beverages to drive myself across town. So here's to the worst day of the year...F*&K YOU.

**Update: Got my pizza last night at 9:45pm...on the flip side, glad I got my pizza...but even worse that The Girl had to work that late.

BOULDER, Colo. – U.S. Women’s Sevens Coach Julie McCoy has announced the squad that will travel to the Netherlands for the Amsterdam Sevens Tournament set to be held on May 17-18.

The Women’s Sevens team goes into Amsterdam following back-to-back victories in its last two outings. The USA beat Canada to win the San Diego International Women’s Sevens in February and again defeated its cross-border rivals 21-7 in the Women’s Hong Kong Sevens championship match on March 28.

The team named to for the 37th Annual Amsterdam Sevens includes a majority of the members from the recent Hong Kong Sevens tournament, with a few new additions. Amy Daniels (Beantown), Pam Kosanke (Chicago North Shore), Alison Price (New York) and Kelly White (Belmont Shore) will not make the trip to the Netherlands and McCoy has added Stacy Bennett, Phaidra Knight, Melissa McKibben and Jess Watkins to round out the squad of 12.

The USA Women’s Sevens Team for Amsterdam includes:

Stacy Bennett (NOVA), Tyshawn Henry (New York), Ellie Karvoski (Little Rock), Phaidra Knight (New York), Teena Mastrangelo (Chicago North Shore), Melissa McKibben (Kansas City Jazz), Ines Rodriguez (Keystone), Christy Ringgenberg (Minnesota Valkyries), Jenn Starkey (NOVA), Lindsey Stephenson (Orlando), JoAnne Ward (Albany) and Jess Watkins (Stanford).

USA Rugby staff accompanying the team in Amsterdam includes: Head Coach Julie McCoy, Assistant Coaches Chris Ryan and Drew Fautley, Manager Sadeana Green and Physio Michael Moses.

For more information on the USA Women’s Sevens National Team, visit www.usarugby.org/goto/womens_sevens.

Check this post out for the weird, out of ordinary and just plain cool rugby stories from across the web!

• Are you ready for RUGBY?
  
  The typical rugger's high fitness level stems in part from the dynamic nature of the game itself. Unlike American football, in which the action stops once a player is tackled, rugby calls for play to continue until a foul is committed, the ball goes out of bounds or a goal (try) is scored. Under the rules, a tackled player must give up the ball and let opposing players scramble for it.
  
  Rugby fitness also results from the multiple demands the game places on the body, says Robyn Smith, a personal trainer who is both a conditioning coach and player for the Black Ice women's team in Denver. She's also a certified kettle bells instructor.
  
  "In rugby, you have to train whole muscular systems, because you're never using just one muscle," Smith says. "Bench presses and leg pushes are not going to help us much, because they're not functional exercises. We need more than just brute
  The Black Ice rugby team gathered for practice at Garland Park in Denver on Monday, March 31 , 2008. Conditioning coach and player Robyn Smith swings a 35 pound kettle bell during the workout. (Cyrus McCrimmon, The Denver Post)
  strength. We have to be fast and explosive. We need to be able to get tackled and get right up off the ground and back on our feet."
  
  For more of the article...click here.
  
  
• Bragg Rugby - Airborne 7's Tournament - May 17th
  
  Part of the proceeds from our Airborne 7's Tournament is to raise money for Todd Miller's family. He was a #10 from Longwood Collegiate Team and was injured during a rugby match and unfortunately passed away as a result from the injury. Our intent is to raise as much money for the family and we will ask their coach and team as well to participate in the day's tournament. If any teams would like to help out, we are having a 50/50 cash raffle and they will be selling items to help raise money as well. Thank you in advance...
  
  V/R SFC Ray Hernandez
  US Army
  "Bragg RFC Coach"
  
  
• Prom Rugby Charity Match mixes sweat and dresses
  
  With their sequined prom dresses shining in the sun, about 30 women wrapped their arms around one another and smiled wide for the camera. Some had their hair in curls, and others donned tiaras.
  
  But they all had one garment in common: sports bras.
  
  The UF Women's Rugby squad marched onto the UVS Field Saturday morning, clad in formal wear and cleats, for its seventh annual Prom Rugby Charity Match. The squad collected donations for Sunna, a program named for a Scandinavian sun goddess that aims to help women cope with cancer through the Shands at UF Cancer Center.
  
  For more of the article go here.
  Pictures of the event can be found here.
  Video of Rugby Prom here.
  
  
• Underwater Rugby
  
  Check out these two videos of Underwater Rugby...crazy stuff!
  
  
  
  
  
  

Welcome to the latest news in Collegiate Women's Rugby!

• West Collegiate D1 & D2 Results
  Go here for the D1 & D2 Results (mens and womens)
  

• USA Rugby Announces Finalized Teams, Schedule for National Guard College Club Playoffs
  
  SCORES/RESULTS are here.
  
  BOULDER, Colo. – USA Rugby officially announced today the full field of teams for the USA Rugby National Guard Division I and II Men’s and Women’s College Club Playoffs set to kick off on Friday, April 18 at 1:30 pm at Balloon Fiesta Park in Albuquerque, N.M.
  
  In addition to finalizing the qualifying teams, USA Rugby is also able to announce its broadcast schedule for the USA Rugby National Guard College Club Playoff event. The USA Rugby Network will broadcast all of the games set to play on Field 1 and will be available by streaming video via USA Rugby’s website (www.usarugby.org.) The full match and broadcast schedule is listed below.
  
  
  Finalized Match Schedule*
  
  
  Friday, April 18
  1:30: Dartmouth v BYU (DI MEN)
  1:30: San Diego State v Arkansas State (DI MEN)
  2:00: St. Mary’s v Air Force (DI MEN)
  2:00: Bowling Green State v Kutztown (DI MEN)
  2:30: Cal v Tennessee (DI MEN)
  2:30: Army v Cal Poly (DI MEN)
  3:00: Penn State v Minnesota (DI MEN)
  3:00: Colorado v Utah (DI MEN)
  4:00: Northern Iowa v Stanford (DI WOMEN)
  4:00: Virginia v Colorado (DI WOMEN)
  4:30: Brown v West Chester (DI WOMEN)
  4:30: UCLA v UC Davis (DI WOMEN)
  
  Saturday, April 19th
  9:00: Penn State v Florida (DI WOMEN)
  9:00: Chico State v Indiana (DI WOMEN)
  9:00: Texas A&M v Cal (DI WOMEN)
  9:00: Vassar v Navy (DI WOMEN)
  10:30: Coast Guard v Loyola (DII MEN)
  10:30: Michigan v Radford (DII MEN)
  10:30: Middlebury v Northern Colorado (DII MEN)
  10:30: Utah Valley State v East Carolina (DII MEN)
  11:30: Norwich v Shippensburg (DII WOMEN)
  11:30: Wayne State v UC Santa Cruz (DII WOMEN)
  11:30: East Carolina v Claremont (DII WOMEN)
  11:30: UNM-Duluth v WWU (DII WOMEN)
  1:30: Winner of Dartmouth/ BYU v Winner of SDSU/ Arkansas State (DI MEN)
  1:30: Loser of Dartmouth/ BYU v Loser of SDSU/ Arkansas State (DI MEN)
  2:00: Winner of St. Mary’s/ Air Force v Winner of BGSU/ Kutztown (DI MEN)
  2:00: Loser of St. Mary’s/ Air Force v Loser of BGSU/ Kutztown (DI MEN)
  3:00: Loser of Cal/Tennessee v Loser of Army/ Cal Poly (DI MEN)
  3:30: Winner of Cal/Tennessee v Winner of Army/ Cal Poly (DI MEN)*
  3:30: Winner of Penn State/ Minnesota v Winner of Colorado/ Utah (DI MEN)
  3:30: Loser of Penn State/ Minnesota v Loser of Colorado/ Utah (DI MEN)
  4:00: Winner of Stanford/ UNI v Winner of Virginia/ Colorado (DI WOMEN)
  4:00: Loser of Stanford/ UNI v Loser of Virginia/ Colorado (DI WOMEN)
  4:30: Winner of Brown/ West Chester v Winner of UCLA/ UC Davis (DI WOMEN)
  4:30: Loser of Brown/ West Chester v Loser of UCLA/ UC Davis (DI WOMEN)
  
  Sunday, April 20
  8:30: Winner of Texas A&M/ Cal v Winner of Vassar/ Navy (DI WOMEN)
  8:30: Loser of Texas A&M/ Cal v Loser of Vassar/ Navy (DI WOMEN)
  8:30: Winner of Penn State/ Florida v Winner of Chico State/ Indiana (DI WOMEN)
  8:30: Loser of Penn State/ Florida v Loser of Chico State/ Indiana (DI WOMEN)
  10:00: Winner of Norwich/Shippensburg v Winner of Wayne State/ UC Santa Cruz(DII WOMEN)
  10:00: Loser of Norwich/Shippensburg v Loser of Wayne State/ UC Santa Cruz (DII WOMEN)
  10:00 Winner of ECU/ Claremont v Winner of UNM-Duluth/ WWU (DII WOMEN)
  10:00: Loser of ECU/ Claremont v Loser of UNM-Duluth/ WWU (DII WOMEN)
  11:00: Winner of Coast Guard/ Loyola v Winner of Michigan/ Radford (DII MEN)
  11:00: Loser of Coast Guard/ Loyola v Loser of Michigan/ Radford (DII MEN)
  11:00: Winner of Middlebury/UNCo v Winner of UVSC/ECU (DII MEN)
  11:00: Loser of Middlebury/UNCo v Loser of UVSC/ECU (DII MEN)
  
  *Please be aware times have changed to accommodate broadcast schedule
  
  Webcast Matches
  
  Friday, April 18th
  2:00: St. Mary’s College vs. Air Force (DI Men)
  4:00: Univ. of Northern Iowa v Stanford (DI Women)
  
  Saturday, April 19th
  9:00: Penn State v Univ of Florida (DI Women)
  11:30: Norwich v Shippensburg (DII Women)
  1:30: Winner of Dartmouth/ BYU v Winner of SDSU/ Arkansas State (DI MEN)
  3:30: Winner of Cal/Tennessee and Winner of Army/Cal Poly (DI Men)
  
  Sunday, April 20th
  8:30: Winner of TX A&M/ Cal and winner of Vassar/ Navy (DI WOMEN)
  11:00: Winner of Coast Guard/ Loyola and winner of Mich/ Radford (DII MEN)
  
  For full tournament brackets, seeds and match ups please visit www.usarugby.org/goto/usar_championships and click on the respective collegiate division.
  
  
• Collegiate D1 Women Top 10
  from USArugby.org
  

  American Rugby News Rankings	Alex Goff's ERugbyNews Rankings	Coaches' Poll	Final Composite Rankings
  1. Penn State(1)	1. Brown(1)	1. Penn State(1)	1. Penn State(1)
  2. Stanford(2)	2. Navy(2)	2. Brown(4)	2. Brown(4)
  3. Texas A&M(3)	3. Texas A&M(3)	3. Navy(5)	3. Navy(5)
  4. Brown(4)	4. Penn State(4)	4. Stanford(2)	4. Stanford(2)
  5. Navy(5)	5. Stanford(5)	5. Chico State(7)	5. Texas A&M(3)
  6. Chico State(6)	6. Chico State(6)	6. Texas A&M(3)	6. Chico State(6)
  7. Indiana(7)	7. Cornell(7)	7. Virginia(8)	7. Virginia(8)
  8. Virginia(8)	8. Virginia(9)	8. UC Davis(9)	8. Cornell(10)
  9. Vassar(9)	9. Army(8)	9. Cornell(-)	9. UC Davis(-)
  10. Cornell(10)	10. Clemson(10)	10. Vassar(-)	10. Vassar(-)

  
  

• Women’s Rugby 2-1 In Blue Balls Tournament At Fort Drum
  
  The SUNY Cortland women’s rugby club had 2 wins to their 1 loss at the annual Blue Balls Tournament played at Fort Drum, NY. Cortland posted 2 shutouts on the day before being shutout in their final game. In the opening contest, Jessica Thompson scored the only try of the match to lead Cortland to a 5-0 shutout victory over St. Lawrence University. The second contest had much more scoring and Cortland cruised to a 34-0 win over the Cornell-B squad. Jessica Thompson, Caroline Buckingham, Amanda Hickey, Sarah Miura, Kate Mahan, and Jamie Alba all scored in the winning effort. Renee Miller also converted 2 kicks in the match. Unfortunately, Cortland would run out of gas in the third game, losing to the Cornell-A team 33-0.
  
  
• Four-Leaf Fifteens Tournament
  
  The 5th annual Four Leaf Fifteens tournament was a smashing success! We also raised over $11,000 in our St. Baldrick's charity event to benefit childhood cancer research!
  
  Congratulations to all of the winners and thanks to everyone for coming!
  
  Women's Club Division:
  Winner: New York Women
  Runner Up: Boston Women A-Side
  
  Men's Club Division:
  Winner: Jersey Shore A-Side
  Runner Up: Village Lions
  
  Men's Social Division:
  Winner: Buffalo Old Boys
  Runner Up: Lansdowne
  
  Men's University Division:
  Winner: Wilfrid Laurier University
  Runner Up: University of Albany
  
  Women's University Division:
  Winner: Providence
  Runner Up: Northeastern
  
  Picture from the event can be found here.
  
  
• Lady Ruggers play for spots
  
  With the No. 1 seed locked up in the upcoming national championships, the Lady Ruggers have one thing left to do: determine what 60 players are filling the 28 spots.
  
  And those players laid it all on the line over the weekend, trying to punch their ticket to New Mexico.
  
  "I can't feel my body right now," freshman flyhalf Kasey Ferlic said. "I played 250 minutes of rugby this weekend."
  
  Over the weekend, the Penn State women's rugby team took part in the Keystone Tournament, which consisted of a field of 10 mostly Division II college teams. The team was divided into two squads, and both were evenly mixed with A-side and B-side players.
  
  Each Penn State squad played five games, and both Lady Rugger squads finished first and second in the tournament. Penn State Blue won the Keystone Cup by beating Bryn Mawr, 39-0. Penn State White took second with a win over Ursinius, 41-0.
  
  Both teams won all five of their games, scoring a combined 200 points and shut out every one of their opponents.
  
  These victories were just more of the usual, as Penn State has won all four prior Keystone Cups. But this time, the Lady Ruggers made sure they didn't play down to schools such as Kutztown, York, and Colgate.
  
  "We have a tendency to play at [lesser teams'] level," junior hooker Kristen Snyder said. "I'm glad we didn't do that this year."
  
  The score may be misleading, however, because Penn State's opponents had numerous opportunities, including times they got the ball to the 5-yard line before being stopped.
  
  Still, goal-line defense is exactly what Penn State coach Pete Steinberg wanted to see.
  
  "The key thing we did is we were able to hold onto the ball, and tackle hard to get it back," Steinberg said. "The score was [the way it was] because we dominated on possession."
  
  Although Snyder didn't describe the tricks the Keystone club taught them, she did say that the Lady Ruggers were able to scrum with them and gained valuable experience through their interaction.
  
  "[This weekend] showed something that was talked about all season: the incredible depth and experience of this squad," he said. "There's going to be some real difficult selections."
  
  
• The Keystone Philadelphia Cup 2008 April 5-6, 2008
  
  PSU - Blue - 2008 Cup Winner!
  PSU - White - 2008 Plate Winner!
  York College - Sportsmanship Award Winner!
  
  Full results from the Keystone Philadelphia Cup 2008 can be found here.
  

Austin is jumping with RUGBY!!

Saturday, April 12, at Burr Field will be the final league matches for this season against Woodlands RFC. The Blacks (2:00 kick-off) have already clinched a berth in the West Championship Final against Glendale, CO, winner of the West’s Northern League which includes Glendale, Aspen, Denver Highlanders, Boulder, Kansas city Blues, Kansas City, Omaha. The Final will be played in Ft. Worth on Saturday, April 26, at 3pm. While the Blacks don’t need the win against Woodlands on Saturday to advance in the playoffs, we need the momentum going in to the final against a tough Glendale side. In addition, a win on Saturday secures the Blacks the TRU Premier Championship over Dallas Harlequins.

The Golds have also clinched a berth in next weekend’s TRU B-side Championship and need a win over Woodlands this Saturday (3:30 kickoff) to continue the streak we started with last weekend’s 72-0 win over San Antonio. The B-Side Championships are next weekend in Dallas with the Golds playing league-leader Dallas Harlequins at 2:00 and Woodlands playing host Dallas Reds at 3:30. The winners play at 1pm on Sunday.

There will be a Rugby Festival atmosphere this weekend at Burr Field. In addition to the two ARFC matches, the Huns play HARC in league matches (12:00 and 1:30), the Valkyries play Kansas City Jazz in a West League match, and the TRU Div.3 Championships will be played. A complete schedule is listed below.

Plan to come out to Burr Field this weekend and support your Austin Rugby Football Club.
Alan Sharpley, President

Burr Field Schedule - Sat., April 12
KO	Field 1 - TRU Div.3 Semi-finals	KO	Field 2	KO	Field 3
2:00	Ft.Worth vs. Alamo City	2:00	Blacks vs. Woodlands I	12:00	Huns I vs. HARC
4:00	McAllen vs. Oklahoma City	3:30	Golds vs. Woodlands II	1:30	Huns II vs. HARC
		5:00	Valkyries vs. KC Jazz
Sunday, April 13
1:00	TRU Div.3 Championship

4 Divisions

*Open and Premier (includes Men's and Collegiate in the same bracket, in both Open and Premier)
*Women’s
*High School

Prize Money 1st Place
Premier -$500.00

1st Place
Open - $400.00
Women’s -$400.00
High School Girls - $300.00
High School Boys- $300.00

This Year we are playing once again out at the Creve Coeur Park fields. Some of you may have played with us in years past at our Forest Park location (Dust Bowl). The Creve Coeur Park is a much greener and softer environment. Plus our Westport area has an abundance of hotels and bars within 5 miles of the pitch. Also for the High School sides we will try and get some area events that may interest them. Cardinals Baseball, or Dave & Buster’s enormous game and restaurant are within 1mile.

Teams

Men's		Women's		HS Boys		HS Girls
Palmer		Heart of America		St. Charles Chicago		Brighton (TN)
East Side Hyenas		St. Louis Sabres		Francis Howell		Iowa
Milwaukee RFC		Washington University		Eureka		Des Moines
Chicago Blaze		Mizzou		Brighton (TN) - A		KC Dragons
Sunday Morning RFC		County Will		Brighton (TN) - B		St. Louis Sirens
St. Louis Hornets		Northshore		Brighton (TN) - C
KC RFC				Brighton (TN) - D
Springfield (MO)				Chicago Colts
Arkansas Gryphons				Kirkwood
DePaul				Milwaukee
County Sundogs
Kstate
Minnesota - A
Minnesota - B
Black Monks
Central Missouri
County Shamrocks
Missouri S&T - Rolla
KU Jayhawks
Rowdies Rugby Club
Northland
St. Louis Ramblers
Washington University
Principia

Saturday's Bracket


They have a Sunday Bracket as well, but no results...I have emailed the contacts on the Missouri Website asking for full results, so hopefully I will be able to post them soon.

If you know results, who won, pictures etc, post them in the comments!


**UPDATE - Detroit Tradesmen won the Premier, Johnson County Sundongs won the open, and the HOA selectside senior side won the womens bracket.

D1 Finals
Texas A&M 47 Colorado 12

D1 Consolation
Air Force 17 Wyoming 0

D2 Finals
Wayne State 22 Truman State 17

D2 Consolation
CSU 38 TX Tech 0

D1 Results (Saturday)
Texas A&M 28 Airforce 8
Colorado 32 Wyoming 14

D2 Results (Saturday)
Tx Tech 0 Wayne St 8
CSU 32 Truman State 33

Men's

LSU 20 Nebraska 7
UNC Regis no score
Air Force 20 Colorado 23
Missouri 0 Tx State 7

Saturday's Results
Air Force 40 Nebraska 12
Colorado 37 LSU 21
UNC 31? TX State 17
Missouri 7 Regis 13

I know its been a while since I have wrote about my knee, my life or my personal rugby adventures...and I know you have been waiting with abated breath...so here I go!

The last month has been crazy at work, we have been WAY busier than normal and that is a good thing. I recently began doing web site work for my company as well and that extra little project is pretty time consuming. I have finally learned what most of middle America already knows, once you are salary, the hours don't matter. I am not complaining though, I love my job and the people make it worth the extra hours! So basically the rugby posting has turned into news and updates for awhile since I am so busy at work.

The knee is doing fabulous, I have been a bit of a gym slacker lately (look above for the extra hours at work), but have been able to start doing more at practice. Last Saturday I attended the Texas Rugby Union Senior All-Star Tryouts with the intention of just giving Dave (head coach) a hand, but my competitive spirit got the best of me. Since I now have my sexy new ACL brace the BREG Fusion I am starting to be able to cut and do some more active rugby work.

So at the tryout they ran the dreaded Beep Test and I was going to just count for my partner, but then I was incredibly curious to see how far I could make it...so of course I ran it. Drum roll please....

I got a 6.8....

Not bad for limited working out for 3 months with a brand new ACL! Surprisingly I beat almost half the camp (even a few backs!) and that is interesting as well! Just an FYI I did some research on typical Beep Scores and Elite Beep Scores check it out below:

*Front Row: 9 -11 stages, 2nd Row: 10-11, Back Row: 11-13, Half backs: 12 & Backs: 12-13

*The Dutch U21 selection used the scale above.

**The Springboks in 2007 expected scores for the beep test range from 11.5 for the props up to 13.5 for the backs (conducted on grass, more on Springboks norms).

**NSW (Australia) Under 17 rugby union squad are required to reach at least level 10.8 (Tamworth Leader, retrieved Aug 07).

**Most professional rugby flankers score in the 12 to 13 range, while props score around level 10. Jonah Lomu, the awesome 260 lb winger from the New Zealand All Blacks, has a best of only level 10 explaining why he is a winger and not a number 8.

**These results and others were found at Topendsports.com and may be factual or not...

Sorry to go off on a tangent there, I haven't ran the Beep Test in quite some time. The last time I ran an 11 something, so halfway to my regular beep score at 3 months after ACL surgery is pretty good! So at practice I have ceased standing around wishing I could play and now I am able to do ball handling, fitness etc as long as it doesn't contain contact. The knee feels really strong and I get less sore everyday I attend practice. While the knee is less sore, it is making me feel more reckless, I have began dreaming about playing as early as May...

So a little update on me and my ACL recovery, fitness and busy work life. Hopefully work will calm down and I will be able to return to my regular blogging, not just regurgitation. Thanks for reading!

This weekend the Valkyries are playing Little Rock, AR (University of Oklahoma dropped out) at 1:00pm at Highland Park in Dallas, TX. I will also be at Western Collegiates all weekend reporting live scores and updates.