Brittany Daugherty, a sophomore inside center, passes the ball to Emma Cherry, a sophomore wing, while Jo Rider, a junior wing, runs with them during a line drill Tuesday at rugby practice on the fields behind Abe Martin Field. “We’re a team and a family on and off the rugby field, and we welcome anyone who wants to join us and be a part of it,” said Ashley Foster, the president of the rugby team. – Jess Vermeulen | Daily Egyptian
Ashley Foster said the rugby team gives tough love a new meaning.
The SIU women’s rugby team, a Registered Student Organization, is comprised of 25 students with a variety of experience in the sport, from those who just heard of it for the first time to those who have been in the sport for years. The goal of this Registered Student Organization is to bring students together through tackling, roughhousing and understanding how to play rugby, said club president Ashley Foster.
“This team is like a family, we all love each other here,” said Foster.
Rugby, while being a violent sport, creates a sense of unity among its members, she said.
“There are some scuffles on the field,” Foster said. “We all know you leave everything that happens on the field though. It creates a sort of camaraderie, something we can all sort of bond over.”
Foster, a second-year graduate student in communication disorders and sciences, said she first found an interest in rugby at the University of Illinois.
“It was hard for me to find a clique of friends,” Foster said. “I got recruited and the rugby girls were just very independent, athletic and very hardworking. We just kind of clicked.”
Foster said her relationship with the team at the University of Illinois has kept her with the sport and helped her develop a fondness for it.
The club accepts anyone interested in joining and does not make cuts, Foster said.
For people who pick up the sport for the first time, it can take a while to understand the rules, Foster said. She said it took her about two years before she became confident with what was happening on the field.
“It was hard to learn everything, but it was fun so I stuck with it,” Foster said. “I am glad I did it. I love the sport.”
Club coach Erin Dickson said the sport can take a bit of time to learn, but the team does not cut anyone. She said the only stipulation to joining is the player must be a female student at SIUC.
Dickson said players often don’t realize how complicated the game can be until the first time they step on the field.
“That first game is a real learning experience,” Dickson said. “Once it is out of the way, it gets better. The game can be pretty intimidating though.”
Jessica Schleinzer, a senior studying hospitality, has been on the team for four years and said players stick it out for different reasons, but those who do stay with the sport love it deeply.
“For some of the players, it is all they have,” Schleinzer said. “We can be very passionate.”
Dickson is one of those people. Dickson said she has been involved in the sport since the spring of 2000, but broke her shoulder in April 2009 and took up coaching as a way to stay in the sport.
“I just wanted to continue to be involved with rugby in some way,” Dickson said. “Outside of school and work, this is all I think about. I love this game and I am happy that I can still be a part of it, even if I can’t play.”
Unlike typical collegiate sports, the players decide what away games they play. Foster said if the team is on good terms with a host team, it would contact the SIU rugby club and ask if it wished to participate. For other larger tournaments, the rugby club has to sign up months in advance to be a part of it.
“If we go to a place we’re not as familiar with, we’ll stay in a hotel or something,” Foster said. “If we go somewhere where we are friends with the team, we might just crash with them. Like if we’re in Memphis for instance, we just stay with them.”
The majority of the team’s funds for travel come from Ruggapalooza, a yearly tournament in September hosted in Carbondale, Dickson said.
The rugby team’s next tournament is Nash Bash, a tournament that takes place March 27 in Nashville.
For more information, contact Foster at ashleyfoster9@gmail.com.
Derek Robbins can be reached at drobbins@dailyegyptian.com or 536-3311 ext. 273.
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