After a long car ride to one of our players house in South Bend, Indiana, we spent the night there and would have to wake up bright and early Saturday morning to finish our trip to Grand Rapids, Michigan. We got to Davenport University at 8:30am and got suited up for our huge match up. Their facility was incredible, there was a turf rugby pitch and they had locker rooms and a trainers area for pre game prep. We were all a little shocked because we do not have anything close to that for our team at Slippery Rock. We hit the field for warm-ups and a quick practice before the game. Some people were very energized while others seemed a bit timid. We were announced and they played the national anthem which was new for us as well, haha. In that moment, I could not have been prouder to be a part of Slippery Rock Women's Rugby. Just making it to that game was an amazing feat and we wanted Davenport University to remember us. The game started with a kickoff by Davenport to us and then the game was off to a running start. It did not take long to figure out who was winning this game however..... Davenport ended up scoring several trys in the first couple minutes. Needless to say that Davenport defeated us by a significant amount. The game was played tough, but this team was highly trained and we simply could not match their sheer power. This is an issue with the way rugby clubs are run, we are both Division 2 club sports, but they are a team that is highly funded by their school. They have a coaching staff of 5 people, trainers, buses, post game ice baths, locker rooms, turf, and a school that really cares about them. Slippery Rock however, does not have a coach (we cannot afford one), we drive ourselves to our away games (the school reimburses us for gas), if we have an injury there is no one there to help other than players or maybe parents, no locker rooms, no ice baths, we buy water gallons from sheetz before our games, and we pay out of pocket for all new equipment. The school gives us a little money for the year but it typically goes to the price of the Cherry Blossom Invitational tournament in the spring that takes place in Washington DC. Our rugby program at Slippery Rock University could be very successful if we were just given the opportunity to add a few things to our program. The most needed things for this program is a coach and game day athletic trainers. If more people saw how much work we have to put into our team just to keep it going then maybe the school will recognize it as well. All in all, this weekend was a great learning experience for our team and it left a lot to learn as well as a lot of bruises, haha. Rock Rugby is done for the season but will keep training to get better in the offseason. Tournament season will begin in March of 2016.
ROCK RUGBY
