A Senior's Story

Kettle Moraine's senior captain, a young lady named Taylor, was recently asked by WGR to try to put into words her rugby experience.  Once we received her submission and read it over, we realized that many young rugby players have similar sentiments about their experiences ... the joy in being part of a team trying to accomplish a common goal, while at the same time facing something individually demanding.  We're impressed that the lessons she remembers aren't about rugby at all; they're life lessons.  It's why coaches come back to coach after a great playing experience; it's why players come back year after year to play for four years of high school, and it's why parents support us players traveling. in some cases even all over the country.

Here's her story, in her words:

"I started playing rugby in the spring of my freshman year of high school. After years of competitive gymnastics, I was looking for a new sport (preferably something team-oriented) to try. The very few things I had heard about rugby made it sound new, unique, and exciting, so naturally I had to find out more. Showing up for my first rugby practice was one of the hardest, most confusing things I had ever gone through. Everyone was talking at the same time, passing strangely-shaped balls back and forth with ease, and saying words I had never heard before in my life. I loved it.

Though the game was both mentally and physically demanding in ways that were much different than what I was used to, I decided to stick with it. I was still intrigued by all of the words and skills, patterns and plays that I had never used before and spent hours at home watching recorded rugby games, texting teammates with questions, and passing a ball to myself or a helpful family member in the back yard. The challenge was fun, but there were two things that kept me coming back: the unmistakable and unparalleled “rugby atmosphere” and the life lessons I brought home with me every week.

Over the course of my seven seasons, rugby taught me more than I can possibly explain. It taught me how to read others and act accordingly, how to adapt quickly to an ever-changing environment, how to put the success of my team before my individual success. The need to bounce back up after every tackle gave me an understanding of mind over matter as the need to take on bigger, stronger, or faster players taught me that the most important part of a person is not what you see, but the passion beneath that surface. Though I didn’t exactly realize it as I was learning them, these lessons will help me off of the field just as much as they have helped me on it.

Perhaps the most important thing I have learned playing rugby is the real meaning of the word family. DNA hardly matters when it comes down to it; what’s truly important is who will (both literally and figuratively) be with you to ruck when you get tackled, call from the sidelines to help you make good decisions, or continue to cheer you on when nothing seems to go in your favor. Whether they are the teammates who will literally hold you up when you’ve spent all your energy doing something you love or the opponents who will reach down to help you up when you fall hard, these people are your family.

Though playing high school girls’ rugby started as something fun to do with my afternoons, it quickly became a huge part of my life. In just over three years, rugby has shaped the person I’ve become. I can honestly say I don’t know one high school rugger who regrets playing or who hasn’t changed for the better as she played. I fell in love with this sport seven seasons ago, and I wouldn’t give up those seven seasons for the world."

Thanks for sharing you story and good luck next year in college.  In fact, good luck to all our "WGR Alumni" and hopefully we'll see you out there playing college rugby somewhere!