In a few days, Catholic Memorial High School junior Julie Else will board a plane headed for her country of birth, the Philippines. After a few days training with the Philippine Women’s rugby team, she will fly to Pune, India to compete in Rugby Sevens, in the Asian Games. As part of the Olympic cycle, the Asian games begin the build up to the 2016 Rio Olympics where rugby will feature as a main event.
A recent article in the Waukesha Freeman on 9/18 chronicled her journey. According to the article, “Else was born into poverty in the Philippines and spent most of her life in group homes. It’s part of Else’s life she doesn’t like to talk much about, but it helped shape her into the fighter she is today.”
“We have a saying in our house: You don’t ever give up,’ said Kim Else, Julie’s adoptive mother. ‘I would say she’s taken that beyond the limit and doesn’t give up on anything she does.”
“She fights to study, and sometimes we have to tell her to go to bed,” her father David, said.
“Julie Else had little formal education in the Philippines. She was not anywhere near the education level of most 13-year-old students, and she knew very little English.”
“It’s been very hard for me, really, especially with the English and everything going on,’ Else said. “I’m just trying to fight through it and do what I can.”
“It was at Memorial that Julie found rugby … it just seems like the Catholic Memorial teachers took her under their wing and got her going. They instilled a confidence in her’, Kim said.”
While competing at the National Championship Tournament at Stanford University last May, Rugby Magazine writer and rugby player Jackie Finlan found out about her story. From there, the Philippines began to take notice of her abilities on the pitch as a quick and fearless scrumhalf. Eventually she was invited to join to team. ‘I was speechless,” Julie said in the Freeman article.
While the trip will be packed with rugby, David else mentioned that “there are still kids she knows there. She wants to touch base with them.”
Best wishes to Julie and her family as they embark on this journey!
For the full article, you can register with the Waukesha Freeman online.
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