The WNT has been training hard in Maine for about 2 weeks now. We're staying at Bowdoin College in Brunswick, ME. It's really pretty here and the weather has been great! We've put in a lot of work over the past few weeks and still have another week here before we're off to London. 

Tomorrow, we're playing a game v NRU squad. I'm not sure what to expect, but I'm excited to put together some things we've been working on in preparation for the WC. Should be fun!

I have some photos and videos that I'll post here within the next few days, so keep your eyes open! We train hard, but find time for fun and bonding..you'll get to see some of both : )  (more)

TOMORROW the WNT will be showcased on Rugby World. This July 9th episode of Rugby World plays on local channels. The images below have all local listings and show times for the episode - or just click on the attachment. It will include highlights from the June CanAm event. 


Check it out! : )


also..
U19 Clinic JULY 19th @ Bowdoin College! 





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Check out the pdf file for more info on the WNT's U19 clinic. It will be held on June 12th at Bowdoin College. 
There will be a practice session, question and answer time, and FOOD! Come out for a great rugby day! : )

So, I just returned home from Victoria, BC in Canada. The travel days were long (9-10 hours each way), as were the days in between. It took some adjusting to the time change, but as we got moving the team came together more and more each day. I have to say I'm not happy with the 2 losses from the games, but I am happy with the progress we made in such a short amount of time. It did feel good to up our points from 8 to 22 in a few days and for us to be more of an attacking threat all over the pitch. 

Going forward, we have quite a lot of time together this summer and I'm really looking forward to it. Next month we are in Maine at Bowdoin College before the World Cup begins in August. I think our 3 weeks of residency in Maine will bring about great improvements to the team both offensively and defensively. I'm also really happy about having someone else kick my butt and crank me into a new gear. It will be hard and I'm super excited for it! : )

For now, we have 3 weeks at home to continue our training and gear up for our time in Maine. I'm taking it one hot, summer day at a time..

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This weekend is the National All-Star Championship tournament. It's hosted in Blaine, MN this year. I will be joining many of my NYRC clubmates, alongside players from other clubs, to play with the NRU. We play our games on Friday (v. Midwest) and Sunday (opponent depends on Friday's results). The plan is to beat the Midwest, then win the final and take the trophy back to the east coast..of course : )

I'm pretty excited to get a few good games of rugby in. I haven't played very much in the past few weeks and I'm getting anxious to take the field. Although I'm not excited to head to Minnesota (there were talks of the tourny being held in Rhode Island this year-which is much closer to me and more exciting, in my opinion), I am excited to see my rugby friends from around the country..and to play against some stiff competition. The WNT coaches will be there watching, so I hopefully I'll play well. These are our last really big games before we play Canada in June!

It's always a great time going to big tournaments like this where you can watch rugby players who you wouldn't normally see play. Since the games are crunched back to back we don't always get to watch all of the games, but we get in some good viewing time. It should prove to be a fun, rugby-filled weekend!

Wish us luck! : )

& happy memorial day!

Backs camp was a success! At least that's my opinion. It was A LOT of fun (we played major amounts of rock band in our down time) and we bonded even more amongst the backs. We played a lot of small-scale rugby games, some touch games, and a few full field games. It was really great to be alone with the backs, if for nothing more than the extra time I got to play the drums in our killer band. I was hoping we would have more time to run in specific back line groupings, but I have been assured that this will happen closer to World Cup. I liked that we didn't have to worry about how much time we would have to work things out--because we had 3 days to do it!

The World Cup pool of 30 has been named. I'm very excited to be a part of this group (and happy my fellow NYers are in the group as well-Phaidra & Lara)!! I look forward to our time together over the next few months leading up to World Cup. We have 2 events before London: CanAm in Vancouver, games on 6/14 & 6/18, and residency in Maine, July 10-31. These will be huge training venues for the WNT.  (After the June CanAm event the roster of 24 will be named, as well as the 6 non-traveling reserves.)

For now it's back to training and playing with NRU and NYRC..

: ) (more)

This week I'm heading to California for a 3 day camp with all of the World Cup player pool backline players! I leave Wednesday morning and get back in New York Sunday evening (two 8 hour travel days-blech).  I'm really looking forward to this camp because I think it will be great for us to bond off the field, connect on the field, and work through some of the kinks we've had over the past few venues. I LOVE being with the whole team (backs and forwards), but I LOVE LOVE LOVE being with the backs : )

I'm not sure what the coaches have in store for us, but I hope it includes a lot of open field play making (flow play as Candi calls it). That's the biggest part of our game and we could use some work. We've played with a few different combinations of backs in the past and this camp could really help us bring it all together. I'm excited for a tough rugby weekend wearing my red, white, and blue!

Wish us luck out there in Cali! I hope the weather's as nice as it has been here in New York : ) (more)

Whew! Sorry, it's been awhile, so I'm just gonna jump right back into it.

Someone asked about my mental game-how I stay motivated and keep pushing during hard times (poor weather, lack of games, etc.). Well here goes..

It's really really REALLY hard. Recently I've been quite motivated by the World Cup and having a real chance to play on the team that represents the USA. I think about going head to head against other wingers as I'm lifting or doing sprints. I love to visualize crushing their spirits in the heat of a huge World Cup match!
..However, it wasn't until about two months ago that I really had this mental breakthrough with myself. I knew I was in the pool, but never really let it in my head that I have a real shot at wearing a US jersey in London this summer. Before I made this mental breakthrough winter workouts were hard, daunting tasks. I couldn't see past the very near future (and I mean like one week) and with zero games in sight it made it extremely difficult to push through workouts.
I recommend finding a buddy to workout with. For me, this gave me someone I was accountable to for each workout and someone tangible-physically by my side-I couldn't let down. I had to get to the gym for that workout or my buddy would be alone. It also made working out a lot more fun!

The past few weeks have been great for workouts and for playing rugby. The weather is warm! The games are frequent!  And..the senior select side season started two weekends ago. It's really fun to play with skilled players from different club teams. We (NRU-Northeast Rugby Union) have a few games coming up and I'm looking forward to them.

Cheers to all the good weather rugby going on! : ) (more)

FINALLY!!
This weekend marked the opening games of the spring season for NYRC. I can barely explain how much anticipation and excitement I had leading up to this weekend. It seems like it's been forever since I last played. I know it was a much shorter period than for most of my teammates (since I got to play Canada in January-but that was only one game!), but for a rugby addict like me-any time is too long!

So, this weekend came and went and I got a total of 4 games under my belt. I played with NYRC in the Village Lions tournament. I got to build myself up over the day and felt really good about my off-season work going into the spring. I got some good feedback from my coach which was really great to hear! I guess that World Cup workout is really donig the trick : ) PLUS, it was sooo much fun!!

Unfortunately, we have off this weekend, so I'll be waiting around with the rest of the area ruggers for our next game. Sticking with training and skills work for now. For those of you who aren't blessed with year-round warm weather you know what I mean about this lapse in playing rugby and how fulfilling it is to get out on the pitch after the winter break. For those of you who get to play all year round --lucky lucky lucky!

I've been on spring break for awhile now and my fitness training has been really great. I'm getting in a TON of work and I really love it. I have to say that the 8 week cycle is getting pretty long and I'm tired of doing the same thing over and over, but the end is near and a new cycle will be out soon. I'm also really excited about maxing out with my lifts. I think my numbers are going to get a good boost this time around. I'm feeling really confident and strong! Wish me luck : )

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