A Day in the Life of Two Ruggers

The Pitt. Tournament.

2010-03-30T07:25:00.000-07:00

This past Saturday was the Pitt. Tournament. We brought a mini-bus full of girls to my house on Friday, so the majority of the team wouldn't have to get up and leave super early on Saturday. However, some girls did have to leave early on Saturday. And these girls ended up driving to Ohio. But when we all found each other again, things went decently well.

Our first game was against Lock Haven. Unfortunately, we lost. However, Boot and I both scored. I think that the score was somewhere around 37-10. So, even though it was a lose, we put up a good fight. We play Lock Haven again on April 10th.

Our second game was against IUP's B-side. And, we WON!! I'm not sure of the exact score, but I know that Boot, Boz, and Iron scored (I might be missing other people. Its really hard to keep track of all this stuff). The wing line is really starting to click together and we ran a few really successful plays--some which we learned from the rats and some that we developed ourselves.

Our last game, against ONU, was extremely difficult. I have never seen so many scrum downs in such a short period. Our scrum was doing awesome. But, ONU had trouble with knockons and such, so we had to continuously scrum. We lost this game as well.

All in all, we came in 6th out of 8 teams. I think that this is a great accomplishment considering how many rookies we have on the team. We can't wait for our next game, and PIGROAST!

Game Cancelled

2010-03-18T07:42:00.000-07:00

We finally heard back from Highland Rugby, which is who we were supposed to play this coming Saturday. But since the team is still new, they were having a hard time getting enough players to come to the game, so they had to cancel.

However, on a happy note, we were cleared to begin practices outside on North Lawn. This is really exciting because now we can practice almost everyday and we can start doing drills that are more game situational.

Also, we have the Pitt Tournament coming up, next Saturday. According to the 10 Day forecast, there should be a high of around 49 degrees. Let's hope that the weather gets just a little bit nicer, so we don't freeze like last year.

Some Almost Spring Updates

2010-03-16T11:15:00.000-07:00

The snow has finally melted at Juniata!! This means that we can hopefully start having practice outside as soon as the school says that the fields are dry enough. Practicing inside has been fun but we all can't wait to get outside and start tackling as soon as possible!

We have a game scheduled for this weekend. We really hope that the fields dry out so that we can play.

Also, we are preparing for the Pitt Tournament, which is on the 27th. We hope that the weather will stay nice for that. Last year, it was pretty cold.

Winter Updates

2010-02-24T08:29:00.000-08:00

Since we are preparing for the spring season, we have a lot of things happening.

First of all, the team has been invited to work out with Coach Smith and the football team twice a week. While the 6a.m. time spot is not ideal, the girls that have been attending are really benefiting. And the football coaches are really supportive of our team. Some of them want to watch us play and want to understand rugby, which is really cool.

This past weekend, some of the girls attended a skills camp at WVU lead by the ARU and the Pittsburgh Rugby Club. We focused on passing and the scrum did some light scrumming and rucking. There were at least 60 girls there from other colleges. Not only did we get to meet new people, but we were able to see how our team compared to others. And we learned some new drills.

Also, through this same program, our team was invited to participate in an ARU vs. Penn State rugby game this coming Sunday. This game is part of the Select Sides try-out process. We have a few girls interested in playing for the Select Sides Team and a few more that want to play in the game. It should be really fun to be able to play with girls from other teams. And we get to play at Penn State's indoor arena.

After Spring Break, we'll have our first official team event, a home game against Highland Rugby. The team can't wait to play together again in games. And the newest rookies are excited for their first game.

Its Been A While

2010-01-28T08:32:00.000-08:00

As I'm editing the Hellbender's Website (which you all should check out because its finally completely updated), I see that Monster and I haven't really been keeping up with our blogging. I guess that it's something that we forget about doing after games.

This fall season went really well. The team had many rookies who picked up the game quickly, played their hardest, and a few of the Zulued.

The Alumni game went well despite the extremely muddy field. We ended up playing rookies vs. all. And of course the rookies lost. (That's some sort of tradition, right?)

Formal also was a success. Two other teams attended. And the Hellbenders came in second. The trophies were amazing because we had all of tenting week to work on them. And we all had a large collection of bottles to contribute.

I'm trying to make a list of all of the Zulu's this season. I hope that I don't forget anyone.
Boz
Boot
Army Strong
Rocket
Flounder
Zonk
Bake
That might be it but I'm not too sure. So many girls played so well this season.

And elections happened. We can't forget about that. Here is a list of the officers for the 2010-2011 rugby season:
President: Stump
Vice President: Iron
Wing Captain: Giggles
Scrum Captain: Army Strong
Match Secretary: Monster
Treasurer: Rocket

Now that we are all well rested from break, practices have already started. Even though we only have gym space for two days a week, the team is getting back into shape and having fun together. Even though the 11-midnight practices aren't ideal.

I think that's just about it. I know that we have some tournaments coming up and we are in the process of scheduling some friendly matches.

Here are some updated pictures as well.

A New Season

2009-09-09T13:05:00.000-07:00

So, we kind have been ignoring this, but since its a new season, we decided to start back up.

This year, we have so many new rookies. We are thrilled that so many people are interested in the team. This means that we have enough girls to have an A-side and a B-side team.

Last Sunday was our first game against WVU. They had a great team and really pushed us. While we didn't win, the team worked really well together. During the B-side game, all the rookies were able to play. We think that this was a great chance for them to understand the game.

Our next game is this Saturday against CalU. We hope that we will be able to pull the team together and show off some of our new plays.

Hail To The Warriors!

2009-04-24T12:29:00.000-07:00

This past Saturday was our last game of the season against Gettysburg. We play a great game in the scorching heat. Congratulations to Monster, Stump, and Squid for their Zulus!! Anna scored as well. We had a great season. We will sincerely miss this semester's seniors, Anna and Kelly. Great jobs girls and best of luck after graduation.

This past Wednesday, the team went to the spillway for some rugby fun. The water was at flood level according to a random fisherman. However, we have three new rookies with nicknames.

Krista "Schnitzel" Leibensperger
Kat "Squid" Connolly

Corryn "Gnome" Kosik

Also, Pigroast is this Saturday. We have a game against the alumnae, which should be very enjoyable.

WE WON!!

2009-04-10T08:42:00.000-07:00

So, I can't believe that we are only just posting this now because we have such exciting news. This past Saturday, we won our game against Geneva with a score of 10-5. Congratulations to both Anna and Animal for scoring our tries. Everyone played really hard, and the team did really well in general. Hopefully, we can continue this and win our next game against Gettysburg next Saturday.

Also, on Wednesday, our package from the National Guard came in. This is really exciting because we got so many needed supplies. We got new balls, rugby shorts, new jerseys, mouth guards, goal post protectors, and socks.

And, more good news, Kelly, Giggles, Animal, and Iron all made it onto the select sides team. The will be playing a game in Michigan. Good Job Girls!

The Pittsburgh Rugby Classic

2009-03-29T11:05:00.000-07:00

This past Saturday was the Pittsburgh Rugby Classic.

We played three games against Cornell, ESU, and IUP. Even though we did win, it was an excellent learning experience. Also, Iron zulued. Congratulations!!

We also watched all of the Rat's games. They played in the championships and placed second overall. They did a great job.

Great Job everyone!

Our First Spring Game!

2009-03-26T08:02:00.000-07:00

This past Saturday was our first game of the Spring Season. We played at Grove City. This was our very first night game in a real stadium. It was really exciting.

Despite the fact that we did not win, we still learned so much. This season we have so many rookies. This game was many of the girls very first games to even watch, let alone play in. Also, we were missing many players and even had to borrow a few from Grove City.

We can only get better and we are all excited to play in the Pittsburgh Rugby Classic which is this Saturday.

Updates!!

2008-12-22T08:27:00.000-08:00

So, It's been a while since our last post. The team came together for our first team meeting with our new officers. Everyone is so excited for the spring season!

We also got some very exciting news from Moose. She entered the team into a contest sponsored by USA Rugby and the National Guard. She never thought that we would have had a chance at winning...but we did! This is what we won:

25 CUSTOMIZABLE jerseys, shorts, and socks. 1 set of post pads 1 set of field flags 1 gear bag 8 Gilbert A-XV practice balls 2 Gilbert Revolution X match balls 25 mouth guards And a rule book.

We also have a website that will be featured on the USA Rugby website.

Moose set in the jersey design. Here is what was chosen.

We are all super excited about all of this.

Spring 2009 Officer Elections

2008-11-21T19:02:00.000-08:00

Welcome to the Juniata Hellbenders' Blog!

Congratulations to the New 2009 Officers

President: Jennifer “Moose” Snider

Vice President: Ariana “Animal” Keyser

Match Secretary: Chrissy “Stump” Mucciolo

Treasurer: Lisa “JR” Reiman

Scrum Captain: Heather “Bake” Hall

Wing Captain: Kaitlyn “Giggles” Yerger

Webmaster: Nyssa “Monster” Matter and Anne “Rocket” Mueller

Database Master: Caroline “Flip” Frawley

Social Chairs: Anna “Ohio” Oliveri and Kelly “Cougar” McErlean