(#*&$@@#@#$

Had practice yesterday, the days are blurring together but that sticks out as a beacon of fun. Ugh, it's remarkable how much you forget in two weeks. Funny how that works out...but yea the Teddington game is tomorrow in Monterey and it seems we'll be having some whores from chico and berkeley. It should make for an interesting match with the Reddick sisters playing side by side. Eh I hope I won't die but I'll admit the lack of sleep added with school stress and @(*#&(@# everything else should make for a tiring week.

This is the time that I need to buckle down. I have all summer to mess around, drink, and play 7s. That's why I almost hesitated on playing this game. I'd really like to pass all my classes for sure this quarter. What else....oh the coach for St. Mary's proposed that we make our league play double the amount of matches, each team playing each other twice...once home and away. Thus dealing with our shrinking league and balancing out home pitch advantage. Interesting but you could also see where burnout may come into play.

So I've calmed down a bit...

but things haven't actually gotten better. We have practice today to try and get back in shape because we're playing a match aainst Teddington WRFC. Their a social club side from England and I'm pretty sure we're going to get our asked kicked.

I'm still desperately looking for a job.

School is ridiculous.

Rugby is really taking a second seat.

LIFE IS FILLING ME WITH HOPE AND JOY AND DOOOOOOM

Mmmm....school. I have nine major projects due. I have five days to find a job. And rent + deposit for my house is due in ....yeah...you guessed it! Five days.


We bombed the alumni game.


Yup. They rocked us silly.


Looks like I won't have the cash to go to the rugby camp.


On the plus side if I turn in everything....I may just pass all my classes. And if I continue passing classes I'll be able to walk in time. Which is my longterm goal. Woot.

Talk about weird

The Championship Banner...on Ebay?

Weird huh? Well, judging from the rest of the sellers items...it's probably just an extra copy. If Iowa State is missing their banner I'd suggest checking out this guy.

Alumnae game is this weekend and I haven't raised my heartbeat in two weeks. So yea I'm going to be gasping air through a straw. To add insult to injury I can't even afford water. I'll be honest...I really need a job. And housing. And to pass all my classes. *sigh*

Our 8-man made Grizzlies as a prop and so did her sister. Western Oregon's flanker made the team as well as someone else on their team (I'll post the whole list when I get it). Cool stuff =] gotta love it when DII players stack up to our DI counterparts.

There's probably other rugby related stuff but I can't remember. I've been spending too much time around crazy radio personalities in the redwoods at four in the morning.

School Fun

So I was definitely a better student when I had 6am practice. Now I sleep in and catch up on foreign films (A Bittersweet Life, A Fistful of Dollars [to contrast with Yojimbo], and Barefoot Gen [for my wwii memories] and tune out of school. I'm about a week and a half behind/two weeks and am screwing myself over in 3/4 of my classes. Kinda scary. So I'm saying it in here to get back on track. *sigh* it's so much easier to be a student athlete.

mmm what else...Chico made a website! Now I should get off my lazy duff and put one up for us. I mean usarugby used the pic from SEVEN years ago for the National Championship program. I mean it's a fitting tribute to our alumni who kept the club going and gave it a base but yea...it would help if we had an updated website (with an alumni page...I really like how Belmont tributes alum).

Random topic...does anyone know where I could get some info on the norcal 7s league? I've kinda looked around a bit and can't really find stuff (I might just be distracted looking for a place and trying to pay my med bills).

Speaking of summer Theresa Champagne e-mailed this to me earlier...Women's Summer Rugby Camp. I'm going to try and go, hopefully I'll be back from Istanbul by them.

Hmm last random topic of the day is sports photography....



This is just a great pic of the two forwards captains of the day. Kinda funny what happens in a split-second eh?

I'm in school?

Heh, yea...back to being a student...pretty pleasant actually. It involves a lot of sleep.

So....what to learn about Saturday? I've been playing rugby for a wee bit over three years, I've won a DII National Championship and lost one. Coolbeans.

To be honest I'm struggling with the dichotomy of reactions across the team. Some people are furious, others depressed, some are proud, and others are ashamed.

I played a solid game, but it wasn't up to par for me, I didn't push myself the right way, I didn't prepare myself the right way I couldn't seem to push myself and all the while my housemate was tearing everyone to shreds with a separated shoulder and broken shoulderblade. Hence the guilt. I can make all the excuses in the world (and believe me, I have them) but really it comes down to fitness, communication, and mental discipline. This is how I failed my teammates and this is how I'm going to improve my rugby game.

I've go 7s to test out this regime. So there, I've said it. I'm guilty and prepared for the consequences.

But yea, other things, as a team we need to improve the attitudes of non-starters. I think I'm going to post my freshman posts, when I was young and ambitious. I want them chomping at the bit because I'm going to be. That's the reason for having depth...not just injury, but real intense opposition at every practice. We fell into the DII rut of complacency. So lots of lessons learned yeh?

I'm psyched for next year, it may seem ridiculous that it took losing "THE" game to get into the game but...well, it happened. Time to get fixin'.

May 6th

Lost it 26-19, second in the nation isn't half bad. I'll blog more later but frankly I have to ice my head.

http://www.mediazone.com/channel/rugby/jsp/2006/usarugby.jsp

but if you go here you can download the game free and watch me walk for the whole game! Heh...no seriously. But anyhoo, you should also definitely check out the Stanford vs Penn State game, the score doesn't reflect the nature of the match at all!

Right o, will post up more media coverage later.

In One Hour it is May 5th

the DII Women's Collegiate National Championship (damn that's a long title) is tomorrow. We're playing to defend our National Title.