Reinhardt plays her regular-season ball with DII Augusta. /// Photo: Lee Hartley •
On Monday, 26 players from around the country will be heading to Salt Lake City in preparation for the Super Series, which begins Friday, July 1. The majority are Eagles, and six of seven uncapped players are well known (read more), whether age-grade products or national championship standouts. The only player without a lengthy path to the senior national team is 26-year-old Jamila Reinhardt from Augusta, Ga.
Reinhardt picked up rugby during the 2011-12 season, her senior year at the California Maritime Academy. With a background in basketball, shot put and discus, she brought agility and power to the back of the scrum as the Sea Hags’ No. 8. She was commissioned into the Navy upon graduation and spent the next year moving around the country. In late 2013, the Cryptologic Warfare Officer was stationed in Augusta, and that’s when life began to stabilize, and consequently, make room for rugby.
“To my surprise, I found the Augusta Furies,” Reinhardt said of the DII Carolinas club. “My rugby life has been golden ever since. I started out playing loosehead prop for the Furies, slowly but surely picking up the sport again.”
During the 2014-15 season, Reinhardt worked her way back to No. 8 and helped Augusta to the DII club national playoffs. USA assistant coach Martha Daines spied the prospect and invited her to the first-ever National All-Star Competition (NASC) in June 2015. At the national level, Reinhardt is a prop (photo inset: Carisa Weaver), and Women’s National Team coach Pete Steinberg was impressed to the point of adding her to the 2015 Super Series roster. Unfortunately, Reinhardt broke her fifth metatarsal and delayed her first Eagle opportunity.
“If I were to describe myself as a player, it would be, ‘hungry,’” Reinhardt stated. “I am always willing to learn my sport, fitness and health. I love feeding my mind the knowledge of the game as well as feeding my body with the right conditioning and fuel to better perform on the pitch. I play like I am hungry. Each tackle, pass, ruck, and line-break I make feeds my soul.”
Needless to say, Reinhardt undeterred by injury. The Navy Lieutenant did have her training interrupted by deployment, but it wasn’t long before she was requesting special permission for national-level camps and events. Two NASCs later and Reinhardt had reclaimed the Super Series roster spot that had eluded her a year prior.
“I never thought I would make it to this point in my rugby career. Of course I love this game and social experiences, but to be taken to an international level is still mind-blowing me,” Reinhardt confessed. “I can’t help to ask myself, ‘Is this real life?’ All the long hours of pushing my body to its limit, time off of work, travel, money spent, discipline in my diet and training makes it all worth it for just the opportunity to prove myself and become a strong rugby player.
“I am incredibly excited and anxious,” Reinhardt looked toward the rapidly approaching tests against Canada, France and England. “I am confident in my abilities, and I am anxiously waiting to prove it.”
Reinhardt is joined by Eagle talent in the front row. Katy Augustyn and Hope Rogers are Women’s Rugby World Cup vets. Catie Benson and Tiffany Faaee debuted at last year’s Super Series, and the former helped Life West to the 2016 DII club championship.
Who else is potentially debuting for the Eagles in Salt Lake City? Read more on:
- Brown’s Saskia Morgan
- 7s Eagle Naya Tapper
- Club Coach of the Year Christiane Pheil
- Life captain Nicole Strasko
- Central Washington center Nate Serevi
- DII championship MVP Megan Foster
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