Photos: Kim Ruckdaschel-Haley •
The Minnesota Tundra came in to being when a pair of coaches responded to their players’ desire for more, better playing opportunities. That dialogue has continued throughout the Tundra’s existence, and now coaches Jimmy Hanson (Armstrong) and Mikayla Miller (North Suburban) have restructured the program into an academy model.
RELATED: High School Player of the Week: Tatum Johnson • More HS LVI 7s Squads • Women’s Rugby Results: Feb. 11-12
“It was a natural progression,” Hanson said. “We started 5-6 years ago for a group of kids who wanted more chances to play rugby. Now we’re going in a direction that supports our kids who want more high performance.
“But we want to be careful – we’re not exclusively high performance,” Miller added. “There’s a range of skill and ability and interest. We want to keep that inclusivity part alive.”
Up until now, the Minnesota Tundra has operated more like a year-round 7s club, but now, at the request of the players, the program will offer more support like off-season training, education on nutrition/sleep/recovery, bimonthly leadership seminars and mental skills training with First15 Sport Performance.
Four tournaments per year will be scheduled (with the Tundra hosting one event) and 8-10 training sessions at the Laurus Athletic Rehab and Performance will precede each fixture. The high-performance facility will offer video analysis among other perks, and members will benefit from a rounder approach to training.
The Minnesota Tundra – which is not an arm of the state all-star program – has also expanded to include boys. The first boys’ team will debut at the Las Vegas Invitational and be joined by two girls’ teams for a total of 38 attendees. After the LVI, the Tundra will compete at the Lakefront 7s (while remaining mindful of club teams that have committed to the event), NAI 7s in Salt Lake City, and a high school invitational alongside the club 7s national championship.
As the membership grows, Hanson and Miller will break out the players into U16 and U18 age grades. The plan at this point is to focus on 7s, although the coaches didn’t rule out 15s in the future. In the meantime, Hanson and Miller continue to enjoy their time with “the players who say, ‘Yes.'”
LVI GIRLS
Rainey Baker – Armstrong
Danielle Bauer – North Suburban
Kpenkai Carter – Armstrong
Anna Combs – Faribault
Andrecha Cox – Armstrong
Corrina Dorr – Faribault
Kyra Flom – Faribault
Julie Fromstein – Hopkins
Sophia Haley – Hopkins
Katie Holland – Hastings
Sam Holmes – Armstrong
Quarrille Howard – Hopkins
Baylee Ihnot – North Suburban
Tatum Johnson – North Suburban
Nikki Lanhart – South River
Megan Navratil – South River
Madison Peterson – Hopkins
Marybeth Schufman – Hopkins
Kyle Scislow – Eagan
Maci Smith – Faribault
Gabby Stelpflug – North Suburban
Hannah Struzyk – Armstrong
Diana Tapia – Armstrong
Abbey Terpstra – Hopkins
Ellie Terpstra – Hopkins
Helena Zarate – Eagan
LVI BOYS
Matteo Anselmo – Hopkins
Beau Bakken – Minnetonka
Chris Berry – Rochester
Peyton Bohn – South River
Andrew Delgado – Mounds View
Jorden Ford – Mounds View
Logan Gilbert – Mounds View
Carter Green – Hopkins
Alecsander Imig – Southside
Ian Thomas Mallery – Hopkins
Alex Nopola – South River
Benjamin Olson – Mounds View
Malik Thomas – Rochester
LVI STAFF
Jimmy Hanson – Admin
Mikayla Miller – Admin
Erin Mortenson – Team Manager
Hanah DeMars – Admin
Megan Fredrickson – Team Manager Jr.
Alisha Berg -Girls Coach
Ashley Kastendick – Girls Coach
Tammy Cowan – Boys Coach
Jeff Caldwell – Boys Coach
#MinnesotaTundra