Photo: Meredith Nelson / MEAN Photography
This is the time of year toward which DI Elite teams like Life build. There’s no DI Elite league or naturally culminating season behind the championships, and then out of nowhere, three out of the four teams will compete in three national (or national-level) championships every two weekends. But Life and its counterparts can handle that sort of schedule and will be center stage this Friday-Saturday during the DI Elite national final four in Fullerton, Calif. The Running Eagles kick off with a semifinal against Penn State, a match that was previewed in earlier this year.
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“The team learned a great deal from the Penn State match in March, and we’ve targeted the areas that were weaker for us in that match,” Life coach Ros Chou referenced the 22-10 loss. “The team is really dialed in right now, and our training sessions leading up to the final four have been productive. The team vibe is very relaxed and also excited for the trip and the chance to compete against a top-notch team. The coaching staff knows the team will give a great effort.”
Life encountered little resistance through the first two rounds of playoffs and defeated DI spring colleges Pittsburgh and UCF by a combined 233-0. Penn State (141-7), Lindenwood (225-0) and BYU (183-0) produced similar results. These four teams belong together in competition, and this is a high point of the season. But this particular outing holds special meaning for coach Chou.
Photo: Meredith Nelson / MEAN Photography
“We have a group of seniors wrapping up their careers at Life, and it’s our first graduating class where these student-athletes have been with us for four years, so it means a lot to this squad to finish on a high note,” Chou referenced Gabriela Bergamin, Kaitlyn Broughton, N’Keiah Butler, Madison Ohmann, Darian Lovelace and Tayler VanHoosier. “They’ve given a lot to the school and the program and we’re looking forward to seeing them play their last 15s matches in a Life U jersey with joy and confidence.”
After the DI Elite crowns its national champion, three teams will transition immediately into 7s, readying for the USA Rugby College 7s National Championship two weeks later and then CRC 7s two weeks after that. Life is the reigning CRC 7s champion, and the university places a ton of support and visibility into that fixture. Chou and squad love that trip to Chester, Pa., but the coach confessed that there’s another summer event that has her heart: the Life University Summer Rugby Camp.
The first summer Life camp in 2014
Now in its fifth year, the girls camp (July 5-8) draws rising high school freshmen through graduating seniors, and in 2017, players from Washington, California, Minnesota, Texas, New York, Colorado, Tennessee and more flocked to Marietta, Ga. Guest coaches flock, too, and this year’s lineup includes former USA Women’s National Team coach Kathy Flores of Brown University, and former Glendale Merlins coach Kitt Ruiz Wagner, who recently accepted the head coach position with Women’s Premier League’s Atlanta Harlequins (read more).
Life camp guest coach Kathy Flores
On the first day, campers do a bunch of skill assessments, play games and other activities, and meanwhile, coaches take notes for the draft. Once the teams are sorted and balanced, the teams get right into playing each on day two in the evening. There might be some player shuffling based on that first scrimmage, and then teams get into specialty instruction led by specialty coaches. The final day is the big, culminating game, and in between is all that great team bonding stuff that makes camp fun.
“It’s funny to have coaches who are new to the camp. The coaches who have been here before have a couple tricks about remembering people’s names and knowing how to draft the right way. It’s so much fun for coaches, too,” said Chou, who doesn’t coach a single team but oversees the camp itself. “Teams pick names and do skits – all the things that build team culture, like at select camps. I know I should say CRCs is my favorite thing every year, but it’s the camp.”
2017 campers and staff
Chou explained that camp isn’t a Life-only recruitment event, that coaches have the opportunity to present their programs, and in the end it’s about the right fit for student-athletes.
“I’m very open with potential recruits that we have to be the right fit academically,” Chou explained. “I don’t do competing offers. Instead, it’s, ‘Here’s what I have. If this is the right fit, then come to Life.’ I never put pressure on them, because it’s not about me or the program, it’s their decision.”
Inevitably, though, players attend camp and they fall in love with Life. Chou has a host of stories regarding players who attend camp on a lark, and that experience is convincing factor to attend Life. In the first very year of the camp, 2014, high school senior Angie Owen was looking for a way to play rugby in college, and when she happened on Life, Chou encouraged to her to come to camp. The coach liked what she saw out of the New Yorker, and a month-and-a-half later, Owen was in Georgia. Owen has had a stellar career and was also a big reason why high school best friend Megan Rom came to Life.
2015 Life summer campers
Taylor Makowski was another surprise. Now a sophomore, the Colorado standout became curious in Life when her chiropractor mentioned he was a former Running Eagle. She and soccer convert Emilie Cunnington made the trip to Georgia during their junior year of high school, and that was that.
Freshman Tatum Johnson of North Suburban, Minn., took a similar path south.
“I was going through the early camp registration and saw this kid from Minnesota – we never had a Midwestern kid [attend camp] – who was going into her junior year,” Chou said of the former Midwest Thunderbird captain. “She saw us at the CRCs and thought she’d check out camp.
“She came in January and now she’s on the varsity roster,” the coach added. “She’s someone who took a chance on camp and fell in love – and not just on the field. She had a 4.0 her first quarter, she’s the best teammate and so hard-working.”
Life freshman and camp alumna Tatum Johnson
A lot has changed in five years, and now players who have never visited the campus or contacted the program are informing Chou that they’ve already been accepted and will be playing rugby. It’s a good problem to have, but the camp is there to not only give attendees a quality experience with different coaches but to provide first-hand experience into a rugby-infused education would resemble. For Life, the perks sweeten next year, as a new athletic dorm – with a floor-to-floor slide (?!) – and dining hall become operational.
“If a program wants to send a group, then we’ll do a group discount,” Chou added onto the benefits. “It’s just a ton of fun, and they’ll make friends for life. My freshmen group now, 6-7 were all at camp together and knew each other before they got here.”
Watch Life in action this Friday against Penn State, then in Glendale, Colo., and then Chester, Pa., before the camp kicks off in early July.
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