Eagle lock Kinsella is one of five pool players committed to the first phase of residency. /// Photo: Carisa Weaver •
The first longer-term 15s residency is currently underway in San Diego, and Eagle pool players angling for selection to the 2017 Women’s Rugby World Cup are rooting themselves in sunny SoCal. USA lock Molly Kinsella is among the first residents, making the trek from Steamboat Springs, Colo., and lent some insight into what’s transpiring in California.
Kinsella indicated that the residency program is, tentatively, scheduled through June 2017, building to the World Cup in early August. Five Eagle pool players have committed to the first phase of the program: Kinsella, Jordan Gray, Sam Pankey, Jamila Reinhardt and Hope Rogers. USA Rugby has funded housing (a six-person house), and players are expected to take part-time jobs for the remainder of expenses. There are still many moving parts, including coaching staffs and training regimens.
“While this is evolving, we are currently expected to train and play with the San Diego Surfers,” Kinsella explained the residents’ relationship with the local Women’s Premier League team, which is coached by Jarrod Faul and Grant Ford. “The Surfers are a very welcoming and competitive squad, and the trainings have been very structured and of high quality, which we are all very excited about as we continue to grow and learn as a pack and as individuals.”
The residents are also training four mornings per week with the Atavus Academy, and have supplemented those sessions with three additional lifts and one skills session per week. The Chula Vista OTC is currently closed for the month, but the athletes will be able to train at the facility once it reopens, according to Kinsella.
“This September start to residency would be the first part of a residency that, from what [USA Women’s National Team coach] Pete [Steinberg] has told us, USA Rugby wants to build on,” Kinsella explained. “Beyond those [initial six] spots, I believe the hope is to be able to support other players in different ways to get a large group of the Eagles all training in San Diego together, but I am not sure what that will look like.”
Kinsella didn’t hesitate in moving to California. Background wise, the Stanford grad has lots of experience playing high-level ball in new environments. During the build-up to the 2014 World Cup, the lock played in elite leagues in Australia, Canada and England, in addition to the U.S. When she wasn’t selected for the 2014 tournament, she sought out a more permanent residence and moved to Steamboat Springs to take a position as a community mental health counselor.
“I thought my focus would be more career oriented,” Kinsella reflected. “I was pleasantly surprised by the rugby community there as well as the elite athletic community, and the support that I found in a more permanent residence was beyond anything I could have ever expected. The base that I created in the diverse and athletic community of Steamboat and my friends who continued to push [me] to grow in my skill work and in the gym, was something that suited me well for a relocation.”
When word circulated that a 15s residency was in the works, however, Kinsella began to mentally prepare for that opportunity.
“Of course it is hard to leave community, family, and friends,” Kinsella recalled decision time. “However, at least on my part, this felt like such a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to grow the sport and grow myself as an individual in all kinds of ways, that really the decision was very expedient. It was a, “Yes!!” from the beginning.”
A formal announcement from USA Rugby is forthcoming, but one suspects that the early stages of residency will require a lot of flexibility, as work and training schedules find a rhythm, and the coaching staffs and facility availability settle in. Meanwhile, the residents are focusing on the task at hand, driven by this unique opportunity to improve.
“… [I]t is an honor to be a part of the first 15s residency, and I am working very hard each day to be my best to – hopefully – represent our country at the 2017 World Cup, and certainly to push myself and my teammates to continue to be the best that we can be,” Kinsella concluded. “I think we all very much believe that we can be very competitive if we continue to put in the work and with an amazing opportunity in front of us. USA Rugby is also working to provide support to players who have work and life commitments that keep them from currently moving, and I know those girls are working just as hard, so that when we come together we can have productive and growth-based assemblies.”
Stay tuned as more information surfaces.