Film Breeds Cohesion in Diverse Big Dogs

Rugby Arizona has named all of its youth and high school champions, and last Saturday, the Big Dogs raised the girls’ U16 trophy. It was no small feat for a squad that featured players from five different teams out of Phoenix, Tucson and nearby communities. Fortunately, a steady supply of game film analysis brought structure and direction to the disparate groups training separately during the week, and a collaborative spirit turned what could have been just a motley group of players into a championship team.

RELATED: Collaboration Key to Arizona 7s Season

The U16 division was the most robust girls’ competition this year, as the high school bracket had just two 7s teams – Scottsdale and Sahuarita – and the Wolves had the only stand-alone U14 team. The Big Dogs formed in response to Covid-19’s impact on rosters, and gave players from North Valley, East Valley, Tucson Thunderbirds and one player apiece from Cienega High School and Eclipse a joint home. Coaches Mike Webber (East Valley), Angela Gabbard-Wagner (Tucson) and Alli Crosby (North Valley) held weekday trainings close to home, and then the whole group – which numbered up to 18 players – had tournament day to build some chemistry. There was no roster limit for the competition and the coaches aimed to get everyone a worthwhile amount of game minutes.

That’s a lot of variables to manage, but the Big Dogs created a system that worked for them. Webber taped and analyzed all of their games. He had clips ready by Tuesday and circulated them to the group, and that insight provided the guidance for that week’s practice in players’ hometowns.

“It was a gradual process, but the girls eventually saw what they were doing in practice was building continuity in the game,” Webber said. “We’re not a bunch of random kids; we’re all connected.”

Webber estimated that after three weeks of film, it really started to click for the players.

“They saw how it was supposed to look: Working in 3s with the support always there, the scrumhalf feeding the ball to a back line that is ready for the recycle and to move the ball out,” Webber recapped. “They see these clips over and over again, and the repetition of that visual brought them all together, and their game went up. Otherwise, it’s really hard to do when I have four people at my practice in East Valley, Amanda has five or six in Tucson, and Alli has seven or so in North Valley.”

Webber heaped praise on his co-coaches for promoting this collaborative system, and he was equally indebted to the leadership of team captain Abigail Stafford.

Abigail Stafford and Mike Webber

“I give a lot of thanks to her. To me, she’s the gel, the voice,” Webber said of the 10th grader. “The girls highly respect her because of her skill set, talent and knowledge. She’s also a talented communicator. As adults, we miss the boat sometimes when we try to speak with children, and sometimes we speak over them. I’ll relay things to her – we’ll have casual conversations, and I’ll interject the things we want to work on during the game. So she’ll have a strong understanding of what we want and then can teach the players. It’s a great thing to have a person who emulates leadership.”

The Big Dogs went undefeated throughout the regular season and beat the No. 4 Phoenix Thunderbirds in the April 17 semifinals. Scottsdale and Sahuarita were supposed to contest the other semifinal the same day, but a potential Covid case (that ended up being negative) postponed the match until April 24. Scottsdale shut out Sahuarita on Saturday to move onto the evening championship.

Even though the Big Dogs had played and beat Scottsdale five times during the season, the players were still nervous. Webber got the players talking and working through their concerns, and reminded them to just do what they’ve been doing all season.

“Alignment, assignment, responsibility,” Webber summarized the team goals for the final. “And play with a sense of urgency.”

For the coaching staff, the struggle was going to be working 18 players into the match. Again, there was no limit on the roster or substitutions, which brings benefits in terms of fitness and pace, but challenges the consistency of the game. The coaches attempt to balance the lineup, pairing players with skills that might mitigate weak points, but it is a tough equation. With that said, all 18 players played in the final game.

Webber and Angela Wagner-Gabbard

The Big Dogs raced out to a 19-0 lead in the first half, which wasn’t consequence free.

“Unfortunately two starters got hurt in the first half,” Webber said of Makenna Jackson and Neyma Mottley. “So we went to our No. 8 and 9 players – Adanya Nicoson and then Kiley Pappas – and they did a fine job coming on and filling important roles early on.”

Scottsdale responded with two tries in the second half, but so did the Big Dogs for a 24-10 win.

“Aleksandria Gabbard always impresses me. She’s consistently good,” Webber said of the 14-year-old Tucson Thunderbird. “She had three tries, I think, in the final and is pretty much the one who stands out from the offensive attacking standpoint. Some great defending tackles, too. She ran 60 meters in the first half to chase down a Scottsdale try, which they would have scored off of our kickoff after we scored.”

For Gabbard and other players who aspire to representative rugby, there are several opportunities that now become the focus of the rugby season in Arizona. Webber is affiliated with Rhino Rugby and indicated that invitations for the National 7s Youth Championship (June 12-13, Cleveland, Ohio) were circulated last week. But he also promotes the players’ involvement in the Bobcats Rugby Academy and EIRA, both of which have solid footholds in the Grand Canyon State and provide opportunities to increase rugby IQ. In addition to Ohio, watch for these teams to feature at events like Bloodfest 7s (June 19) in Round Rock, Texas; Falcon 7s in Little Rock, Ark., (June 26-27); and NAI 7s in Salt Lake City (June 23-24).

BIG DOGS

Dora Brown (Cienega HS)

Honey Cabrera (North Valley)

Hailey Firestone (East Valley)

Emily Fitzpatrick (North Valley)

Haley Fouse (East Valley)

Aleksandria Gabbard (Tucson)

Makenna Jackson (East Valley)

Aislin Jarvis (Tucson)

Anna Kimball (North Valley)

Abigail Krebs (East Valley)

Neyma Mottley (Tucson)

Adanya Nicoson (North Valley)

Emily Olsen (Eclipse)

Kiley Pappas (Tucson)

Zoe Schuster (Eclipse)

Lilly Senitza (East Valley)

Abigail Stafford (North Valley) – cpt

Mindy Stafford (North Valley)