Delaney Moyer was cruising a college fair in downtown Indianapolis when a recruitment officer summoned her to the U.S. Coast Guard Academy table. The then-freshman was wearing an oversized U.S. Army sweatshirt – her dad’s – and the lieutenant suspected that she would be amenable to a service academy. Those suspicions were justified, but first, Moyer had one question: Does the academy have a rugby team?
Considering collegiate options as a freshman is ahead of schedule, but that’s Moyer in a 5-foot nutshell. When she was three years old, her parents enrolled her in the International School of Indiana (ISI), a small private school (600 students, ages 3 to grade 12) that employs a full-immersion language program and International Baccalaureate (IB) curriculum. Moyer began studying French as a toddler (and added Spanish for five years) and thrived as IB programming became more prominent in 1st grade.
First grade is also when Moyer discovered rugby. Her brother, four years her senior, had been invited to a practice.
“Being a little sibling, I decided that if my brother could do it, then I could do it, and I convinced my parents,” Moyer said.
The duo joined Broad Ripple Park (BRP), which Moyer described as a well organized, well known entity that feeds talent to the nationally acclaimed Royal Irish boys’ high school club. For the first four years, grades 1-4, Moyer played on the co-ed touch team.
“That happened almost immediately for me,” Moyer said of shaking the sibling-rivalry impetus to play. “I’ve always played sports. I like the competitiveness and rugby was a new way to do that. But I was the only girl on the team, and a lot of the boys looked at me like, ‘She can’t do it.’ So that was the other part: Proving everyone wrong.”
Moyer became just another teammate, even when it was time to transition to co-ed tackle in 5th grade.
“I was nervous before my first game because it was my first tackle game, but that had nothing to do with playing with the boys,” Moyer said. “In my first tackle – this is such a vivid memory for me – I ended up tackling the biggest kid on the other team. I could hear the parents audibly groan, waiting to see if I was OK. But I jumped right back up and everyone was so shocked.”
The co-ed tackle league was 15s. Moyer found a home in the forwards and developed a genuine love for rucking as she rounded out two more years with Broad Ripple Park.
“I was really lucky at BRP,” Moyer said. “It’s one of the really big teams and our program was really well put together. They were making sure they were grooming kids for a level that could win nationals. We had other teams to compete against, one per suburb generally. It was surprisingly really well organized for sports at such a young age.”
The genders split in 7th grade and Moyer joined a new girls’ middle school team formed by North Central High School coach Suzi Dillon. There weren’t many teams or enough players to field 15s squads, so Moyer reverted to 7s for the next two years.
“I was really ecstatic to just keep playing because for a long time I was scared that I’d hit 7th grade and there wouldn’t be a team for me until high school,” Moyer said. “I was relieved [to have North Central], but I remember being frustrated. I went from a team known for being really good and feeder to a nationally recognized team, to playing with people who had never touched a rugby ball before and were starting with the very basics. But I was also excited to be a part of that because I could help my teammates and teach them what I had learned.”
“She’s never been less than incredible,” Dillon reflected on their six-year rugby relationship. “Of course she is fast and very talented skill wise, but when you’re small in a sport like rugby you have to work a little harder or be a little more determined. However, with Delaney, she made it seem effortless, like she was born to play. Perhaps it was her endless energy or the calm smile on her face. To her it wasn’t about being confident or determined to do well, it was just the only option, so she did what it took to push herself and her team to their best. She has always been mature even as a 7th grader able to talk to anyone with a level head. But I also always appreciated her sportsmanship. Countless times she’d make a breakaway, run 70 meters just to pop the ball to a teammate right before the try line to give them the score.”
As high school approached, Moyer’s parents let her to decide whether she wanted to continue at ISI in pursuit of an IB diploma or transfer for a different experience.
“I wanted to continue with languages but also I thought IB would be really helpful in the future. It promoted really critical thinking and analytical skills, which would be helpful while moving around in the world,” Moyer said. “And it’s a small school and I enjoyed forming personal relationships with the teachers. If I ever had a question, I could find them after class and I knew they would make time for me. That was really important.”
Moyer also enjoyed the multi-cultural environment of ISI. The Lilly hospitals brought doctors from around the world to Indianapolis for their three-year rotations, and ISI continually welcomed students from China, Japan, Romania, Sri Lanka and many more countries. The school didn’t however have a rugby team (there are 38 students in Moyer’s graduating class), and so she teamed up with coach Bridget Tasker to form a Royal Irish girls’ high school team. The numbers weren’t there, but the duo remained in touch.
“She coached me the rest of 9th grade,” Moyer said of Tasker. “She went to [Indiana University] and was coached by Vaughn Mitchell, another amazing coach. She was really influential for me. She taught me a lot and reminded me that, no matter how long you’ve been playing, there’s so much to learn. This sport is constantly evolving.”
High school ball also meant a welcomed return to 15s, and Moyer relished the opportunity to play the traditional version of the sport.
“I love 15s and prefer it over 7s every day of the week,” said Moyer, who plays hooker, flanker, scrumhalf and utility back depending on the team. “In 15s I’m mostly involved with the forwards and in 7s there’s not much work for that. My view is 7s is like an Americanized version of rugby because there is a lot more star play, whereas 15s is constantly pushing and constantly getting down in the nitty gritty. I’ve always been drawn to it more. I think it fosters more teamwork and develops more camaraderie because you’re on the field for so much longer every game.”
It’s around this time that the U.S. Coast Guard Academy entered Moyer’s purview. In December 2016, during Moyer’s freshman year, the Bears made its first-ever trip to the semifinals of the USA Rugby Fall DII College Championship. That visibility didn’t immediately translate into high school recruits, but there were some barriers at home that stifled efforts.
“I’m technically not allowed to recruit, and I’m not sure it’s written anywhere,” said retired BMC Bill Anderson, the long-time women’s head coach who now serves in an advisory capacity. “I was told – whatever it was, 15 years ago – that it’s inappropriate to recruit for club sports when there are professional coaches at the academy who do that as part of their job. … And, of course, as a good sailor back in my active-duty days, I followed that.”
Once on campus, however, a percentage of cadets inevitably crossed over to rugby.
“If any recruited varsity athletes were interested in playing rugby I would always tell them: Do me a favor. We’ll be here next year so play your sport and then come back to us,” Anderson said. “And a lot of them did, which was great for us but turned into another issue. I can’t get around the varsity coaches without them looking at me with some amount of disdain. But it’s not my fault if cadets don’t like playing those sports anymore, and then come to rugby and find a real home.”
The Bears have appeared in the final four every year since 2016, and that continued national prominence saw the administration relax somewhat in terms of promoting club sports to high schoolers. In spring 2018, former USCGA Athletic Director Tim Fitzpatrick relayed a message to Anderson that a prospective cadet was visiting the academy in April and had inquired about the rugby team. The coach connected with Moyer and asked for her rugby resume.
“Holy smokes,” Anderson recited his first reaction. “And then I saw her transcript. Not only was she a really good rugby player but she was an exceptional student who was taking all International Baccalaureate classes and doing well in them. She was the perfect candidate.”
A month after meeting each other, Moyer informed Anderson that she was heading to a USA Rugby camp at Fairfield University (Conn.).
“’Delaney, you live in Indiana!’ And she said, ‘I know, but this is a really good camp,’” Anderson recalled. “That in itself impressed me. This young lady is really dedicated to becoming a better rugby player.”
That summer, Moyer entered the Midwest Thunderbird system, and went on to represent the regional all-star team twice in Florida and then in Ireland for the program’s first-ever overseas tour.
“It was the Thunderbirds that did it,” Moyer said of the catalyst to pursue rugby at a higher level. “A bunch of girls from all over the Midwest coming together to play. It’s so fun to play with people who know the game, because you can work on other strategies that you can’t get to with your club. The higher-level thinking and game play, and then seeing how teams at the World Cup level implement those strategies. It was really amazing because you can finally see how what you’re doing mirrors the professionals.”
Moyer enjoyed special on-field connections with Thunderbirds like Taylor Driver (North Central, Ind.), who is heading to the U.S. Military Academy this fall; current Quinnipiac University freshman Libby Moser (North Central, Ind.); and Sparta-Rock, Mich., prop Alex Hyde, who plays very naturally off her fellow forward.
The summer after junior year, Moyer attended the USCGA Academy Introduction Mission (AIM) week. It’s a watered-down version of what Swab Summer and a military lifestyle will be like, and thus a valuable vetting tool for the academy.
“I had a top-ranked high school kid express interest in the academy and we got her into the AIM program,” Anderson said of a previous prospective student-athlete. “She went through that and we spoke afterward. ‘Thank you so much for everything you’ve done and I’m glad I came and discovered that I want nothing to do with the military.’ That’s a good thing; you don’t want kids to come here and drop out, especially if they’re taking someone else’s spot.”
Moyer had a positive experience during her AIM week. She learned a lot more about the academy, and to boot, one of the AIM cadre, Linda Duncan, was a rugby player and talked up an amazing experience on the team. She was also considering West Point, which has an NCAA varsity program that competes in NIRA Division I, and applied to both service academies as well as Purdue University.
“I was always leaning toward the Coast Guard,” Moyer said. “I really like its mission, which is primarily humanitarian, and that’s important to me. And Coast Guard is also a much smaller school than West Point, and I wanted to keep that small-school feel. I want to interact with professors and form that relationship so we can work through my education together instead of it falling all on my shoulders.”
When Anderson retired from active duty he moved into the USCGA admissions department. For the first time in his career, he filled out an Athletic Potential Report, which is typically reserved for varsity recruits, for Moyer and had it included with her application. The associate director of admissions supported the move, noting that fantastic students, whether they’re varsity or club athletes, are the target.
“Whether or not that helped her get here, I don’t know, because she was already an academic super star,” Anderson said. “But we’re always talking about this national prominence, and who’s got more than rugby?”
Moyer was accepted to all three schools and committed to the USCGA Class of 2024. Covid-19 has disrupted the timeline going forward, and that’s something with which Anderson is intimately knowledgeable.
“In the collegiate admissions world, it is incredibly difficult to get kids to commit,” Anderson said. “I’ve talked to a lot friends in the Rhode Island area – URI, Brown, Roger Williams – and a lot of kids are deciding to stay home and take a bridge year. Delaney was accepted to West Point and Purdue and I was concerned that she, being an Indiana girl, would choose Purdue – or Army, because it doesn’t get much better than that. I told her I wouldn’t blame her if she did, and so I feel really fortunate that she’s coming.”
Last Friday, the academy held a virtual event where for four hours a host of personnel – superintendent, dean, athletic director – spoke to the newly accepted. Three-hundred-and-fifty incoming cadets and their families tuned in. When these events were held on the academy grounds, half that amount would actually show up. That experience encouraged Anderson, who is also thinking about recruiting options for the rugby team’s volunteer club coaches. If someone like Delaney Moyer can choose the academy with little prodding, imagine what some targeted outreach could do.