Capped Eagles, 7s residents and elite collegians all attended the recent USA 7s developmental camp in SoCal last week, but there was one person who deserved an introduction. Fifteen-year-old Taryn Turner out of Elk Grove, Calif., made her second appearance in six months at the Chula Vista Elite Athlete Training Center, and the sophomore is taking it all in as she carefully considers each step in her burgeoning rugby career.
RELATED: Nia Toliver is Back From Japan as a USA 7s Resident
Turner has a diverse sports background – basketball, softball, soccer, track – and right before discovering rugby, she wrestled for a couple of years.
“I found myself more of a runner than a power lifter, so my mom introduced me to rugby, and it was a balance of showing off my strengths and still maintaining the ability to run,” Turner said. “I just fell in love with it.”
In 7th grade, Turner joined NorCal’s Elk Grove United and familiarized herself with the sport through the girls’ middle school team. Turner’s wrestling prowess translated well to tackling, and the opportunity to run freely and have endurance be a difference-maker aligned with her affinity for track and soccer. Toward the end of 8th grade, Turner started playing with Elk Grove United’s U18 team. There, the sport began to take shape for Turner, and her place in the game evolved beyond that of a hard-carrying try-scorer.
Turner also learned more about the opportunity that comes with rugby. Once at Elk Grove High, she joined Rhinos Rugby Academy and began working with O’rene “Renz” Ai’i and Sarona Scott.
“They both increased my rugby ability immensely in those two years,” Turner said of the academy coaches. “Without them I wouldn’t have gotten to where I am today.
“My best quality is being a team player,” Turner self-assessed. “I know I am very skilled within the sport but I never let that be who I am when I’m playing a game. For example, most of my tries I don’t even take myself – I let my teammates score because I wouldn’t be able to make that try if they didn’t execute that tackle or something.
“I feel like I’m very strong. I’ve been told that I can execute a tackle very well,” Turner continued. “I’m also a quick learner. I’m very coachable. You tell me what to do and it takes me a couple of minutes to get it and execute it well.”
Turner displayed those skills during Rhinos tours to elite tournaments in Denver, Las Vegas, Salt Lake City, Boise, and Irvine, Calif., and selectors and college coaches took note.
“I was pretty young when I started being scouted,” said Turner, who plays inside center and flyhalf. “It opened my eyes to the opportunities ahead of me and how this game could really take me places. That’s when I started getting serious [about rugby]. This game could be my future, and I also had a big love for it.”
Last summer, the rising sophomore represented Rhinos at the World Youth Rugby Festival 7s tournament in Irvine, Calif., and that’s where she first interacted with USA Women’s 7s head coach Chris Brown.
“It was kind of funny,” Turner said of their first meeting. “Up until that point [my critique] was, ‘You do this and that so well.’ But when I met Chris Brown, the first thing he said to me was, ‘Hey, you need to work on your tackles.’ Honestly I really like that because it was the feedback I needed instead of getting praise. I didn’t look at it like he thought I was a bad player, but that he was just trying to make me better. ‘Yes, OK, I’ll work on my left-side tackles!’”
Turner considered Brown’s comments as welcomed advice and didn’t think it was the start of something. A couple of months later, the USA 7s team reached Turner through her coach and invited her to camp in August/September. The 15-year-old was excited, nervous, and ready for something to happen.
RELATED: Assembly & competition dates from USA Rugby age-grade programs
Fitness was the focus of this camp and so Turner upped her workout regimen in preparation. At Chula Vista, Turner shared a room with 17-year-old Next Olympic Hopeful winner DeAira Jackson.
“She was the only person I could tackle in camp, just because of the [age] rules. I wasn’t allowed to make contact with the other campers,” Turner said of the otherwise adult attendees. “But I really enjoyed that camp, especially because they didn’t make me feel like I was so young. They treated me like every other camper and didn’t make my age an excuse to go easy on me. It pushed me basically.”
Turner worked hard to digest all the newness while also performing at a high level, and was pleasantly surprised with her performance.
“The skills they were teaching weren’t as hard as I thought they were going to be,” Turner said. “I thought I’d go there and look like a weakling because I hadn’t done as much as everyone else. But I thought I kept up with them.
“And they made camp a lot more fun than I thought it would be,” she added. “I thought it would be super serious, not a lot of laughs, and always rugby rugby rugby. But it wasn’t. It was fun, I made a lot of friends, and the coaches were great.
That fall assembly set expectations for Turner’s follow-up invitation to the February 2020 camp. USA 7s residents, pool players and elite collegians returned to Chula Vista while the touring squad played in New Zealand and Australia.