VIA Ros Chou:

It was a Satiated Beaver reunion of sorts in Massachusetts as six Texas Beavers joined four Florida first-time Beavs. Burnsy Burns Chamberlain, Meredith Baggity Bags, T- hole, Kitty, Krafty, and Rosalind gathered together in Boston last Thursday and Friday to see some sights and soak in the New England air before heading out to Eastham, MA for Cape Cods 7s.

Florida players Sarah G., Belkin, Sally, and Fish were introduced to the world of Beaverdom early Saturday morning as all players were asked to &quotWalk It Out&quot to determine the starting line-up.

After showing off their individual moves, the team swapped Superhero/Villain accessories in a white elephant fashion. The youngest players chose first and the older players were allowed to steal their accessories.

The team warmed up together for the first time and got off to a slow start. In their first match, they faced Union Alumni who ran from their first match right to the kick off for the match against the Beavs. The Union team was aggressive and ball hungry and the Beavers were still rubbing the sleep out of their eyes. The match ended with a Union victory and we prepared for our next match. Belkin scored the one try for the Beavers to Union’s four tries.

Providence B-side was the next opponent and we Beavers were now wide awake and ready to play. There was good communication and the Beaver forwards took advantage of Providence’s lineouts as Fish stole several of their throws. Belkin scored two breakaway tries and Bags put in another try.

During the long break, Beaver trivia that began in June on the Beaver tour was completed. And the winner is…Rachel Kraft who just narrowly beat out Kitty for the top scorer in trivia.

Play resumed and we were scheduled to play Beantown B, a VERY strong team for the social bracket. They put up a great fight against us and at the end of the second half the score was tied 7 to 7. Bags was responsible for the score on a breakaway run and kicked her own conversion. The game went in to sudden death. The Beavers kicked off to Beantown B, attacking aggressively bearing down on the receiver where the ball was stopped in a tackle, going to a quick ruck. Beavers recovered the ball and began their offensive attack. Every Beaver touched the ball and was finally put in by Rosalind, diving in for the try.

A 2-1 record is a very respectable showing at such a largely competitive tournament. There was still a victory to come that would surpass what happened on the pitch. In the competitive bracket, NOVA beat select side teams and all the other competitive teams to take home the first place trophy.

The Beavers have been practicing the original Beaver song for over a year and were going to perform it for the skit competition at the social after the tournament. A re-mix had been added and the new Beavers were forced to practice over and over to tighten up the performance. NOVA was the reigning skit champ three years running and were not going to give up their title easily. I am not going to go in to too much detail because this write-up will be too long. The brief story is, NOVA had a very nice musical medley with fit and scantily clad players. Yet, they were no match for the performance titled, &quotWe’re Bringing Beavers Back.&quot

The Beavers waited patiently on stage with bowed heads for the crowd to quiet. Once silence fell over the audience we instantly went in to &quotBeaver One, Beaver All…&quot The crowd was completely enraptured by the performance and they remained hushed to hear the lyrics. The re-mix followed the freestyle dancing after &quotBeaver Nine&quot and we offered up their re-make of &quotSexy Back.&quot Unfortunately, there is no Youtube video to share, but it was amazing and yes, the crowd went wild with the T-hole knee slide, and synchronized group ending. The referees acted as the judges and quickly had their decision ready. Turboprops took third place and NOVA started to chant their name, but quickly drowned out. Somewhere in the front near the stage ruggers started chanting &quotBeavers, Beavers, Beavers, Beavers!&quot The tournament director announced the second place finishers in the skit contest, NOVA. BEAVERS WIN! BEAVERS WIN!

We were surrounded for the rest of the night by admirers and fans. We were offered women, money, and clothing for any piece of Beaver gear with which we would be willing to part. It was quite amusing at first, but as the night wore on we began to tire and wanted to just be alone with our Beaver clan. How does Paris Hilton deal with the stardom?

The next day we headed to the Provincetown to officially complete the Beaver tour 2007 that stretched from Coast-to-Coast. There were cool shops and a wild wolf ate T-hole. May she rest in peace.

This and more rugby blogs can be found at http://westrugby.blogspot.com. Thanks!

So if you read my post a few days ago I was saying that I have been having a hard time training this time around. I am training, but have not been training as hard as I could. After a few well chosen words from a few email supporters &amp friends I realized that I need to get my butt in gear.

I play Canada in a matter of weeks, am representing the USA and therefore need to get my butt in gear. So I stepped up the training yesterday and today and feel better about things already. Yesterday I did some sprint work and a long jog to warm up. Still doing the daily push ups, pull ups and planks…added wall sits and more abdominal work. Today I did one of the harder trail runs I have found…360 and mopac down at the Green Belt. (side note: I didn’t know Jake could climb sheer rock, he scared his mother climbing them without hesitation or fear!)

I tend to keep most of my personal life out of my blog…but I think this merits an explanation. I am a chronic over trainer, I love to trail run and love training with my dog Jake. However, two weeks ago I quit my job at the gym. I won’t be going into details about the gym, but those that know the behind the scenes know it was getting to be too stressful and forced me to choose ethics over a job.

So basically I have been pretty stressed over making finances meet and finding a new job. To put it bluntly I have been pretty depressed. I loved the gym job, but it just got to be too much. I have had several promising interviews this week, some in the first phase and some in the second phase, so hopefully something will have worked out by the end of the week.

Regardless, I need to keep training and need to train hard. I have vowed to work out everyday until I fly to Minnesota on Aug 24. Of course I will not wear myself out, but at least twice a week will be a lighter/pool workout so I can recover. But I have got to get back into top rugby form.

Thanks for all the support and kind words over the weekend. Life is tough, but I’ve been down enough and I need to get back out there.

This and more rugby blogs can be found at http://westrugby.blogspot.com. Thanks!

So this weekend is a referee course in San Marcos and a few of us are going. And in preparation the head referee guy in the Texas Rugby Union sent out this awesome rugby link:

http://www.sareferees.co.za/home/

The best part of the website for me was the video clips that show a controversial call and then there is an explanation below. It also has information about what referees are chosen for matches, you can ask questions of the referees and referee news.

It seems to be a good resource, but of course there is always the IRB website that has plenty of resources as well:

http://www.irb.com/training/index.html – Education and Traininghttp://www.irb.com/lawregulations/index.html – Laws and Regulations

I have a copy of the Rugby Laws always in my bag and often open it up to read a section and/or familiarize myself with the rugby laws. There are so many rules and so many gray areas, I find it fascinating. The best rule I ever found (I have yet to use it) has been the &quotmark&quot call. I love it! I want to use it so badly in a game, but of course it would have to be the right time and the right situation. I love it when they use it in international matches…weird I know!

This and more rugby blogs can be found at http://westrugby.blogspot.com. Thanks!

Corpus Christi 7s – July 28, 2007

Saturday dawned early with SUN! If you haven’t heard about the Central Texas weather, this wouldn’t sound very exciting. Basically it has rained 40 days and 40 nights here, all the rivers are over flowing and we have flood watches almost every day. So the fact that is actually was sunny all day in Corpus is pretty crazy.

Traci, Shalay, Amy B and I had camped out Friday night on the beach right across from where the tournament would be played the next day. We drove down late Friday night and put our tents up in the dark. The mosquito’s mistakenly thought we were a HUGE feast and pretty much ate us alive. It was late so we decided to put the tents up and hit the sack. We slept for a few hours and then were jolted awake when it started raining again, it rained like a monsoon for probably about two hours…and if you have ever slept in a tent when it is raining that hard, you know it is hard to sleep.

So I decided I couldn’t sleep anymore and I got out of the tent. The sand was so saturated that it was pooling and creating random lakes all over the beach. A HUGE lake that was about 20 feet by 10 feet had developed right by Shalay and Amy’s tent…the moonlight bouncing off the rippling water was amazing.

At this point everyone was awake because Jake was bounding around in the tent like a crazy dog because he wanted to be outside with me. So we all woke up and then the feast began again…so we decided to drive to a gas station and get some serious bug spray this time. We also picked up some snack and headed back to the camp site. We still weren’t tired so we decided to take a walk along the ocean and check things out. Arming ourselves with bug spray and snacks we braved the elements. The DEET in the deep woods bug spray must have worked because the walk was very comfortable and beautiful!

Here’s a video of Jake chasing a ghost crab on the beach…he was very intrigued but scared of the white/transparent crab.

We finally got tired again around 4am and decided to try sleeping as it was getting cold again and the rain looked like it was coming in again. We actually slept till 8am and woke up to the Corpus Christi Rugby Team working on the pitches.

We ate breakfast and then all the teams started showing up, there were TONS of men’s teams and four women’s teams. The games were very exciting and lots of fun to watch. Its always good to see the sand flying as girls make tackles and the bare feet churn up the sand.

Women’s Bracket1st – Corpus Christi2nd – Alamo City3rd – HARC4th – Satiated Beavers

The tournament directors had assigned a referee to the women’s games but he was often late for the games and let a lot of dangerous calls go, so the for a few of the games I got be a referee. It was a lot of fun and I realized that I enjoy it.

The women’s semi-final teams decided that they wanted to play debutante style where the scrums were boat racing, line-outs were the dizzy bat and kickoffs were drunken handstands. They played about twenty minutes and it was a ton of fun! I made sure to call knock-ons that didn’t happen, improper use of the rugby ball and any other rule I could think of. It was a ton of fun!

That night we decided that we were tired of being eaten alive, sun burnt and wanted a nice clean bed. So we got a hotel room and crashed out since we hadn’t slept much the night before. It was glorious!

I will post pictures as soon as they get uploaded, Shalay and Amy Wolfrey both had cameras out there.

This and more rugby blogs can be found at http://westrugby.blogspot.com. Thanks!

So on Tuesday at 7s practice we were doing some defensive work for the new rookies we have picked up this summer. At first Bags had us doing just a small grid, similar to the one you often see used for 2 V 1. Basically your have two lines stand right next to each other and one is offense and the other is defense.

She would call 1 or 2 and that determined the type of defensive work you would be doing. If she called the number 1 your would be doing a close in type tackle where the defense is often setup and ready for you. Usually the grid is only a few feet wide and is super small.

If she called number 2 your were given a bit more freedom and this was simulating the defense not totally being setup and you have a bit more space for creating.

At first we simply talked about using the sideline as your ally (the last man) and using out of bounds to your advantage. Bags also pointed out that using the sideline is great, but you have to use it appropriately. Meaning that you mark your defensive player on their inside shoulder and this forces them to work outwards. If you get overzealous and mark their outside shoulder they can read that and simply cut in on you. Then you have wasted the sideline as an advantage.

The drill was going great, but we noticed that some of the newer players were either over committing or under committing. So I decided to share a theory that Julie McCoy taught us the first year I played West 7s select side. I thought it was an excellent theory and have used it many times in a game.

Ice, Sub and &amp Super Pressure

These three theories can be used all one or used independently of each other. Be imaginative!

Ice- This is the first step of the whole defensive theory: Imagine your team has just scrummed and is running a back play where the fly half kicks the ball into the other team’s territory. As a team you must advance with haste in your channels and once the player with the ball is located, you must ice. Basically this means settle, get together in a straight line, impenetrable and working together. It does not mean settle as in sit back on your heels and let the action pass you by…it means more to attack on defense once you have settled your team together.

This tactic is often used on kickoffs as well, your team must first tackle the opponent with the ball. Then organizing yourselves to attack on defense to get the ball back commences.

Sub- This step of the defensive process is best if I describe it in a situation: Imagine your team is kicking off and you are the &quotsniper&quot or &quotattacker&quot for your team. This sniper is usually one of your best tacklers and pretty quick. Their whole job is to make a great tackle with speed, agility and accuracy. Basically they are in charge of putting the fear in the other team from the very first hit of the game. So where does the Ice part come in? (*granted, not all teams use a sniper, so imagine this scenario in a few different ways if that helps)

Ice means approaching the situation with speed, agility and accuracy but at the last minute breaking down and pausing. We are not talking about pausing and stopping all your momentum. This theory is that you access where your opponent is, how high they are, if they are going to put a move on you…etc ALL in the split second before you lay the girl out.

This skill takes plenty of practice because if you take too long and reach the realm of hesitation you will be side stepped and out played in an instant. If you attack to quickly you also risk the embarrassment of overshooting your target. So practice is a must!

Super- This technique in the process if best described as a suppressing attack. This would most often be used in a one on one situation or where someone is chasing down a kick. It is just what is sounds like, a super attack at full speed and full force. You have all seen it when a fullback gets laid out right as they catch the ball by a speedy opponent. This is the same theory, you zero in on the target and without hesitation take care of the problem.

If you were to use all these theories together it would best be described using a kickoff again. Your team chases down the kick in a super defense, closing down all their opportunities. Then you move to a sub defense where you are seeing what lay they are running, if the play is stopped then you simply run an ice defense where you are settled and poised to attack.

I am not an expert of these theories, but have used them often and have found them valuable to pass on to other players. I explained them to the best of my ability and tried to make them applicable to certain situations. Let me know how I did!

This and more rugby blogs can be found at http://westrugby.blogspot.com. Thanks!

-So I found this today...this guy believes that rugby is rubbish…what is he thinking? Before I say more, read it for yourself:

Over a century ago a schoolboy picked up a football and ran away holding it. Unfortunately he was never caught and punished. Worse, the sport of rugby was born. Now English eyes have turned to the six nations championships.

Questions will be asked about drift defences, whether Johnny Wilkinson&rsquos return from the dead was helped by the fact he looks like a zombie, and why on earth they couldn&rsquot find a round ball to play with. The real and only question will be dodged. The only point of interest in the entire history of rugby has never been debated: Was that schoolboy in the box when he first picked up the football and so was it a penalty or not?

The middle classes have taken a foul and called it a sport. It doesn&rsquot change anything. They can say they have an official world cup and should be an Olympic sport but it doesn&rsquot matter to me. The world cup final doesn&rsquot count it should have been abandoned after five minutes for persistent handball. It wasn&rsquot a contest, just a game of football gone wrong.

What makes the presence of rugby worse is rugger buggers lording it over football and sniffing over little things like diving. They constantly claim Rugby is a better sport because there&rsquos no diving like in football. NEWSFLASH&hellip that&rsquos because it&rsquos a different sport. There are no illegal wheel arches in the premiership but that doesn&rsquot mean football is a better sport than formula one. It just is.

If rugby wants to boast about a lack of cheating then maybe it should get some rules. Well understandable ones, not like the strange ones they stop the game for every five seconds (which apparently don&rsquot involve cheating, just one fat guy prepared to risk breaking another fat guy&rsquos neck in order to win a scrum.) Rugby types are happy to sneer at Wayne Rooney&rsquos outbreak of happy stamping at the world cup but ignore the fact that if he&rsquod done that on a rugby field they&rsquod all have simply yelled, &ldquoGreat rucking rooners&rdquo. He&rsquod fit right in and a few collapsed scrummages might improve his looks.

In conclusion I suggest we retaliate. Get a few mates together and join a rugby team. First game, one of you goes long and into the traditional centre forward&rsquos position, then the others get the ball and hoof it forwards to him under the posts. He scores. When the egg chasers complain about offside or something tell them it&rsquos not a foul but instead the invention of a much better, cleaner sport. Call it football.
– Wow, all hail football. What a freaking idiot and a waste of space. I was looking at some more of his articles and it appears that he doesn’t like anything but football. I could go on here and talk about how football is hardly a sport, but I won’t do that. It shouldn’t be about stripping down one sport and boasting another. It’s about the sports we love and that there truly is a sport out there for everyone.

Some athletes play ping pong, and after watching those guys pound the ball while standing off the table at about 10 paces, I am impressed! Some athletes choose to bowl and watching them hit strike after strike with perfection is pretty amazing! Even stranger, some athletes choose to race cars in Nascar, while some people would claim that it isn’t a sport at all. But have you ever seen an overweight Nascar driver? They have to be in pristine shape to do 600 laps in one day.

Basically I think it should be to each their own, and leave the boasting over which sport is better alone. It will never be proven…and will never be settled.

However the great thing about rugby is that truly ANYONE can play. You have never played sports before? No problem, we will teach you, train you and drink a beer with you afterwards. The best parts of rugby are the community, family and that everyone can do it. Not many sports can boast that can they?

Even better, rugby is one of the only sports that women are on the same playing field. We have the same rules, same positions, do the same training drills and we TACKLE like men. If you have never watched a rugby match, I would watch a women’s match and then a men’s match. You will see some differences, but they are slight at most. The beauty and elegance of rugby can be seen on both territories.

And I am sure most of you have seen this video, but here is &quotfootball&quot or soccer vs. rugby, can you tell a difference?

This and more rugby blogs can be found at http://westrugby.blogspot.com. Thanks!