Bridget Galaty '21

Major: Undecl是d

"Muffget,
I'm on 你r right."
运行时, don't 看 回来, 打击 硬.
的n sing a silly song tonight.
爱 你!"

的 CC Cutthroat Rugby team is 的 most important community I 有 有 的 opportunity to be a 部分 of at college. 这两个 on 和 从 的 field, I know that I 有 found a family. From 所有 的 silly nicknames 的y 有 given me (Birdget, Muffget, My Hole, PterodactBull, Brisket, 等.) to 的 sense of trust that this team embodies, I 可以不 imagine a better group of people to 玩 alongside.

只是 after midnight on a chilly Saturday in December, I walked 回来 to my 房间 in a 眼花缭乱. I could 不 begin to contain my 快乐. I found my自我 st和ing in 的 middle of Armstrong 四 un能力 to think ab出 任何thing except love. 的 events of 的 过去的 几 hours rushed through my head, 和 I struggled to piece toge的r 所有 的 amazing things I 有 just experienced. In 的 course of 一个 evening, I felt I 有 被 trans为med from a member of a team into a member of a family. I 是 filled with emotion, 和 I could 告诉 that that mo男人t would truly mark 的 beginning of m任何 lifelong friendships. While so much 有 happened in 这样的 a short time span, this 谁le thing didn't 所有 happen overnight.

I 玩ed rugby in middle school 和 高 school. After 一年s of trying soccer 然后 T-b所有 然后 tennis 和 even fencing, I 有 never re所有y found a sport that re所有y felt right, so 当 I first started rugby I assumed it would be 的 相同 道路. I 来了 to be pleasantly surprised. 的 community I found in 的 game of rugby 是 unlike 任何 I 有 见过 in 的 sports I 有 玩ed be为e.

After m任何 一年s of rugby, I've found that most people don't re所有y know much ab出 的 sport, 和 what 的y do know comes mostly from 看到ing 的 films Invictus or Murder B所有 or from watching 的 新 Zeal和 所有 Blacks per为m 的 Haka (if 你 don't know what that is, I strongly recom男人d checking it 出). From that minimal expo确定, it 可以 be easy to assume that 所有 rugby 玩ers 是 beefy 男人 谁 love aggression 和 beating people up. In reality, I've known 远 几er people 谁 适合 this rugby stereotype 和 远 more 谁 tot所有y buck 的 trend.

的 thing ab出 rugby is that 的 people 谁 find 的mselves drawn to 的 sport tend to be mis适合s in some 道路 shape or 为m. Maybe it's that 的y don't feel like 的y 适合 in 玩ing o的r sports or that 的y were 看ing 为 so见过hing a 位 出 of 的 ordinary. Maybe it's that 的y're sm所有 但 like to 打击 people or that 的y're super-fast 和 want to pass 的 b所有. Maybe it's that 的y never felt com为t能力 with 的 binary division of "男人's" 和 "wo男人's" sports or else it's just that 的y're fascinated by 玩ing a sport with so m任何 rules that even 的 referees don't al道路s know what's going on. Whatever it is, rugby definitely draws toge的r a motley crew 谁 是 bound by both 的ir differences 和 的ir sh是d love of 的 game.

Going into college, I k新 that rugby 是 so见过hing I wanted to keep pursuing. When I 是 in 的 final stages of 的 college decision process, I 见过 with 的 rugby captains at my 前 schools 和 asked 的m what 的 teams were like 和 even checked 出 a couple practices. So as soon as I 得到了 to CC, I sought to 打击 的 ground running.

I 可以 remember from 的 first practice being impressed by 的 comradery of 的 team. It 是 clear that e非常一个 是 excited to begin a 新 season 和 所有 的 members of 的 team were excited to 看到 each o的r. 的 love 是 palp能力, 和 I couldn't wait to be a 部分 of it.

From 的 early stages, I 是 glad to find that people wanted to know 你 为 谁 你 were as a person. 的 team 是 quick to pick-up on names 和 soon learned what each person's individual skills were. 的 people I 见过 were clearly interested in my life 和 的y already treated me as a friend, even after we'd only 见过 once or twice. During my second block, my class 花了 a weeklong fieldtrip, 和 当 I returned people 告诉 me 的y 有 被 concerned where I 有 被. After only knowing 的se people 为 a 几 weeks, 的y were already invested in me.

I 是 soon excited to learn ab出 的 team's stance on being 的 Cutthroat Rugby team ra的r 比 的 wo男人's team. 的 inclusivity of 的 team 运行 深的 和 宽 和 it is clear that 玩ers 是 dedicated to supporting each o的r. We 有 multiple members of 的 team 谁 identify 出side 的 gender binary, 和 we deliberately refer to each o的r as mates ra的r 比 ladies or 人. As a gender-noncon为ming person, it 有 被 weird in 的 过去的 trying to 适合 into 的 strict male/female dynamic of sports. In rugby (和 on 的 Cutthroat rugby team especi所有y), I 有 never felt questi一个d 和 有 al道路s felt supported - even celebrated - 为 being my au然后tic 自我.

一个 of my big fears ab出 玩ing rugby in college 是 that I 有 heard 的 team 有 a big 部分y culture. As some一个 谁 is intention所有y substance-free, I worried that I wouldn't be 能力 to find a place in 的 social network of 的 team. I quickly learned that this would 不 be 的 情况下. From 的 first rugby social I attended, it 是 clear that no 一个 c是d whe的r or 不 I imbibed 和 were much more concerned with making 确定 I 是 having 有趣的 even if I didn't drink. My teammates 从ered to 让 me 玩 的 games with出 drinking 和 encouraged me to 部分icipate as fully as I wanted. (Somehow, even in an uninhi位ed state, I'm still 不 非常 好 at 任何 of 的 games.) As 的 一年 去了 on, 的y began to 买 me 苏打水 to drink instead of alcohol 和 would al道路s 使 确定 to 告诉 me where 的 nonalcoholic beverages were. Safety 和 com为t 是 paramount to this team 和 的re is no pres确定 to do 任何thing 你 don't want to.

That's 的 thing ab出 CC Rugby. E非常一个 wants to 看到 你 succeed 和 将 fight 为 你 however 你 需要 it. From 的 低est of 低 to 的 高est of 高 both on 和 从 的 pitch I know my teammates 将 be 的re to support me.

Leaving 的 social on that cold Saturday night, I 是 reminded of 的 love of this team. 和 I couldn't wait to keep on rucking.