Jersey #9: Kentucky's Journey

Okay, so God may have been spiting me (because he does that) for not keeping my lenten promise of no television watching...I know, I know, I said I could do it but I just, well....I'm human, okay!!?! And I really like tv.

Anyways, I think the result of this breakage of promises resulted in a mandatory loss of my laptop for freaking ever. AND THEN, when I finally did get my laptop back, it still didn't f-ing work. So then they told me the charger was broken, so then I sent away for a new charger tip to work with my old laptop's universal charger...but then that was taking too long, so then I decided to get the viruses off of my old laptop so I could use it in the meantime - they told me it would take three days - but it really took a week, and in a bitter twist of fate, the new tip that goes to my new laptop, but which has to be used with my old laptop's charger, came in the mail.....only the charger it worked with was with my old laptop at Best Buy.......damn. So basically I was without a home computing aparatus for like, a month..and it was making me hella crazy. Rest easy though, because now I'm back for good =)



On to the rugby -

Okay, so the Memphis games I played in for Midwest U23's were like a million years ago, but here's the gist of it.......the games were definitely a mismatch and we won by way too much, but the good news is we had an AMAZING group of athletes that I can't wait to play with again, and against much tougher competition. If everyone comes back in shape and ready to go for Blaine this summer, the midwest just might be back in business for another championship =)


Aside from Memphis, my UNI team just had its first rugby weekend of the season!!! We traveled to St. Paul, MN on Saturday morning where we enjoyed a clinic with the Twin City Amazons. Though our UNI squad had never really done anything like that with a women's club team, I would have to say that the experience was a success - especially for our pack. There are a lot of technical components to scrumming, lineouts, etc that our forwards just don't get enough exposure to at a normal practice, and it was great for them (and for me, since the success of a pack directly influences the success of a scrumhalf) to get a chance to learn from a few old pros...

That night was also pretty nice, as we were treated to free food and lodging by the 'Zons. Ten of us stayed in the same place as myself that night, where we were treated to nice rooms with beds, blankets, tv's, and even a breakfast casserole in the morning! I also had a chance to spread love for the ever popular party trick - the inside out roll (aka sushi roll). Basically, it involves sitting with your bottoms of your feet together while holding your feet in your hands, rocking backwards while manuvering until your arms are now outside of your knees and you are rolled out on your stomach - all while never letting go of your feet: Those of you who've never seen this performed - you're missing out, because it is definitely a good time.


However, all fun rugby nights must come to an end, and with the festivities over, Sunday morning was when the "business" of our trip began. We traveled up to St. Cloud to play the Minnesota Under-23 All-Stars, and it turned out to be a hell of a match. Several familiar faces were on the opposing side of the pitch - and all of them were very good players. So much so that I think it caught the team a little off-guard and left us down by 2 trys at the end of the first half. It took a lot of digging, but somehow we managed to come back pull off the win...but it definitely wasn't the most flawless of performances...

Although, I suppose that's the way things go for the first match of the season, and we'll have time to patch up any holes before we have to take off for Nationals. As for myself, I notice that when I get in games, my pass gets significantly weaker than when I'm practicing on my own...I'm not sure what exactly I'm doing differently, and it's pretty frustrating, but I guess all that I can do is to keep at it at practice and hope that eventually my repetitions translate into a better performance on the pitch. Other than that, I felt pretty confident about my play - trying a few kicks that weren't complete disasters, and taking one or two runs when I got the chance. Our pack was definitely a bit on their heels, though, and when that happens I'm always curious as to what that's supposed to mean for me - does that mean I'm less responsible for the mistakes I make when it's because I'm not protected??? Does it mean I'm being a bad leader??? I would like to think that as a scrumhalf there are some things that I could do when things are getting disheveled in my forwards, and I think that's a part of my game I'd really like to improve upon...

Hmmm...I suppose that's something to think on. At any rate, that's my update of rugby life since I've been blog-absent, and the bed is calling my name. I promise more coherent and less pointless topics of conversation in the future =)