It’s really quite easy to become hopelessly addicted to Sevens rugby. It’s fast paced, action packed, and the game can change in moments. When you add to that mix the thrill of international competition, where you pit the elite athletes of the nations that play this beautiful sport you have the recipe for something amazing in the least. Wellington showed that recently with the mens HSBC Sevens series, and this weekend Atlanta hosts the top level women’s competitors in the World Series Women’s Sevens second round.
The level of preperation and training for an event like this is intense and phenomenal. I therefore was very lucky to be able to steal some of USA Women’s Eagles 7’s fullback Christy Ringgenberg’s time to ask her a few questions about herself, rugby and the sevens series.
I asked Christy how she first discovered rugby, and her earliest rugby memories. “In high school I had friends who played rugby for the boys club. I watched games and thought if a girls team started I would definitely play. After a year of college soccer, I decided it was time to move on and I found the women’s rugby club at the University of Minnesota. They let me play in the game that weekend and I scored a couple tries and they asked me to kick the extra points because of my soccer background. For my first kick I put a divot in the ground placed the ball and ran up and kicked it. The ball hit the cross bar and bounced in. I fell in the love with the sport immediately.”
Atlanta this weekend pits USA against Canada, who are currently placed third in the series, and Australia who are currently at the top of the table. Both teams bring a fierce game to the field, and both will be a massive test for the Eagles. I asked Christy what the game plan was against these two teams “Canada has great depth and run and tackle very hard. Australia is a creative and scrappy team with quite a bit of speed. Our plan is simple. WORK FOR IT!”
Speaking with people like Billy Nicholas and Jinnie Pratt it is apparent that USA Rugby is investing heavily in the development of women’s rugby, I asked Christy what her impressions were about the state of women’s rugby in USA and the developments as she sees them “Women’s rugby is definitely growing in the US. We are starting to get players at camps who have played all through high school and already have great base knowledge and skill. I am coaching at the University of Minnesota and players are way ahead of where I was when i started. The women’s game is growing fast, there is no other game like it for women. It is very exciting.”
“The rugby community in the US is very tight knit. 12 players will represent the country in Atlanta but there are many more who show up to camps and practices and drive each other to be the best. There are tons of employees and volunteers at USA rugby that help create this event and boost the team in any way they can and there is an entire community supporting us and cheering us on. I definitely feel like I am part of a large rugby family where most people just want to grow and improve rugby in the USA. It is a great community.”
This in itself points to a major step forward for rugby in North America, especially the fact that young women are discovering and enjoying the sport from an earlier age. If the USA Women’s team is as good as they are now – and they are incredibly good – they can only get better with this sort of development happening in the background. That said I asked Christy if there was any further developments she would like to see to advance the game further “I would love to see a more solidified development program and clear pathway to the National teams. We are just starting to see collegiate women’s sevens and I think if we are going to broaden our pool of players at the national level we need to invest in making a season for sevens successful. I think we need to develop players at the college and high school levels to boost competitiveness at the senior level and feed our national teams”
The pinnacle of any sport of course is the chance to represent your country. Showing your skills in a game you love while representing the country you love is – to my mind – something indescribable. Christy though manages to put this feeling into perspective with simple eloquence “As I run onto the field I am filled with pride and excitement. I think about what my job is and say to my self “just keep working“.
I also asked Christy about her favourite memory playing in her national jersey “I have way too many memories to pick a single favorite. I will just tell you a story. When I first started playing, Hong Kong was the major international tournment and really the only one we attended. It was a big deal to us at the time and we always fell just short of winning. In 2008 we finally won the tournement and it felt like we had made a huge break through, we had learned to win. Watching the video after, Pam Kosanke converted an amazing kick from the side line and in a fit of excitement spun around and slapped the manager so hard if knocked her backwards and the water bottle flew into the air. Pam just jogged away with out noticing. It is burned in my brain forever. If you knew Pam you would not be surprised.”
Looking to the future, the International Rugby Board recently released the qualification process for the Rio 2016 Olympics, I asked Christy if this was a factor in thought processes as yet “The qualification proccess is definitely in the back of our minds. Right now we have to focus on one game at a time and grow as a team. The Women’s Sevens Series allows us to experience the pressure of tournaments and we will know how to perform when it comes to qualifiying. Winning takes practice and we are lucky to have a chance to develop.”
Finally I asked Christy about her rugby idol, and who she looked up to in the sport “I really respect Waisale Serevi. He is someone who played creatively and had a great work ethic. He innovated the game with outside the box thinking and playing.”
I thank Christy very much for taking time out of a busy schedule to share her thoughts with me. The Atalanta Women’s Sevens is on this weekend, make sure you keep up to date with all the happenings by following Christy on twitter here, follow the Atalanta Sevens twitter feed here, and also follow the US Women’s Eagles 7s Feed here
