News from Rugby America

With the Women’s Rugby World Cup just a few weeks away, the US Women’s National Team has been living and training at Bowdoin College over the past couple weeks. 

The location is home to one of five sanctioned NCAA collegiate women’s rugby programs in the country, and offers a high-performance training environment similar to those of the Women’s Rugby World Cup facilities in London.

Players and staff welcome the opportunity to live and train in a controlled setting for an extended period of time.

“Complete emersion allows the athletes to focus on specific tasks while further strengthening a positive team culture,” Women’s Head Coach Kathy Flores said. “Residency allows all members of our program to benefit from the time and resources that are necessary to compete at the pinnacle of our sport.”

The Women Eagles maintain a rigorous schedule including combinations of skills training and recovery time, video analysis, mental skills sessions, and conditioning. As part of their training, the Women had the opportunity to take on the Northeast All-Stars in a warm-up match.

by Jenny Menke

  The sun is out in Minnesota and the Valkyries are enjoying that fantastic little season those outside of the tundra like to call summer.  Oh, yes, fall rugby and the dreaded winter will be here soon enough, but in the meantime, we’ve been keeping active.

Many of us could not stay away from the competition and have taken on alternative sports: Megan Zweber has been sailing competitively and spending time on local lakes.  Marta Zweber (second cousin, really.) reports, “I've decided to channel all of my summer energy into becoming a professional golfer. And by that I mean mini golf.”  If you’re up for a challenge, she can be found on the miniature golf greens of Como Park, day or night, working toward that elusive hole in one.  Jenny Menke has also found a new summer sport, taking on jiu-jitsu grappling and hoping to enter her first tournament later this summer.

Beer Here!

Is there such a thing as too much beer?  The clear (or at least pure golden) answer is no.  As a proud sponsor of the Minnesota Valkyries for a year and a half, Schells has reached their brew-making capacity.  Their 150-year old factory in New Ulm, Minnesota, found recent success with two of their newest beers, the Hopfenmalz and Nordeast, and is now in the process of adding three additional tanks to meet demand.  What an accomplishment!

The girls in maroon could not be happier.  Schells, the team’s exclusive beer sponsor, has supported the Valkyries by donating beer for all of our events, including the bi-annual Beer Olymics held at Mayslacks Bar.  Chopper, our point-man at the brewery, has fitted us in t-shirts for fundraisers and community events, supplied banners with our team name along side the famous Schell stag, and even invited a few lucky players and guests to a brewery tour last year.  With such a great company supporting its community, we’re not surprised that Schells has done so well in recent years.

Let’s raise our pint of Premium to Chopper and Schells and wish them another 150 years of continued success.

“Rugby World,” the foremost rugby news program in the United States, featured highlights of the Women Eagles Can-Am series played last month in Canada. And your Unique News Source - Valkyries Rugby - is the first to bring you online highlights of the broadcast! 

“Rugby World” is carried on the Fox Sports Networks across the country and is filmed at Infinity Park in Glendale , Colo., which is quickly becoming known as “ Rugby Town , USA .”

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It was announced last month that NBC Sports and Universal Sports will carry the 2011 and 2015 Rugby World Cups on multiple digital platforms...

As women’s rugby continues to grow in popularity, the broadcast of women’s rugby on a nationally syndicated program on a major sports network is a groundbreaking event.  Rugby fans in America have been starving for readily accessible rugby programming, so with the broadcast of the Women Eagles tomorrow, it marks the network’s response to a growing demand for the sport in America.

Leading up to the Women's Rugby World Cup, here is a tid bit of rugby from around the world.

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