Freewrite: My Relationship to Rugby

I've been playing rugby since I was a Junior at North Central High School. I had played soccer and basketball since I was seven up until I was a Junior when my coaches for both sports decided, in as few words as possible, I wasn't good enough anymore. So my best friend and I were convinced by another friend to do powerlifting and rugby; you can bet we did. My Junior/Senior years were my happiest because of rugby because there were no politics involved it didn't matter who your parents were, how much money they made everyone was given a fair chance at tryouts, and no one's cut from the team! Both years my team won the state championship and I was named to the Indiana All-State team. I had the best possible coaches, Brenda "Maverick" Adams and Suzi Dillon, who never yelled at you for doing something wrong, or right.
As stated before I play for the Ball State Women's Team, the Flamingoes, not sure where or how the name came to be but that's what we're called. We're very close to our men's team, the Outlaws, and its a very brotherly-sisterly bond we have with each other.
I've played with the Ball State team going on 2 semesters. I've also played for the U20 Midwest Team (Nov. 2007) and at the end of February I will be trying out for the U20 Women's National Team. So my experience is ever growing with rugby.

-"Spence"-

Double-Entry Notes: A Typical Night at WNDC's

1) 6 cars parked along house ---> 6 people live here (4 girls,2 guys) all but 1 play rugby; they're
very close to each other.

2) Couches in horseshoe shape
facing tv playing Guitar Hero,
9 people (guys/girls) are watching---> Guitar Hero is a big thing in this house, funny how
amused they are.

3) Sexual jokes, teasing, sarcasm,
drinking jokes at Brad, play fighting---> Brad only drinks water; very brotherly-sisterly
relationship, yet again very close; people always
smiling/laughing here.

4) In "drinking game room" they have
a plastered body, rainbow pinata, some---> Odd array of items they keep, shows just how crazy
mask, Christmas lights, rules for drinking they can be, but fun.
foosball.

5) One guy brings in beer, seen as a "hero"
others go on a alcohol run ---> They will drink just about anything and they drink
ALOT! hence WNDC's

6) The drinking games are played on a
table top on top of their foosball table ---> They broke their other table, not sure how

7) Slow atmosphere at first; small talk-
nothing crazy yet ----> Typical at beginning until more alcohol comes and
they start the drinking games like beer pong

8) Playing beer pong, Steak and DK,
have one arm bent and the other fully ----> Some sort of intimidation/mocking/sike out
extended at Gonso and Mitch-have
one cup left.

9)1 girl can't hit any cups in beer pong,
blaming it on her shoulder ----> She injured her shoulder; 2 weeks ago she was
playing Chandeliers and she was drunk because
she was on pain medication and drank alcohol- she
swallowed the quarter!!

10) Mitch has a test at 9:30 am and is
going to take it drunk-says he wouldn't ---> Kind of a stupid thing to do but hey I guess its his
feel the same if he didn't choice but he's unaffected by the consequences

11) the chugging song: "Why are we
waiting we could be masturbating?
So drink motherfucker (repeat) ---> A song sung usually during Quarters or
Chandeliers to joke with people

-Kristen "Spence" Spencer-

Groundwork Activity

First:
rugby, military life, physical therapy, exercise lovers, Indianapolis vs. a town

Second:
I play on my college rugby team here at Ball State and I see how my teammates interact with each other on and off the field with different rituals and behaviors, I want to know where some of them came from or why they do them. In order to an outsider's view I have to I have to just sit back and observe what they do with each other.

Third:
I know they drink...ALOT...and I'm not all for that so I have to try and shed light on why they do what they do and keep my biases out. They also do alot of joking that sometimes gets taken too far with some people.

Fourth:
By doing this research on rugby I can open the eyes of people who don't play and explain certain aspects to people who do play and hopefully see my own biases and thinking of the rugby team.

-Kristen "Spence" Spencer-

Box 1: What Subcultures Are You A Part Of?

For our first assignment we had to list all of the subcultures we were in and write on one of them, I chose to do my military family and experience....

Few people know how it feels to be in a military family or have to experience having someone overseas your freshman semester of college, like I do. Tension rises in the family right before the deployment from sadness, anger, and anxiety. "Worry" is the one word that tops your vocabulary and runs your life. From worrying about how the loved one is doing to worrying about how you're going to pay for college, you worry all the time. When that person's gone everything seems to go wrong, then you get used to not having them there. All the while every family member is filled with unmistakable feelings of of patriotism, pride, and sacrifice. We fight the political battles to defend our loved one and attempt to win our own internal battles of carrying on each day as normal as possible. (14 Jan. '08)

Rugger15

How This All Got Started...

"We will be designing our own blogs and websites throughout this semester..." not exactly what I wanted to hear the first day back to campus especially in my English class, which is not my best class nor am I computer or tech savvy. So here's this blog....not sure what to write or say but this is about rugby...anything and everything about it. If there are ever any questions or comments about rugby whether you play or not feel free to leave them on the blog.

GIVE BLOOD PLAY RUGBY!!