July 22-23, 2000: Young Atlantis Wins Magnificent Sevens, Ontario

(Atlantis tournament #79)
Emil Signes
August 2000
JUNE 25, 2013 (rev. August 29, 2013)

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Young Atlantis celebrating
Young Atlantis celebrates following championship
Back: Elisabeth de Fontenay, Keirsten Lawton, Katrinka Blunt, Kristin Baja, Emil Signes, Jen Sinkler, Meredith Whalen
Front: Haley Steele, Lindsay Davison, Helen Bateup, Anita Molina

NOTE of June 2013: I found an article I wrote in the Rugby Magazine issue of August 28, 2000.  To see the original Rugby article, click here. I have pretty much copied the article in the text below, and added several pictures. Picture quality is not great; this was early days for popularly priced digital cameras, and most pictures, before cropping, were less than 100 kb in size, but ... they're ok to help tell the story.

Toronto, Ontario. July 22-23, 2000.  "Young Atlantis," with an average age of 22, won the Women's Division of Ontario's Magnificent Sevens with six convincing victories.  They defeated the Ottawa Irish 31-7 in the final, the only game they allowed a try, and outscored their opponents 214-7.

Young Atlantis

Five of the Atlantis players had never played sevens before (four had never seen a sevens game!), and based on Friday's practices, one would have been hard pressed to predict a tournament championship for this team.

(In retrospect, however, it should not appear so surprising - besides Keirsten Lawton, who had played sevens for the US in 1997, an additional five of these players - Lindsay Davison, Katrinka Blunt, Jen Sinkler, Meredith Whalen and Kristin Baja - would go on to represent the US within the next two years.)


Nevertheless, from the first minute of the first game, it became apparent that this extremely intelligent and athletic team had figured out the differences (and similarities) between sevens and fifteens, and was able to produce the pattern asked of them.

Last year, except for some pressure in the last two matches, an Eagle-laden Atlantis squad won fairly easily. This year we decided it would be more beneficial to use the Magnificent 7s to work on developing young players and determine those capable of playing higher level sevens.

Our goal was to pick a "more or less" under-23 team, without being too worried about strict age criteria.  In addition, we were looking for a senior player to act as an on and off field leader.  That was Keirsten Lawton. Finally we added one "very young" player (i.e. U-19) - Anita Molina of Summit High School - to try to drive the development process down to an even younger generation.  The team as finally constituted actually contained five players 21 and younger and only two older than 23.

Anita & Keirsten
Bookends: youngest (Anita Molina) and oldest (Keirsten)


Atlantis

This is Atlantis' 15th year of existence and the club has just passed the 500-player mark, roughly 400 men and 100 women.  Although it has no affiliation to national teams, Atlantis is proud of the role it has played in developing national team players (115 Atlanteans have represented the US, 50 of them playing for Atlantis first).  We look forward to seeing several of this team's members representing their country in the future.

Atlantis team
            picture
Atlantis Squad Prior to Tournament
Top, L to R: Emil, Elisabeth, Kristin, Haley, Helen, Katrinka, Suzanne, Mark
Bottom, L to R: Jen, Meredith, Anita, Lindsay, Keirsten

Roster (Atlantis number, Name, Age, Club, Position[s])
Atl. #
Name
Age
Club
Pos.
333
Keirsten Lawton, capt
28
Beantown
FH,C
506
Lindsay Davison
25
Beantown
W, FH
484
Katrinka Blunt
23
BASH
P
445
Haley Steele
23
New York
H, P
507
Elisabeth de Fontenay
22
Princeton
LHP, H,W
509
Jen Sinkler
21
No. Iowa
C
505
Helen Bateup
21
Penn State
LHP
510
Meredith Whalen
21
Arizona State
SH
504
Kristin Baja
20
Arizona State
F,C,SH
508
Anita Molina
17
Summit HS
W
Staff included Suzanne Cobarruvias, Manager, Emil Signes, Coach, and Dr. Mark Poray, Team Doctor.

Practice

We met early Friday morning on the pristine rugby facility at Eglinton Flats.  Two players arrived on redeye flights from the West Coast and two, recovering from illnesses, had to drop out for part of the morning's practice.  We scrapped plans to test them in the 40 and prayed we would survive the day with at least seven players that could still walk. We should have thrown the "youth" factor into our calculations; everyone ended up fine.

Mark Poray works on Kristin
We kept Dr. Poray busy.  Here Mark works on Kristin Baja


Basics

Friday's practices were confined to basics, basics, and basics.  We had a couple of back plays, one penalty play and a lineout lift.  That was the extent of anything beyond he basic pattern. Defensively, within a standard SH sweep pattern, we encouraged double-teaming the ball when appropriate.

The tournament

The Magnificent Sevens goes back to the early 1950s and is perhaps the longest running sevens tournament in North America. It is held at Fletcher's Fields, a great venue shared by several Toronto-area clubs.

Our hangout
Saturday & Sunday: We hung out either at the edge of, or under, the stands

Lack of Experience?

Although we worried about our lack of experience, we needn't have been.  Throughout the weekend, the only time we were really under pressure was in the final, when we trailed 7-5 for much of the first half.  The Ottawa Irish are an excellent sevens team and they unnerved us.

(Not a factor)

In the end, however, they had no answer for Lindsay Davison's speed. Lindsay was our leading scorer with 12 tries, six from wing and six from hooker.  Furthermore, with Katrinka Blunt at prop and Meredith Whalen at scrumhalf, we were able to throw finishing speed at our opponents from all areas of the field.

Meredith gets ball away from scrum   LO vs
              Ottawa Irish
Final: Atlantis vs Ottawa Irish
Left: Meredith moves ball away from scrum // Right: Katrinka and Helen start to lift Haley
(It better have been a good throw, as they had no interest in competing)


Our defense was awesome, and the only try against us occurred in the final after we mishandled the ball under pressure at our own goal line following an Ottawa Irish kick.


Celebration

Everyone was thrilled at our victory and we celebrated eagerly at our hangout under the stands.

Official photo
The Official Photo of the Tournament Champions



Under stand after final. In background, a little Arizona State love:
Kristin Baja and Meredith Whalen with victory hug

Team Celebration w Katrinka & Plaque
Katrinka Leads Team in Primitive Celebration
Back: Keirsten, Lindsay, Helen, Elisabeth, Haley, Anita, Kristin, Meredith, Jen

Good Guys Tour

Despite the minimal amount of time we had together, the team bonded off the field and a good time was had by all.  Over the years, several players have told me that they think of an Atlantis experience as a "good guys' tour."  With the added understanding that the rugby is the first priority, I can think of no more complimentary description.


Results:
Type
Atlantis
Pts
Opponents
Pts
Pool
Atlantis
43
Forest City
0
Pool
Atlantis
34
Ottawa Irish B
0
Pool
Atlantis
31
Aurora
0
QF
Atlantis
40
Barbarians
0
SF
Atlantis
35
Waterloo
0
Final
Atlantis
31
Ottawa Irish A
7
Total
Atlantis
214
Opponents
7

2013: This was a great result for the young team, and as noted above, a great portent for the future.


Scoring Summary:
Name T
C
Pts
Davison
12
0
60
Lawton
2
19
48
Whalen
7
0
35
Blunt
6
0
30
Sinkler
4
0
20
Baja
0
3
6
Bateup
1
0
5
Molina
1
0
5
Steele
1
0
5
Total
34
22
214


Some Off-the-Field Activities

Rookie Show.  As usual the Atlantis rookies performed for the amusement of the veterans.  Here are a couple of pictures. One is of Lindsay Davison portraying me; the other is of a group skit.

Lindsay as
                Emil   Rookie Show
Rookie Show. Left: Lindsay as me. Right: another skit.
Quite an amazing rookie class: Lindsay, Katrinka, Kristin, Jen, Meredith all went on to become Eagles

Video.  But it wasn't all fun between game days.  We also watched some video.  This was in the days before (I knew about) easy access from cameras to TV or computers, so we all gathered around the 3" camcorder screen.

Watching video
Watching video of Saturday's games

Ivy Leaguers

At one of our meals - we couldn't get everyone at one table - I suddenly noticed the Ivy Leaguers were all together.  Here they are, looking up briefly from whatever intellectual activity they were engaged in.

Ivy table   Nonivy group
Left: the Ivy table. Haley Steele (Harvard), Elisabeth de Fontenay (Princeton), Keirsten Lawton (Dartmouth), Lindsay Davison (Harvard)
Right: the other six players


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