Dec. 4-5, 2004: Atlantis Men, Women Go 12-1 in 2004 Caribbean Sevens

(Atlantis tournameant #112)
Emil Signes
December 16, 2004
JUNE 28, 2013 (rev. July 23, 2013)

Note of July 2013: I wrote this article on December 16, 2004; not sure how much got into Rugby.  Photos added 2013.

Atlantis' squads - players and staff - on Royal Palm steps, Friday 12/3/2004

Port of Spain, Trinidad, 4-5 December 2004.  For the third time in the last four years, Atlantis took co-ed squads to the Caribbean Sevens in Trinidad and Tobago.  This was the 8th appearance at the tournament for the Atlantis men; the women have been there for all 5 years of the women's division. 

The Atlantis women won their 4th consecutive title, but the Atlantis men came up barely and painfully short, losing an overtime semifinal game to eventual champion Scottish Border Reivers, 22-17, after having tied the game on the last play of regulation. For the men, it was "more of the same;" in 8 appearances without a championship they have lost in the finals twice and in the semifinals five times.

Still, the weekend was a great success both on and off the field.

Kelsey Lynn of Stanford and Matt Scheemaker of Syracuse led all Atlantis try scorers with seven each. Princeton's Ruth Bryson led all scorers with 66 points (6 tries, 18 conversions), with Scheemaker's 35 high for the men.  The women outscored their opponents 237 to 5; for the men the 7-game point spread was 174-36.

The women's team:

Atlantis number, Name, Club

378 Beverly Armstrong, Beantown
721 Christine Barber, Rochester Renegades
690 Tracey Bonikowski, Lehigh Valley Maulie Maguires (PA)
722 Ruth Bryson, Princeton
706 Casey Gallagher, Princeton
512 Koma Gandy, DC Furies  
330 Heather Heaton, At Large (capt.)
702 Liz Inkellis, Princeton
723 Natalie Johnson, Princeton
724 Kelsey Lynn, Stanford
482 Pam Samhouri, Lehigh Valley Maulie Maguires (PA)

Women's Team - Caribbean Sevens 2004
Top - Heather Heaton, Ruth Bryson, Casey Gallagher, Nat Johnson, Liz Inkellis, Tracey Bonikowski, Koma Gandy
Bottom - Pam Samhouri, Kelsey Lynn, Christine Barber, Bev Armstrong

The men's team:

Atlantis number, Name, Club

536 Allen Andrews, Belmont Shore
649 Joe Brady, Rochester Aardvarks
   84 Keith Cassidy, Philadelphia-Whitemarsh
715 Alcuis Christian, Dallas Elite / Dallas Harlequins
716 Jeff Gatlin, Dallas Elite / Woodlands (TX)
229 Thaddeus Hill, Dallas Elite / Fort Worth (capt)
717 Alex Nadiak, Buffalo
718 Larry Ramey, Detroit
652 Ruairidh Sawers, At Large
719 Matt Scheemaker, Syracuse
720 Mark Terrell, Dallas Elite / Dallas Harlequins

Men's Team - Caribbean Sevens 2004
Top - Reggie Tift (behind), Al Christina, Ruaridh Sawers, Alex Nadiak, Larry Ramey, Allen Andrews, Jeff Gatlin, Emil Signes
Bottom - Thaddeus Hill, Mark Terrell, Joe Brady, Matt Scheemaker, Chris Morris, Sean McKenna

Nonplayers were the management team of Sean McKenna and Chris Morris, and the coaching team of Emil Signes and Reggie Tift.

As usual on Atlantis tours, pre-tourney time was dominated (but not all-consumed) by practice. We practiced twice on Thursday and once Friday.  The heat was brutal, but all survived.  Everyone became thankful in advance for the tournament format of rolling subs among an 11-player squad.

At end of practice
We were out so long, that the #11 from Al's jersey was imprinted on his back by the sun

Thursday comprised double sessions + a poolside pizza night complete with the bestowing of nicknames, the first fine session and the first of multiple murders.  

Earthquake! Thursday prior to our afternoon practice brought something new – the first Atlantis earthquake.  Measuring 5.4 on the Richter scale, the earthquake actually shut me up during the 10-15 seconds that the hotel room we were sitting in shook continually. Captain Thaddeus missed this meeting and it turned out he slept through the entire experience.  For sleeping through an earthquake, Thad received the tour name “Rip Van Winkle.” A Richter 5.1 aftershock followed just before midnight.

Friday began with another long practice followed by a trip to beautiful Maracas Beach where everyone tried “Bake and Shark” sandwiches.  In the evening what is now becoming a ritual - a typical Trini dinner at Veni Mangé, a very nice restaurant on Ariapita Avenue.

  

Left: Both teams ready to head to beach
Right: Pam guards the water

  
At Veni Mangé. 
Left: Menu // Right: A table full of Atlanteans

Saturday saw a clean sweep for both teams, with the only score against us being an 80 meter runback of a turnover by the speedy wing of the Northeast Warriors, the women's branch of the Trinidad Northern club.  Casey Gallagher made a huge chase to catch the player at the goal, and briefly held her from touching down; had her teammates supported as they should have, even this try would not have been scored.  By the end of Saturday's games, all eleven Atlantis women had scored tries.

This Pan band entertained all the participants the entire weekend

  
Left: Women's team ready to go
Right: The view from in-Goal (Atlantis women on a break)

I only have this one action photo of the men.  Matt Scheemaker on a break.
Matt led the men's team with seven tries.


Woody & Reggie: Rochester Representatives

Saturday evening the rookies went off scheming while the vets went for a roti run. (Note of 2013: based on the photo below, sometime during this time period Woody and Tracey got distracted by a job opening.)

Woody and Tracey look interested in this job opening

In the semifinals, the Border Reivers - exactly as they had done last year - claimed two injuries and added Guyana's speedy center and wing to fill out their 11-man rolling roster for the game.  The Guyanans scored two tries and, after we missed two easily-makeable conversions, the Reivers led 17-10 with no time left.  Thad Hill made a great break, but looked destined to score in the corner.  He managed, however, to keep the ball alive and after two passes it was centered by Al Christian.  Mark Terrell's conversion tied the game, but in the 5th minute of overtime a Reiver try sadly sealed Atlantis' fate.

The women on Sunday, however, had two repeat opponents and handled them easily.  Ruth Bryson had a hat trick in the Northeast Warriors game and Christine "Woody" Barber's two tries paced the team in the final vs. the Royalians.

  
Left: Bev gets free and scores // Right: Kelsey with one of her seven tries

Anatomy of a try:
  
1. Ruth makes a break // 2. Ruth moves ball, it will get to Pam, left.


3. Pam finishes movement with a try

Ruth fights and gets the try down; she had a hat trick in this game. Heather Heaton is in support.

Women show off trophy.  Bev, Pam, Koma in front.
Back: Nat, Woody, Heather, Casey, (unknown man behind trophy), Liz, Kelsey, Tracey, Reggie, Ruth, Emil

  
Left: Kelsey shows Princeton girls how to open bottles without an opener
Right: Enjoying the rookie show (Woody transcribing)

As opposed to previous years, the post-tournament celebration was held 100 meters from the pitches, at the Harvard Club. Also opposed to previous years, where the music was basic American rock, only Caribbean music - no less lively - was played at this event.  This experience, on top of watching and listening to a steel band perform at the pitch during the games – including a lengthy “pan” Christmas medley, gave participants a great introduction to Trini music.

Emilito shows his musical ability - plays the "scratcher" during post-tourney party

For those that could take an extra day off, there was Monday's beach party, unfortunately held in rainy and windy conditions at the beach - but fun nonetheless. Then back to the real world – for me, 362 unread e-mails + another hundred in the spam folder.

 Atlantis Women 6-0

36 Royalians 0
60 Caribs 0
31 Northeast Warriors 5
38 Aesculapians 0
36 Northeast Warriors 0 (SF)
36 Royalians 0 (Final)

Name                  Tries Conv        Points
Ruth Bryson               6     18       66
Kelsey Lynn               7     1         37
Christine Barber         6     2         34
Beverly Armstrong     5     0         25
Tracey Bonikowski    4     0          20
Casey Gallagher          3     0         15
Liz Inkellis                  3     0         15
Pam Samhouri            2     0         10
Natalie Johnson           1     0         5
Koma Gandy               1     0         5
Heather Heaton           1     0         5
Total                          39    21        237
Opponents                   1     0         5

Atlantis Men 6-1

Day 1 Pool
42 Tarnished Turks (Turks and Caicos) 0
34 Harvard (T&T) 0
33 Rainbow (T&T) 0 

Day 2 Pool
12 Guyana 7 (Cup Pool 1)
26 Northern (T&T) 0 (Cup Pool 1)
10 West Indies RU 7 (Cup Pool 1) 

Cup Semifinal
17 Border Reivers (Scotland & later Guyana) 22 (OT) (SF)

Name                  Tries Conv. Points
Matt Scheemaker    7     0     35
Thaddeus Hill         6     0     30
Mark Terrell          2     9     28
Alex Nadiak           2     6     22
Jeff Gatlin               4     0     20
Al Christian           3     0     15
Ruairidh Sawers     2     0     10
Keith Cassidy         1     0     5
Allen Andrews       1     0     5
Larry Ramey          0     2     4

Total                     28    17    174
Opponents             6     3     36

Note of 2013: We've been lucky to get a picture in local papers on several occasions.  Here's the entire page and a close-up from Tuesday's Guardian; it features Atlantis player Tracey Bonikowski.

Sports cover page of Tuesday's Guardian


Close-up: Tracey holding off defender