Nov. 29, 2014: Atlantis HS Girls Win Plate at NY 7s

(Atlantis tournament #146)
Emil Signes
December 9, 2014 DRAFT DRAFT DRAFT

home | Family Stories, Pictures, etc | Family Trees | Rugby Stories, Data, Pictures, etc | Miscellaneous
Atlantis tournaments / return to Atlantis home

Atlantis fielded its first-ever high school girls' team at the Las Vegas International Sevens back in February of 2014; this was the second Atlantis HS girls venture. Once again our on-the-field efforts were spoiled only by a provincial Canadian side. But overall the trip was a fabulous success.

Atlantis HS Girls with the 2014 New York Sevens Plate
Top, L to R: Emil Signes, Whitney Wilson, Emily Roskopf, Diarr Lillie, Angie Ramos, Kelly Albers, Rachel Fitch, Morgan Courtney, Billy Nicholas
Kneeling: Meg Rose, Jodi Losch, Renee Gonzalez, Becca Jane Rosko
With Plate: Neariah Persinger
2014-1129 Atlantis with NY Plate.jpg

Roster, Atlantis HS Girls (Atlantis Rookies are in Red)


Player Name	positions	Jersey	Atlantis Number	Gender Number	Age	Club
Kelly Albers	H	X	1008	387	17	Highland Ranch Harlequins (CO)
Morgan Courtney	P, F	I	1009	388	17	Summit HS (CO)
Rachel Fitch	P	III	1010	389	18	Summit HS (CO)
Renee Gonzalez	F, P	XI	1011	390	16	Armstrong / MN Tundra (MN)
Diarr Lillie	W, S	VII	1012	391	18	ICEF / SD Surfers (CA)
Jodi Losch	P	VIII	1013	392	15	Summit HS (CO)
Neariah Persinger	C	VI	1014	393	18	Broken Arrow (OK)
Astrid Ramos	F	IV	1015	394	17	Summit HS (CO)
Meg Rose	H	II	1016	395	17	Summit HS (CO)
Becca Jane Rosko	S, W	IX	976	376	17	Summit HS (CO)
Emily Roskopf	P	XII	1017	396	18	Pleasanton (CA)
Whitney Wilson	C	V	1018	397	18	Kingwood HS (TX)

Atlantis HS Girls. The first ever Atlantis HS Girls' were runners-up to British Columbia in Las Vegas in February; only one veteran of that team - Becca Jane Rosko of Summit HS (CO) - was back, so we had 11 Atlantis rookies out of 12. Half the team was from Karl Barth's Summit HS team, and there was one more from CO. The rest were from CA (2), TX (1), OK (1), and MN (1). A special thanks to Julie McCoy's American Rugby Pro's training camp this summer where we discovered our Oklahoman, Neariah AKA NeNe Persinger. Given my location in Pennsylvania, Atlantis is normally more likely to comprise Eastern players, so it was exciting to be able to work with this geographically different group of players.

There were some pretty impressive pedigrees among this group. Earlier this year, Becca and Whitney Wilson represented the USA Youth Olympic Team in China for the Youth Olympics, held every 4 years. Emily Roskopf, Becca, Morgan Courtney, Rachel Fitch, Diarr Lillie and Renee Gonzalez were HS All Americans. Several represented APEX at Las Vegas earlier this year: Emily, Diarr and Kelly Albers on the Cup team and Jodi Losch, Angie Ramos, Morgan and Rachel in the Plate.

Staff. Karl Barth, former US Girls HS Coach, currently coach at Summit HS, selected this team - largely the product of his APEX Rugby Academy, of which he is the Director.

APEX Academy's mission is to enhance the development of young female rugby players in the United States through high performance rugby opportunities. "We are trying to educate them/give them tools on becoming/being an elite athlete," explains Karl. "Nutrition, Recovery, Mental prep/skills, physical development, skill acquisition/development, and tactical understanding; it is part of the Academy philosophy."

Karl has been coaching at Summit HS in Colorado since 1997. Summit was the National Champion in 1998 and 1999, won the CO state title the last 7 years and has been - either by finish at the national tournament or in the Goff rankings - listed among the top 5 US high school teams eight times since its founding. His coaching accomplishments comprise, among others, coaching roles with both Boys and Girls national age group teams, including being the first Head Coach of the USA U19 girls. With Jules McCoy, he coached the Stars and Stripes Sevens, a team that produced 4 Eagles playing in Dubai the week after this NY Sevens. He was also the first coach of the Atlantis Girls as well as the Tiger Cubs Girls.

Unfortunately, Karl couldn't make the trip. So what to do?

Luckily Billy Nicholas, currently a full-time rugby professional as Head Coach of the newly varsity program at Lindenwood University (MO), and also of national 7s runners up Old Blue Women, was able to attend as coach. Billy is also on Karl's staff as an APEX coach. I was happy to excel in my self-designated role as Emperor of Atlantis (though I couldn't help slipping in a few coaching comments now and then). Two moms - Gini Bradley and Amy Courtney - served as team managers. Several other parents were in attendance, which always means the players are well provided for.

Practice, Dinner, Jersey Presentation, Sleep, Breakfast, Warmup, Games. Some of the team got in on Thanksgiving Day and the rest arrived in time for a bitterly cold Friday night practice under the lights at Columbia University's practice field at 218th Street and Broadway in the Bronx. Luckily I too was able to attend the practice after bus and subway rides from home in Bethlehem, PA. The practice finished up with a touch scrimmage vs. the Old Blue Women, last year's Women's Premiere runners-up; we played very well. There wasn't a lot of time to burn, though, as we went right back to our hotel in Queens, had dinner, presented jerseys, went to sleep and got up at 6 AM in order to have breakfast and be at (frigid) Randall's Island (between the Bronx, Manhattan on Queens right below the RFK Triborough Bridge) just after 7:30 to begin preparing for an 8:40 AM game.

2014-1128-friends from different places- @2 Columbia-1000w.jpg / 2014-1128or 29-Nene-footwear-IMG_2723-1000w
Left: The team following practice and a scrimmage with the Old Blue Women
Right: Footwear on display

2014-1128-Karl-Billy chalk talk-IMG_1519.jpg / 2014-1128 Team in T shirts.jpg
Left: Billy presents chalk talk (well, marker talk:) / Right: Team in tour tees

2014-1128 Diarr Jersey VII-1000w.jpg
Diarr Lillie at Jersey presentation
The jersey is Atlantis aqua and Roman numerals, and the sleeve/body design is from APEX

Randall's Island & the New York 7s (and me). Randall's Island and I go back a long time. My high school, Xavier HS of New York, used to play our home football games there, at the long-demolished Downing Stadium (Xavier also has a long rugby history, including multiple national championships, but that was decades after my time), and I've attended the New York Sevens on many occasions since 1970.

Satellite map of Randalls Island.jpg
View of Randall's Island (center) in context of New York City
Extreme left is the Hudson River, dotted line is border with NJ. Left is Manhattan with Central Park (site of a few NY 7s)
Just above Randall's Island is the Bronx, and to the lower right is Queens, thus the name Triborough Bridge
Bottom right-hand corner is La Guardia airport; our hotel was nearby.
Far right center is Riker's Island, New York's main jail complex.

In 1970, during my playing career, I showed up hoping to pick up some games as a player, but found out they were missing referees, and volunteered. They stuck me on a remote field for an 8:30 AM game, left me alone, and I found myself refereeing every game until dark. Luckily I was fit. As a "reward," I got to referee the college final at the end of the day, in the dark (there were no field lights on Randall's Island in the 70s**). We got a car's headlights to train onto the field, and my last recollection of that tournament is giving the winning try without being able to see it. (Because of dark the men's club championship game - no women's rugby then - was postponed until Sunday.)

** In fact when we would visit for 15s club matches at Randall's Island we often had to do a scan for broken glass, and there were some stretches of asphalt paving jutting into the fields, sometimes covered, sometimes not - the good old days ...

I have a love-hate relationship with the New York Sevens. It's a great event (130 participating clubs this year); I go back more than 40 years with the tournament, and when I go I get to see tons of people I've known forever. BUT ... I'm one of those people that believe sevens should be played in the summer, with players and spectators hanging out throughout the day in shorts and short sleeves. Wandering around the island from 7:30 AM to dark in heavy winter clothing contradicts all those beliefs.

Atlantis at the New York Sevens. The Atlantis men made their first appearance in the late 1980s, and their third and last in 2000, but have never won the tournament (once finalists, once semifinalists). The Atlantis women, however, won the tournament three times running, from 1996 to 1998. From that time on, through their last appearance in 2003, their best results were Semifinalists and Plate Champions.

Interestingly, a player Karl Barth sent my way for the 2002 New York Sevens, Wendy daCosta Miranda of Summit HS, became, at 16, the youngest-ever Atlantis player. That age was not lowered until 2014 when 15-year olds Mele Tausinga (at Las Vegas) and Jodi Losch (this weekend) represented Atlantis at Las Vegas and New York, respectively.

This was the first appearance of any Atlantis team at the NY 7s in 11 years (when Jodi was 4).

Game Results and Scoring

Game Results, Atlantis HS Girls @ NY 7S 2014

Date	Type	Opponent	W/L	PF	PA
1/29/14	Pool	Truro I (NS)	W	39	0
1/29/14	Pool	Ontario Jr. Storm	W	24	0
1/29/14	Pool	Team Quebec	L	0	22
1/29/14	Plate SF	Connecticut I	W	41	0
1/29/14	Plate Final	Les Felines (Toronto)	W	31	0
Total		4 Canadian, 1 American	4-1	135	22

Atlantis 39 Truro I 0. Atlantis began the day strongly with an impressive win over this Nova Scotian team. Captain and only non-rookie Becca Jane Rosko and speedster forward Emily Roskopf led the scoring with two tries each. Renee Gonzalez, Neariah Persinger and Whitney Wilson added a try each and Neariah (NeNe) had 2 conversions.

2014-1129-g1-IMG_2492-ref & captains-1000w.jpg
Atlantis HS Girls' competition began with the coin toss between captain Becca Jane and the Truro captain.
Manhattan is in the background with the Empire State Building nearly in the middle of the shot.

2014-1129-g1-IMG_2507-Nene on break v Truro-1000w.jpg
NeNe on break vs. Truro; Whitney supports.
NeNe was slightly injured and didn't play after this game

We have only a Facebook quality video of the second half: see link.

While the players were warming up for this game, the parents were also getting warm and setting up our area for the day.

2014-1129 Parents set up-800w.jpg / 2014-1129 Parents near set up-800w.jpg

Parents set up a tent area while players are warming up (without coffee)

2014-1129-IMG_2521-chasing pigeons-2-500s.jpg / 2014-1129-IMG_2524-pigeons refuge in tree.jpg / 2014-1129 Becca proud of pigeon move-500s.jpg
Between games, Becca keeps warm by chasing NY pigeons up a tree, then takes pride in her accomplishment

Atlantis 24 Rugby Ontario Junior Storm 0. Atlantis struggled a bit in this game but in the end came off with a comfortable 24-0 win. Morgan Courtney led the scoring with 2 tries. Becca and Emily each added a try and Whitney had 2 conversions.

2014-1129-g2-Becca-scrum try-1-800s.jpg / 2014-1129-g2-Becca-scrum try-2-800s.jpg / 2014-1129-g2-Becca-scrum try-3-800s.jpg
Becca puts ball in, then breaks around the base of the scrum for a try

2014-1129-g2-Whitney conversion.jpg / 2014-1129-g2-Whitney & Becca walk off.jpg
Left: Convenient to have this bridge support act as a wall to bounce the conversion back
Right: Our two USA Youth reps walk off after game, another job well done

This is the only game for which we have decent video. It may be found at these youtube links:

First half: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TnDlVebtqUw&feature=youtu.be
Second half: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qmrPtV5j-CQ&feature=youtu.be

Atlantis 0 Team Quebec 22. Team Quebec showed why it was the returning champion. They scored immediately and followed up with a feat not often seen except at higher level senior rugby, let alone high school girls - a kickoff put in perfect position for its jumper to win, and a jumper that goes up and gets it. We always speak about winning our own kickoffs, but even at the international men's level the best teams succeed less than 50% of the time. This was the only kickoff I saw in any HS game taken in the air by the team that kicked off.

We shut out Quebec for almost the entire second half, but couldn't put across any points of our own. Knowing what we now knew, given some time to prepare, we certainly could have played them tougher, but win? It would have been difficult.

In a way, I wish there weren't so many quality pictures of the Quebec game (the best shots of the day in fact); in any of the other four there would have been more positive shots to capture. Still, all games against great teams, even in losing causes, are informative; likewise these pictures can be as well. And also - not to forget - we did some good things in this game.

The first two pictures provide some overall perspective on the event and on the traditions of rugby. One is a picture of the field we played on directly underneath one of the most important bridges in NYC (http://nyc-architecture.com/TEN/TEN-Bridges.htm). The other shows the referee refusing to yield to the weather. Standing there in shorts, a short sleeved shirt, socks & shoes - and a whistle - instructing the bundled-up captains, he is by his actions showing that these are the only things needed for our game. As the song goes, "no matter what the weather ..."

Game site below RFK Ref's warm
enough
2014-1129-g3-game site-IMG_2584-below RFK.jpg / 2014-1129-g3-IMG_2595-ref warm enough not captains-800w.jpg
Left: the historical & expensive** RFK Triborough Bridge overlooked two of our games
Right: Ref and captains. The referee is dressed for a rugby game
** Construction began on Black Friday 1929, the start of the Great Depression, and it ended up costing more than the Hoover Dam.

Team Quebec, the defending champion, got the game off to a good start with a try within the first minute. Then they executed the perfect kickoff I noted earlier, which resulted immediately in another try. We got better after that, and especially in the 2nd half, but a start like that is pretty daunting.

Quebec
gets the scoring started quickly
2014-1129-g3-IMG_2604-A4-try run-2-1000w.jpg
Team Quebec star Pamphinette Buisa scored a couple of tries against us

Becca Jane, as usual, made a couple of great breaks; a longer sequence shows what a good job she did to get free. But she couldn't finish ... Hey, that happens. What shouldn't happen is that no one can be found in the frame to provide support.

Becca run
start Becca break - 5
2014-1129-g3-IMG_2625-Becca run-1-500w.jpg / 2014-1129-g3-IMG_2629-Becca run-5-1000w.jpg
Becca makes a great break, but we don't finish

We had an excellent second half, but again just couldn't finish. Overall, we didn't play all that well, but Quebec is really good. (I will question, however, some of our cultural awareness; several of the players seemed surprised that the Quebecois were speaking French.)

What we started to do well in the second half was possess the ball more, something that was sorely lacking in the first half. Here is a picture of us stealing a Quebec scrum. The Quebec SH puts the ball in and, on the right picture we can see her - on the right edge - ready to get the ball from the scrum. Unfortunately for them, the ball is on the left, just behind our THP's feet.

2014-1129-g3-IMG_2648-we steal their S-1-800s.jpg / 2014-1129-g3-IMG_2648-we steal their S-2-800h.jpg
Atlantis forwards steal Quebec scrum ball

The next picture shows us getting our jumper up above theirs at their lineout. These are the kind of things we need to do against teams like Quebec if we hope to beat them. Good job!

2014-1129-g3-IMG_2651-LO.jpg
Kelly gets higher than her opponent at this lineout

I can't count the number of pictures I've seen of rugby players sticking their tongues out; I wonder if anyone has studied whether it has any positive effects. At any rate, here are two of Emily.

2014-1129-g3-IMG_2656-Em run w tongue-1-800s.jpg / 2014-1129-g3-IMG_2657-E runs w tongue-2-800s.jpg
Emily sticking her tongue out at her opponents

The game ended with some great Atlantis defense as exemplified by Morgan's tackle. Then after the game the team gathered together and looked forward to the next game.

2014-1129-g3-IMG_2668-Morgan tackle-3-800s.jpg / 2014-1129-g3-IMG_2690-2 more g to go-800s.jpg
Morgan tackles Quebec player / We all get together after game to focus on the future

Survival Tent. Did I say it was cold out? It was cold out. The Atlantis' parents merged their tent with another tent housing the Old Blue Women and friends; through the mixed devices of body heat and space heaters it kept everyone a bit less than frigid. In addition the Atlantis parents provided a food tent with lots of sandwich makings and healthy food.

2014-1129 Tent-Parents food-1000w.jpg
The Atlantis parents kept this table full from dawn to dark.
And to get it, the players (and staff) had only to emerge from the adjoining tent, seen below.

2014-1129 Tent-Parents food-1000w.jpg
This crowded area went on well behind the photographer's back. In the lower left, the round orange light is actually one of the space heaters.

2014-1129 Tent-big area-720w.jpg / 2014-1129 Tent-IMG_2787-Morgan & heater.jpg
Another area of the composite tent. Morgan has her own heater.

Atlantis 41 Connecticut I 0. In most sevens tournaments, the top two teams per pool get a chance to go through to the Cup (championship) round, and if they're good enough, to play and maybe defeat the team that beat them in the pool. Given a tournament with 130 teams, darkness that envelops the fields shortly after 4:30 PM and only limited artificial lighting, there was clearly not enough time to do that here.

So, as 2nd in our pool, we were dropped into the Plate competition. We still had a chance, however, to get to our own final, and we started that process in great fashion with a solid defeat of Connecticut, the only US team we'd meet in this competition. Becca Jane led the scoring with 3 tries, and four players - Diarr, Morgan, Whitney and Rachel - who also had 3 conversions - had one each.

2014-1129-g4-IMG_2730-Diarr on run.jpg / 2014-1129-g4-IMG_2730-Diarr on run-500h.jpg
Diarr breaks loose from Connecticut and cruises for the try.

2014-1129-Karl-sidelines-IMG_1509-1000w.jpg

Watching from the sidelines. I'm on the left, and - I didn't notice at the time - fellow Atlantis organizer Biddy Boyle, there as a Coach to the Rugby Pennsylvania HS Boys, snuck over to watch the Atlantis girls play and is on the right

Atlantis 31 Les Felines (Toronto) 0. Given the loss to Team Quebec, the Plate Championship was as high as we could aspire, and we won the championship with our 4th shutout of the day, over the Toronto women's club Les Felines.

Diarr and Becca each had two tries and our youngest player, Jodi, the 5th. Whitney kicked three conversions.

IMG_2805-Diarr on run-2.jpg

Diarr and one of her two tries in the Plate Final

2014-1129-Karl-hands-together-IMG_1506-720s.jpg / 2014-1129-NeNe and Bill and the plate-720s.jpg
Left: Hands together in solidarity pre-game / Billy and NeNe sharing a Plate

Individual scoring by game and totaled follows.

Scoring by Individuals by Game and Totaled
2014-1129 Scoring Atlantis Girls-1000w.jpg

Off the field. As noted, one of Karl's goals with the APEX Rugby Academy - and applied here by Billy with Atlantis - is to prepare the players he coaches for the preparatory/closing/cultural as well as playing aspects of high-level rugby: thus contrast showers Friday, ice baths post-tourney on Saturday and Sunday AM yoga.

But there were non-rugby related events as well. Thursday, for those that missed Thanksgiving at home, there was a Thanksgiving dinner at a local restaurant in Maspeth, Queens.

Friday the team got to tour around Manhattan, including subway travel and and a visit to Times Square. On Sunday they got to visit the Brooklyn Bridge. Ever since I read David McCullough's "The Great Bridge" about its history and construction, the Brooklyn Bridge has been one of my favorite NYC places.

A few more tour pictures follow.

Team at
elevated subway stop At Brooklyn Bridage
2014-1128-brooklyn bridge.jpg / 2014-1128 at el subway station-IMG_2688.jpg
Left: Team at elevated station on the NY subway line / Right: Sunday at the Brooklyn Bridge
The Brooklyn Bridge is listed #1 among the top ten New York Bridges (http://nyc-architecture.com/TEN/TEN-Bridges.htm)

2014-1128-in ny-times square-IMG_1499-800h.jpg / 2014-1128 morgan and becca at hershey store.jpg
Left: at Times Square. Top: Diarr, Jodi, Meg, Angie, Renee / Mid: Emily, NeNe / Bottom: Rachel, Morgan, Becca, Kelly /
Right: Morgan and Becca at the Hershey Store

2014-1130-Karl-Yoga-IMG_1518.jpg
Sunday: Yoga at the La Guardia Comfort Inn

Closing Comment. This was a long article for a short tour featuring a frigid 8-hour tournament ... but then it's not every day that Atlantis gets an entire team of players from West of the Mississippi to participate in a cold-weather sevens in NYC. And though we didn't win, we played very well and these individual players will be heard from in the future.

home | Family Stories, Pictures, etc | Family Trees | Rugby Stories, Data, Pictures, etc | Miscellaneous
Atlantis tournaments / return to Atlantis home