This team wins the award for getting through the week with the smallest staff - 2 - Laura Cabrera (Atlantis #457) and Kate Turpin, both Coach/Managers. So they had no one to take pictures (though I can put them anytime if any are found, if someone decides to sketch parts of the adventure, etc.); but the writeup itself should provide good memories sometime down the road.  - Emil

Here is the roster
Team pic 2 & 3
photobomber at C/C
emaill laura, kate, marcel




A picture of this Atlantis team is given in the general article on our teams.  Here is a bicoastal group at the Atlantis teams' dinner at Circus Circus on Thursday night 2/12/15.



The 2015 Vegas Sevens tournament brought together an interesting mix of women to represent Atlantis in the Open Division.  We had a pretty inexperienced side overall.  Only two players had worn an Atlantis jersey prior to this event: Brianna Kim and Amy Naber.  Most of the players were still in college….Cal-Berkeley was well represented as well as the University of Virginia and JMU.  One of our players, Emily Azevedo – Berkeley All-Blues, had only been playing rugby for a little over a year… much less 7’s rugby.  Over half the team had never even been to Vegas prior to this weekend.   Our inexperience was rounded out by our two Atlantis veterans and the fact that our East Coast contingent of players had all played 7’s for NOVA at one time or another.  And Eagle veteran, Irene Gardner, playing in her first tournament since coming back from shoulder surgery, provided amazing leadership both on and off the field.

With no visual documentation (video OR photos) from this event, I have gone back to the vault for pictures of our Atlantis veterans in action - Amy in Tobago in 2013 and Bri in Tobago in 2014. - Emil
  

WEDNESDAY (2/11) - The Atlantis women started the weekend driving directly from the airport to the fields for our first, and only, practice of the weekend (a few traffic laws may have been broken in an effort to get there at our allotted time slot).  Once at the field and after introductions (many of us did not know each other prior to the event) and warm-up, we joined the Elite squad for a crash course in scrumming for the forwards and working through plays for the backs. Back on our own, we used the rest of the practice to get to know each other and to get everyone on the same page for the rest of the weekend. 
After practice we headed to the hotel to eat and have our jersey presentation and then OFF TO BED... our first game was at 8:00am. Yuck.

THURSDAY (2/12) – Thursday found us at the fields at 7:00am… the first people there!  We built a team “tent” out of a broken PVC pipe that we found on the ground, a broken traffic barrel, a pilfered hotel blanket (shhh), and a tree.  Engineering courtesy of Laura “not her first rodeo” Cabrera.


Game 1. Atlantis vs. Utah Vipers         
WON      19-10

Starting Line-up:
P-Emily Azevedo
H-Jessica Lewis
P-Abby Vogel
SH-Irene Gardner
FH- Bri Kim
C-Steph Goetz
W-Rosa Valdes

Try Scorers:  1st – Emily Azevedo, 2nd – Jessica Lewis, 3rd – Emily Azevedo


Game 2. Atlantis VS BCRU       
LOST    5-17

Starting Line-up:
P-Emily Azevedo
H- Jessica Lewis
P-Abby Vogel
SH-Irene Gardner
FH-Bri Kim
C-Amy Naber
W-Steph Goetz

Try: Amy Naber


Game 3. Atlantis VS Pterodactyls Glow in the Dark   
WON     45-0

Starting Line-up:
P-Emily Azevedo
H-Sky Knight
P-Rosie Russell
SH-Meredith Nelson (Marcel)
FH-Irene Gardner
C-Kayla Cook
W-Rosa Valdes

Try Scorers:  1st – Rosa Valdes, 2nd – Emily Azevedo, 3rd – Rosa Valdes, 4th – Irene Gardner, 5th – Rosa Valdes, 6th – Marcel, 7th – Marcel


FRIDAY (2/13) –

Game 4. Atlantis VS Pterodactyls Neon       
WON    19-0

Starting Line-up:
P-Emily Azevedo
H-Meredith Nelson (Marcel)
P-Amy Naber
SH-Irene Gardner
FH-Bri Kim
C-Steph Goetz
W-Rosa Valdes

Try Scorers: 1st – Irene Gardner, 2nd – Irene Gardner, 3rd – Kayla Cook


Game 5. Atlantis VS Scions Open           
WON    19-12

This was our best game of the tournament.  The girls really gelled as a team.  They applied the principles that we had attempted to instill throughout the weekend.  They played really hard…the girls coming off the bench were impactful and they beat a very good team.

(I got to see this game; it was well-played, close throughout and very exciting to watch, in doubt till a long last-second Amy Naber try. -- Emil)
 
Starting Line-up:
P-Emily Azevedo
H- Meredith Nelson (Marcel)
P-Amy Naber
SH-Jessica Lewis
FH-Irene Gardner
C-Bri Kim
W-Steph Goetz

Try Scorers: 1st – Amy Naber (great joint try for Emily and Amy….Emily had a great 40 to 50 meter break down the sideline with Amy in support who finished it off for the try!), 2nd -  Irene Gardner, 3rd – Amy Naber

Game 6. Atlantis VS Narangatahi (NZ)  (CUP FINAL)       
LOST    0-32

P-Emily Azevedo
H-Marcel
P-Amy Naber
SH-Jessica Lewis
FH-Irene Gardner
C-Bri Kim
W-Steph Goetz       


Emil: Thanks to Kate Turpin for that; now for a player's comments we turn to Kayla Cook.  Dana Creager writes about Kayla that she is "a stand out collegiate player at James Madison University and we were very excited to have her join the NOVA family last summer. She contributed to the successes of NOVA 2 in 2014 and I'm excited to watch her continue to grow this summer!"



Wednesday February 11

Today has been an absolute whirlwind and a complete culture shock in more ways than one. Coming into Las Vegas was a blur and until my plane touched down, I hadn't even thought about what I would find here. I have been talking about this trip and opportunity for months now but hadn't fully pieced together what it would mean to fly into a strange city and play rugby with 11 other girls I hardly know. Our first practice was a huge wake up call for my 7s rugby brain, which had been out of commission since the end of summer. I was so nervous I could hardly catch a ball, let alone make the decisions that usually come somewhat naturally to me. The nerves only built from there and by the time we managed to acquire all the handicap rooms in the Riviera hotel to avoid single bed smoking rooms, I thought my heart might just stop. The first peace of mind came as we went through our jersey ceremony. As soon as I saw my name on that jersey, I was reminded that there was a reason I was invited to play with Atlantis and that I would do my best to represent this team to the best of my ability.

                                                                                                                                                          



Thursday February 12
For the first time in my life, I was wide awake before my alarm started blaring at 5:15 am. The pre-game nerves were in full force but I was excited to see what the day would hold. We were one of the first teams at the field and found the makings for the best tent of the day (who knew what you could do with a PVC pipe, a broken traffic cone and a hotel blanket). The team warmed up together but everyone was quiet and in their own heads a bit. As the first game kicked off, it was clear that there was amazing talent but the biggest challenge seemed to be finding a way for everyone to work as a unit in such a short amount of time. Each game was better than the one before and slowly but surely, a motley group of women from all different age groups and backgrounds came together to look like a true force to be reckoned with.


Friday February 13
We were able to finish second in our pool so come Friday morning, we were still in the running for the cup championship. Our first game of the day was against the Pterodactyls who, despite their festive neon green leotards, were quite experienced and there to play some real rugby. We were able to take an early lead and were doing a great job executing our game plan of offensively moving the ball sideline to sideline but had been struggling to go forward and attack once the defense was stressed. Seeing this from the sideline was very eye opening to me and within seconds of being subbed into the second half of the game, I was able to find a gap in the defense and make a break all the way into the try zone.


This was more than just a try to me though. I finally realized how much I was able to learn with this team, not just by playing the games but also from observing from the sideline, listening to my coaches, and even warming up as a team. Every single person on that field had something to teach me and playing with these women helped me grow as a player and person in ways I cannot even describe. Although we may have lost in the final (and I found out what it feels like to be hit by a New Zealand player twice my size), I felt like we had won. We all came together to play like a true 7s team and learned from one another. Having never played on a team like this before, I had no idea how much this entire experience would mean to me or how much I would take away from it. I am already itching to get back onto the pitch and continue to grow as a player.

I could write about this trip for days (and it's way more fun than doing school work!).

- Kayla Cook