11/26/2016 Atlantis High School
Girls at NY Sevens
(Atlantis
tournament #159)
Emil Signes
DECEMBER 4, 2016 (rev. January 3, 2017-22:40)
Atlantis Rugby fielded
two girls' high school teams at the New York Sevens this
year.
Atlantis started fielding girls teams in 2014 and we are
continuing to expand our program and the growing quality of
high-school rugby in the US has made the number of potential
players continue to increase.
The teams were selected based on previous participation with
Atlantis and also performance at camps.
All 23 players showed up by noon on Friday. Sadly, Jodi
Losch, the most experienced Atlantis player, had been injured
just days earlier and would not play. She was there, though, and
inspired us. We practiced twice in Morristown, NJ: the first
practice, in early afternoon, lasted about 1 1/2 hours and was
centered on unit skills and team system. The second, one hour,
practice was centered on team play/patterns. Following that, the
coaches broke the teams down into two 11-player squads: Elite
and Open. (In the squad list I have included Jodi on the Elite
squad, because that's where she would have played.) Both
teams were significantly younger than the age cutoff so most of
the players will be available next year, some of the Open
players for 3 more years.
The team had a meeting room at the hotel, where we stayed
together for dinner and several ice-breaker activities.
2016-11-25
Ice-breaker-1400w.jpg
One of several ice-breaking
activities for the newly-formed team
Teams were announced
by coaches Kevin Corley (Elite) and Matt Estes (Open).
This was followed by a jersey ceremony.
2016-11-25 Atlantis
Girls.jpg
Atlantis Girls
at New York Sevens. Elite Side jersey has pattern throughout;
Open Side jerseys have pattern on sleeves.
Top left, Matt Estes, Kevin Corley, Head Coaches. Top
right: Emil Signes, Emperor and Wayne DiMarco, Coaching Director
Top Row: XI Rachel Holloway, X Noelle Lewis, VIII Haley Parker,
IV Lauren Buchholz, II Julia Riekena, X Alex DiMarco, Natalie
Travaglia
Middle Row: VIII Abby MacLaney, I Abby Hogan, IX Talosia
Morrissette, III Matalasi Morrisssette, I Liz Wilson, VI Ariana
Ramsey, V Alex Pipkin
Their own row: IV Kayla Estes, IV Cassidy Bargell
Bottom Row: VI Maitlin Coombs, VII, Madeleine Maurice, II
Kaitlyn Schwarting, VII Alie Ramage, V Delani Bargell, III
Natalie Gray, XII Jodi Losch
DSC_6307-emperor&captains.JPG
Captains with
Emperor: Maitlin, Kayla, Emil, Liz, Alex Di
I was
honored to be pictured with our 4 captains
Our first game was at 8 AM, we needed to have breakfast and we
wanted to be there an hour early, and it was nearly an hour drive
from our hotel... So it was up at 5:30, in cars at 6 (with a quick
breakfast thrown in) ... We were off to the oldest sevens
tournament in the US, the 58th annual New York Sevens, held at
Randall's Island, New York, located in the middle of the
Triborough Bridge (so called because its location in the East
River is surrounded by the three boroughs of Manhattan, Bronx, and
Queens. It's now officially called the RFK bridge, but us
oldsters still call it the Triborough.
Our Open side was first.
Atlantis Girls
Under-18 Open VII
The Atlantis Open side's
roster follows. This was a remarkably young side, with only
two 17-year olds, three 14-year olds, and an average age under
16. For the amount of pressure we put them under -
playing against much older teams, they responded remarkably
well. I only wish they could have had another couple of
games.
In the tables that follow, APN = Atlantis Player Number.
Roster,
Atlantis Open
APN
|
First
Name
|
Last
Name
|
Club
|
Ht
in
|
Wt
lbs
|
Age
11/26
|
1249
|
Delani
|
Bargell
|
Summit
(CO)
|
67
|
135
|
15.8
|
1250
|
Maitlin
|
Coombs
|
White
Horse (PA)
|
67
|
140
|
16.6
|
1251
|
Kayla
|
Estes
|
West
End (VA)
|
66
|
130
|
16.9
|
1252
|
Abby
|
Hogan
|
White
Horse (PA)
|
67
|
130
|
17.0
|
1253
|
Rachel
|
Holloway
|
West
End (VA)
|
70
|
130
|
14.6
|
1254
|
Noelle
|
Lewis
|
Fairfax
Police Youth Club
|
68
|
126
|
14.9
|
1255
|
Abby
|
MacLaney
|
Union
(NJ)
|
61
|
136
|
17.7
|
1256
|
Madeleine
|
Maurice
|
North
Bay (MD)
|
59
|
114
|
15.2
|
1257
|
Matalasi
|
Morrissette
|
West
End (VA)
|
67
|
140
|
15.5
|
1258
|
Talosia
|
Morrissette
|
West
End (VA)
|
62
|
125
|
14.2
|
1259
|
Kaitlyn
|
Schwarting
|
North
Bay (MD)
|
65
|
124
|
16.3
|
Averages. The average height and weight
for the Open side was 5'5" and 130 lbs. This is more than 20
lbs. lighter than the Elite team's average. The
average age was 15.9 years, significantly younger than the
Elite team, and almost certainly younger than all its
opponents. They'll grow, get stronger and will get more used
to playing older girls, and as they get closer to the
average division age, will use this experience to their
advantage.
Here are some photos of the Open Side,
focusing on individual players:
Left
2016-11-26-Og1-Bargell Delani.jpg ... Right:
2016-11-26-Og1-Coombs Maitlin.jpg
Left: Delani, having won ball v Southwest, takes
it up
Right: Maitlin, the only sea green player
in a sea of red, focuses on tackling the ball carrier
Left: 2016-11-26-Estes Kayla.jpg
... Right: 2016-11-26-Hogan Abby.jpg
Left: Kayla
moves ball from scrum
Right: Abby Hogan secures ball from won tackle
Left: 2016-11-25 Holloway Rachel carried by
Noelle.jpg ... Right: 2016-11-26-Lewis
Noelle.jpg
Left: Rachel being
carried by Noelle Friday night
Right:
Noelle, under threat, protects ball
Left: 2016-11-26-2016-11-26-MacLaney
Abby.jpg ... Right: 2016-11-26-Maurice
Madeleine.JPG
Left: Abby MacLaney
keeps ball from Nova Scotia Keltics
Right: Peanut (Madeleine) scoring one of her team-leading 5
tries
2016-11-26-Morrissette
Matalasi-1000s.jpg ... Right:
2016-11-26-Morrissette sister double-team 1000h.jpg
Left:
Matalasi fends vs. Southwest Ontario
On the right is our sister team: Talosia (Taco), 14,
tackles a big 'un as older sis Matalasi (Mott), 15, comes in
to help
2016-11-26-Schwarting
Kaitlyn-1500w.jpg
Mini (Kaitlyn) showing great form on this
conversion
Atlantis Girls
Under-18 Open VII Results
Atlantis Girls Open
0 Southwest Ontario RU 15. We got to Randall's Island
in time for the Open team to get set up and warm up prior to its
tournament starting game vs. Southwest U18, with Southwest being a
select side from Southwest Ontario.
Still struggling to get to know each other, we kept the Southwest
Ontario Selects to 3 tries, but didn't manage to score ourselves.
Atlantis Girls Open 22 Nova Scotia Keltics 2 5. This
very young squad (average age 15.9) got a nice win under its belt.
The Nova Scotia Keltics are a rugby team from Halifax that
competes in the Rugby Canada Super League.
Scoring: Madeleine (Peanut) Maurice 3
tries / Talosia (Taco) Morrissette 1 try / Kaitlyn (Mini)
Schwarting 1 conversion
Atlantis Girls Open 12 Nova Scotia Keltics 3 24. If,
having beaten their 2nds, we thought we'd beat their 3rds, we were
wrong: I guess their 3rd side wasn't really weaker than their
2nd. We didn't come up to the level of our 2nd game, and it
was unfortunate on several levels. I know, for example, from
years of experience, that with 12 players on a squad, you will
*never* get everyone adequate playing time in 3 games... That is
one reason why the old time squad size - even at the national
level - of 10 (or even - when I started coaching the US men's team
- you were expected to play an entire international tournament
with 9!!) can be advantageous (if you stay healthy, that
is).** But anyway, expecting to play at least 4 games, we
left a lot of players with limited playing time, and I'm always
full of regret when that happens. Among the things we look
forward to doing for the Atlantis players at these tournaments is
to have them enjoy the experience and look forward to more.
Scoring: Madeleine (Peanut) Maurice 2 tries / Kaitlyn (Mini)
Schwarting 1 conversion
** Aside: Atlantis Men, in 1987, played 6 full games, including
the final - at the Cape Fear 7s (90ยบ F & humid) with 7
players! (it wasn't planned that way; we had a couple of no-shows)
... but I wouldn't recommend that to anyone. That "Iron Seven"
holds a special place in my heart. We didn't have a lot left in
that final (which we lost), but 6 games with the same 7 players at
a high quality brutal weather tournament like Fear isn't too
shabby! (And it for sure helps them to learn a) to play with each
other, and b) what sevens fitness is like.)
another aside: in 1990 (I think; might have been 1991), the US
team lost its 2 reserves to injury and we had to borrow two
players for the final game (a common occurrence in the days of
9-man rosters at international tournaments): one was Stuart Krohn
of Hong Kong, who later came back to his native US where he now
runs a rugby program for inner-city youth (ICEF) in Southern
California. The other, Vaea Anitoni of Tonga, ended up moving to
California and eventually represented the US.
Here is a tabular summary of our results.
Atlantis
Girls' HS Open results (1-2)
Time
|
Type
Game
|
W/L
|
PF
|
Opponent
|
PA
|
0800
|
Pool
|
L
|
0
|
Southwest
(Ontario)
|
15
|
| 1120 |
Pool
|
W
|
22
|
Nova
Scotia Keltics 2
|
5
|
1340
|
Plate
SF
|
L
|
12
|
Nova
Scotia Keltics 3
|
24
|
Individual
Scoring, Atlantis Girls HS Open
First
Name
|
Last
Name
|
Tries
|
Conv
|
Pts
|
Madeleine
|
Maurice
|
5
|
0
|
25
|
Talosia
|
Morrissette
|
1
|
0
|
5
|
Kaitlyn
|
Schwarting
|
0
|
2
|
4
|
|
Total
|
6
|
2
|
34
|
|
Opponent
|
8
|
2
|
44
|
Here are two more pictures from the Open Side vs. Southwest
game; both examples of "little tackles big."
Left: 2016-11-26 Mini tackles SW
prop.jpg ... Right: 2016-11-26
Peanut (Mad Mau) tackles SW.jpg
Mini tackles Maxi; Peanut tackles Cucumber
Left: 120-lb Mini (Kaitlyn) takes down the Southwest
tight-head prop
Right: 4'11" Peanut (Madeleine) takes down their loose-head
prop
************************************************************************************************************
Atlantis Girls
Under-18 Elite VII
The Atlantis Elite
Roster follows. Most of the players have had experience with
Atlantis, and yet half had not yet reached their 17th
birthday. Again, in many respects this was a development
team, and, given the fact that they probably should have,
certainly could have, beaten the Upright Rogues, it's a team that
came very near to making a mark at this event as well. Everyone
should be proud of themselves.
In the table that follow, APN = Atlantis Player Number. Name, club and ht, wt
and age rounded to nearest 10th as of 11/26 follow.
(Although listed as 17.0, Lauren was still 2 weeks short of
her 17th birthday as of the tourney, so she's one of the
half younger than 17.)
Roster,
Atlantis Elite
APN
|
First
Name
|
Last
Name
|
Club
|
Ht
in
|
Wt
lbs
|
Age
11/26
|
1120
|
Cassidy
|
Bargell
|
Summit
HS (CO)
|
63
|
140
|
16.9
|
1223
|
Lauren
|
Buchholz
|
Oak
Creek (WI)
|
64
|
135
|
17.0
|
1110
|
Alexandra
|
DiMarco
|
White
Horse (PA)
|
70
|
170
|
16.5
|
1159
|
Natalie
|
Gray
|
Summit
HS (CO)
|
71
|
155
|
18.1
|
1013
|
Jodi
|
Losch
|
Summit
HS (CO)
|
66
|
155
|
17.6
|
1247
|
Haley
|
Parker
|
White
Horse (PA)
|
67
|
220
|
16.7
|
1229
|
Alex
|
Pipkin
|
North
Bay (MD)
|
65
|
125
|
15.9
|
1116
|
Alie
|
Ramage
|
Morris
(NJ)
|
63
|
118
|
17.1
|
1230
|
Ariana
|
Ramsey
|
White
Horse (PA)
|
63
|
130
|
16.7
|
1231
|
Julia
|
Riekena
|
Missoula
(MT)
|
70
|
160
|
17.1
|
1248
|
Natalie
|
Travaglia
|
Kiski
Valley (PA)
|
68
|
157
|
17.7
|
1118
|
Elizabeth
|
Wilson
|
West
End (VA)
|
67
|
155
|
17.4
|
2016-11-26
Bargell Cassidy-1 leg.jpg ...
2016-11-26 Buchholz Lauren breaks tackle.jpg
Left: Cassidy looks like she's running with one leg (&
doin' fine); Lauren in support
Right: Lauren breaks this tackle vs. the Upright Rugby
Rogues; Cassidy in support
2016-11-26
Di Marco Alex.jpg ... Right:
2016-11-26 Gray Natalie KO.jpg
Left: Alie has won ball vs
Nova Scotia Keltics, Alex about to fight #5 for it
Right: Natalie Gray kicks off
Left: 2016-11-25-Losch Jodi jersey.jpg
... Right: 2016-11-26 Parker Haley takes off D.jpg
Left: Jodi and her jersey / sadly, because of
last-minute injury, Jodi wasn't able to play
Right: Haley Parker is about to pull off Nova
Scotia defender and free ball
Left: 2016-11-26 Pipkin Alex-LO.jpg
... Right: 2016-11-26 Ramage Alie on run.jpg
Left: Alex Pipkin takes lineout from Niagara jumper
Right: Alie Ramage on the run!
Left: 2016-11-26 Ramsey Ariana
v 1way.jpg ... Right: 2016-11-26
Riekena Julia.jpg
Left:
Thankfully for Atlantis, Ariana chose to disregard the
<=ONE WAY sign vs Toronto Rugby Reds
Right:
Julia takes on 2 defenders then looks for offload vs Nova
Scotia Keltics
Left: 2016-11-26 Travaglia
Natalie-1000w.jpg ... Right:
2016-11-26 Wilson Liz-1000w.jpg
Left: Natalie Travaglia looks for space vs. Keltics
Right: Liz Wilson violently resisting the Upright Rogues
double-team
Atlantis Girls Elite 33 Nova
Scotia Keltics 10. The team came out firing all
cylinders and worked as a strong team that looked like
they have been playing together for years. They played in
true Atlantis style working the ball from side to side and
using speed on the outside.
Atlantis Girls Elite 31 Toronto Rugby Reds 10. The next game was against the
Toronto Rugby Reds. The team continued working like a
well-oiled machine and working like one great team. We made a lot of
solid and positive hits and trusted the speed again on the
outside.
Atlantis Girls Elite 12 Upright Rugby Rogues 21. The third game was our last
pool game and it was against Upright Rugby Rogues. The
final does not give justice to how the game actually went.
It was a tight well-fought game the whole game. Both teams
fought tooth and nail and Atlantis just came up short with
the Rogues scoring a try in the last seconds to make the
score look larger than it actually it was.
Atlantis Girls Elite 5 NRU Thunder Elite 19. This game did not go the way
anyone has hoped. Started off down right off the first
kick off with the Thunder scoring off the opening kick
off. The young ladies fought hard the whole game and
never gave up but caught some bad breaks and bounces.
Atlantis Girls Elite forfeited to Upright Rugby Rogues
(official score of forfeits is by convention recorded as 0-5.
We were pretty banged up. On reflection, if we needed them,
perhaps we could have added a couple of the Open girls to the
roster to fill in in for the sake of playing time. I didn't
think of this at the time - Emil.
Atlantis
Girls' HS Elite results (3-4)
Time
|
Type
Game
|
W/L
|
PF
|
Opponent
|
PA
|
0900
|
Pool
|
W
|
33
|
Nova
Scotia Keltics
|
10
|
1020
|
Pool
|
W
|
31
|
Toronto
Rugby Reds
|
10
|
1140
|
Pool
|
L
|
12
|
Upright
Rugby Rogues
|
21
|
1320
|
Semfinal
|
L
|
5
|
NRU
Thunder Elite
|
19
|
1420
|
Plate
Final
|
L
|
0
|
forfeit
to Upright Rogues
|
5
|
Individual
Scoring Atlantis Girls HS Elite
First
Name
|
Last
Name
|
Tries
|
Conv
|
Pts
|
Ariana
|
Ramsey
|
6
|
0
|
30
|
Cassidy
|
Bargell
|
3
|
0
|
15
|
Julia
|
Riekena
|
2
|
0
|
10
|
Alex
|
DiMarco
|
0
|
5
|
10
|
Liz
|
Wilson
|
1
|
0
|
5
|
Natalie
|
Gray
|
0
|
1
|
2
|
Alex
|
Pipkin
|
0
|
1
|
2
|
|
(unassigned)
|
1
|
1
|
7
|
|
Total
|
13
|
8
|
81
|
|
Opponent
|
10
|
5
|
65
|
Here are more photographs of the Elite side:
2016-11-26 Ramsey Ariana-try-a.jpg
... 2016-11-26 Ramsey Ariana-try-b.jpg
... 2016-11-26 Ramsey Ariana-try-c.jpg
Left: Niagara player has the angle on Ariana
Center: Ariana swerves to beat her
Right: Having beaten her, she's in the clear
2016-11-26
Pipkin holds off Niagara-a.jpg ...
2016-11-26 Pipkin holds off Niagara-b.jpg
... 2016-11-26 Pipkin holds off Niagara-c.jpg
Left: Alex Pipkin has to hold off defender to help teammate
Natalie Gray win the ball.
Niagara #3 is
Emily Henrich (Atlantis #1113)
Center: Defender starts to drive Alex but she holds her own,
as Lauren Buchholz comes in and
Right: Lauren clears the ball
2016-11-26 Bargell Cassidy.jpg
... Right: 2016-11-26 Buchholz Lauren.jpg
Left:
Cassidy about to put ball in scrum vs Nova Scotia Keltics
Right: Cassidy defends at scrum vs. Upright
Rogues
Left: DSC_6710-Alex lines up
tackle.JPG ... Right: DSC_6385-Julia
tackles.JPG
Left: Alex lines up
the tackle vs. Niagara
Right: Julia dives in to tackle Keltics ball carrier
Left: 2016-11-26 Wilson
Liz-1000w.jpg ... Right: 2016-11-26
Cheek to Cheek.jpg
Left: Liz Wilson displays nice passing form
Right: it's not really cheek to cheek, but it's an odd
pair of opposing cheeks, nonetheless, as Julia takes
on a Toronto Red defender
************************************************************************************************************
Of course, a one-day tournament with games played from nearly dawn
to dusk does not leave much room for much other than rugby, but
here are a few representations of downtime.
Left: 2016-11-26D- Liz&Alex
pre-g1-1200w.jpg ... Right: 2016-11-26
3 relaxing-1500w.jpg
Left: Liz and Alex enjoying the look forward to the
games
Right: Cassidy, Julia and Natalie T relaxing
between game
2016-11-26
a-parents food tent-1500w.jpg
Thanks to parents,
the players found shelter and food
2016-11-26
b-enjoying parents food-1500w.jpg
Enjoying the
parents' contribution to their welfare
Left: 2016-11-26 Matt
touch judge-1200h.jpg ... Right:
2016-11-26 Wayne Emil Johnny McC-1500w.jpg
Left: Matt Estes
running touch (he would have ended up with bloody feet in the
old days)
Right: Wayne
DiMarco and I are joined by former Manhattan player John
McCluskey (on right)
Johnny - Atlantis #160
- played for us back in the day on tours to Ireland (1992) and
Bulgaria (1995) and was supporting the new generation
That
trip to Ireland was just three weeks before Atlantis fielded its
first-ever women's team - on tour to Spain
2016-11-26 Ariana
sister-1000w.jpg
Ariana's little
sister looks pretty at home with even an oversized rugby ball:
There's always a future Atlantis player on the horizon
