July 29-30,
2016: Atlantis U18 Girls go 3-3 at North American Invitational
7s, Finish 4th
(Atlantis
Tournament #157)
By Kevin Corley with Introduction &
Postscript by Emil Signes
rev. 9/5/16 22:15
Girlz II Women
Emil Signes
Having seen the explosion of both numbers and skill-level among
high-school girls in the US, Atlantis was excited to start
fielding its first high school girls teams in 2014. Already
our program has seen alumna Tess Feury (Atlantis #971)
represent the senior USA side in 15s earlier this year and we
anticipate more Atlantis girls will eventually join the 218
players (men & women) that have represented both Atlantis and
the USA.
- [Still to check links to videos and to
therugbybreakdown.com links] -
2014-01 Las Vegas-IMG_7254-Tess
run v BC-1000h.jpg
Atlantean #971 & now
Eagle Tess Feury on the run vs. British Columbia at Las Vegas
in 2014
A
stepping-stone to this achievement is making the ranks of
Collegiate All Americans, a feat achieved by several alumnae,
five just this summer (Tess, Nicole Benedetti [#1167], Jessica
Lewis [#1056], Kat Ramage [#974] and Elizabeth Rose [#1049]).
Furthermore, Kat and Gio Ferguson (#1111) and Taylor Makowski
(#1212) played for the US U23 this year.
The Atlantis selection process seems to be so respected that as
soon as we select players they get grabbed away from us by our
national and territorial programs (at least that’s my version of
the story and I’m sticking to it ☺). Of those
girls we originally expected to get for this tournament, eleven
were picked up by others.
Eight – Emily Henrich (#1113), Liz
Wilson (#1118), Paige Krahling (#1195), Alie Ramage (#1116),
Alex DiMarco (#1110), Brianna Vasquez (#1162), Sam Tancredi
(the only non-Atlantean), and Jodi Losch (#1013) – ended up
with the US girls HSAA program (this includes both the East
and West U18 and U16 squads), Jordan Cowan (#1109), Delia
Hellander (#1162) and Brianna Whitfield (#1191) hadn't yet
replied to Atlantis before GHSAA came knocking and two
– Allie Mennella (#1114) and Megan Bird (#1108) – played for
CODP. That left our lone player from the original
group, Kathleen Dzaran (#1193), to captain at NAI 7s.
2016-0729 Atlantis girls with HSAA-1400w.jpg
Atlantis
alumnae playing with the Girls HSAA in MD the same weekend
as this Utah tournament
L to
R: Brianna Whitfield (#1191), Paige Krahling, Alex DiMarco,
Liz Wilson, Delia Hellander, Jordan Cowan, Emily Henrich, Alie
Ramage and Jess Nagie. Not pictured: Jodi Losch
This group was what I think of as an “8-day team.” Many of
the teams we played were made up of players that had already been
able to both play and practice together (as had our originally
selected team). Had we brought this team in a week early for
a preliminary competition with maybe only one day’s practice, and
taken the information gleaned from this competition for a week’s
practice, this team’s results might have been amazing. A
huge ask of the players’ time, of course, but this can be a
transformational experience. Plan B would have been to have
them mimic the process over a 5-day period, ideally with a
similar-minded opponent for a Tuesday scrimmage (this was a
Friday-Saturday tournament, so Wednesday would have been too
late). When I was with the Eagles on the World Series
Circuit we would always scrimmage one of the opposing national
teams (those not in our bracket, that is; sometimes it was
touch**, sometime tackle) early in the week prior to a tourney;
these videotaped scrimmages suggested lots of specific items to
work on.
(** random aside - in 1987 [I think] the US men
scrimmaged Spain in what we decided would be a touch game that
just about turned to tackle; Eagle Gary Lambert, who was a
participant [and whose daughter was nearly on this Atlantis team],
has always referred to this level of scrimmage as "Spanish
touch.")
As it was, we came in Wednesday for a Friday-Saturday tournament.
Fortunately, we were able to get 4 players from the same club,
West End of VA (West Springfield HS), to help with the
on-the-field
togetherness. Furthermore, both Ariana Ramsey and Alex
Pipkin were also known within the same Mid-Atlantic region as West
End. Besides them, however, because of the non-availability of so
many players, Atlantis had to put out its tentacles again and we
found players from all over the country.
Our manager Diane Ramage’s daughter Alie (Atlantis #1116) was at
the GHSAA (Girls HS All American) camp and recommended her camp
roommate Julia Riekena of Missoula, MT. Cheyenne Staab of
Missouri – at 15.3 the youngest Atlantis player on this team -
came to us from Anna Kunkel of Kansas City, thanks to intermediary
Julie McCoy (#392).
In the middle of all this, an "almost" find: Ciara Lambert,
daughter of one of the best US Eagles I ever coached, Gary
Lambert, a great athlete and up & coming rugby player in her
own right, was almost available, but in the end she couldn't get
out of other commitments.
My old nemesis Stuart Krohn (an American who played for Hong Kong
and helped them defeat the US the last year I coached the Eagle
men) got us Loren Lewis from ICEF (an inner-city team from Los
Angeles). With very little time left, former Atlantean Megan
Bird (#1108) – who had chosen to compete against us – nevertheless
recommended teammate Lauren Buchholz of Oak Creek, WI.
1990-05p USA 7s in Sicily
tm.jpg
The US men's 7s team in 1990 in
Sicily. Stuart Krohn of Hong Kong, Loren Lewis' mentor,
in blue,
is photobombing the team
long before the term photobombing was coined
Finally, with two spots still to fill due to last second “thefts”
by other teams, Kevin reached out to his club side Morris (NJ) and
added two players that were to play a significant part in the
squad’s success: Grace dePoortere and Kelsey Svaasand.
Morris had a huge presence at select-side rugby events around the
US this weekend: 5 on the HSAA teams, 5 on Play Rugby CODP at this
tourney, and 2 on Atlantis. If the 2 players we had were the last
of the group (chronologically they were), then Morris should be
the national champion: what an amazing group of rugby players!
By the end of the tournament, with a good closing win over the
Rocky Mountain Rebels, with great coaching and recognizable
self-education, this young team had learned a lot, grown, gotten
wiser, and matured so much that … I would have loved to have
played all those other teams a week later.
With apologies to New Edition,
Keep on learning, keep on growing
(Cause wisdom helps us understand)
We’re maturing, without knowing
(These are the things that change girls to women.)
The future ...
promises to be great for these girlz;
all have the opportunity to progress up rugby's ladder. It's
already started: Julia Riekena will be a member of the 12-player
Girls' HSAA squad to participate in the European 7s U18
championship in Vichy, France on September 10 and 11 of this year.
That
GHSAA squad, with 4 Atlantis alumnae, comprises the following
Cassidy Bargell, Summit (CO) & Atlantis #1120
Kyla Canett, Fallbrook (CA)
Lilly Durbin, Fallbrook (CA) & Atlantis #1158
Kathleen Gearhart, Penn (IN)
Renee Gonzalez, Armstrong (MN) &
Atlantis #1011
Atumata Hingano, Danville (CA)
Lolohea Makaafi, Kent (WA)
Daisy Manoa, Danville (CA)
Julia Riekena – Missoula (MT)
& Atlantis #1231
Alex Sedrik, Herriman (UT)
Charity Tenney, United (UT)
Nia Tolivar, ICEF (CA)
Drilling down to youth programs has been the logical extension of
what I set out to do when I founded Atlantis in 1986: find up and
coming rugby players and facilitate their path to the next level.
With senior players I tried to always mix in older more
experienced players with the inexperienced ones; with U18 and
younger teams, often all of the players have to find their way
together.
Coach Kevin Corley tells the on-the-field story.
Atlantis Girls on
the Field of Play in Utah
Kevin Corley
The U18 High School Girls Atlantis team went to Salt Lake City,
Utah to compete in the Girls Elite Division of the North American
Invitational (NAI) 7’s tournament. It was a two-day tournament
beginning on Friday, July 29. The girls, representing eight
different states (CA, MD, MO, MT, NJ, PA, VA, WI), played six
games over the two days and fought some brutal heat finishing 3-3
for the weekend. Of the 12 Atlantis girls, 11 were
rookies. Our only veteran Kathleen Dzaran was the captain
and Julia Riekena the co-captain.
Atlantis Girls Team Info.jpg
The Manager was Diane Ramage, and Kevin Corley was the Head
Coach. Emil Signes was here as self-appointed Emperor of
Atlantis.
2016-0729
Atlantis Girls before games-1400w.jpg
Atlantis Girls U18 team ready to compete
Standing, L to R: Alex Pipkin, Kelsey Svaasand, Lauren Buchholz,
Ariana Ramsey, Julia Riekena, Grace dePoortere, Cheyenne Staab,
Loren Lewis
Kneeling, L to R: Maddie Deaton, Carly McMahon, Gabbi Hall,
Kathleen Dzaran
The following action shots are stills from the tournament videos,
thus the diminished resolution.
Note - there are up to 3 versions of the posted videos, as
follows:
1. The official tournament
video as posted on youtube.
1a. This same youtube video
downloaded and posted on Dropbox in the highest resolution
available. When I have the time, I will edit this version of the
video down to ball-in-play for more efficient viewing (as of 8/24
I have not done this for any videos.
2. A video filmed by one of
the parents and posted on Dropbox.
Atlantis 24 Atavus 10. Friday began with a
mid-morning upset win over Seattle-based Atavus. Atlantis
started strong and fast with a 60+ meter run by Ariana Ramsey
converted by Julia Riekena. Atlantis then answered an unconverted
Atavus try with Ariana’s 2nd try and one by Julia. At the
half, we led 17-5.
Defense was the name of the game in the second half. Grace
dePoortere’s strength kept Atavus in their half and enabled Carly
McMahon to take a sideline offload; following a nasty stiff arm,
she scored in the corner, followed by a great Alex Pipkin
conversion. Atavus scored once more as time expired.
Atlantis 19 Rhino Rugby 5. We started out slow
against Rhino Rugby Academy out of Irvine, CA, and made some
handling mistakes that led to a Rhino try. Strong running by
our captains Kathleen Dzaran and Julia Riekena (and a few penalty
calls) led to a Julia try under the posts converted by Alex as
time expired.
In the second half the Atlantis girls played strong defense and
scored two additional tries - one by Loren Lewis and the second
from Julia. Loren’s try was converted by Cheyenne Staab.
10 Utah Lions 26. Our third game of this long and hot
day did not go our way. Host Utah Lions came out hard, fast, and
strong, and on top of that Atlantis was yellow-carded; Utah scored
twice in those long 2 minutes. At the 5th minute Alex Pipkin
scored a try with some nice running to make it a one-try game.
Utah, though, had a surge at the end of the first half and scored
another try.
The second half had a similar beginning to the first. Loren
was given an iffy yellow card for a high tackle at the try line
that led to a Utah score one minute later. With less than two
minutes left the yellow-card-happy ref gave Utah a card and Maddie
Deaton scored on the last play of Day 1.
2016-0729g3-Loren Lewis
about to tackle Utah.jpg
Loren Lewis makes great tackle
on Utah break. Had she missed it ...
Atlantis 5 CODP (Play Rugby) 7. The 4th game of the
weekend was against the newly formed NYC-area Community Olympic
Development Program (CODP) team. This was a very exciting
yet very sloppy game of rugby on both sides. Midway in the 1st
half CODP scored a centered and converted try to go up 7-0. Both
teams played strong defense the rest of the first half until Carly
McMahon ran the field for a try in the corner to end the first
half. 7-5.
The second half was a tale of both teams’ handling errors matched
with strong and hard firing defenses. No scores were made in the
second half and Atlantis would lose a frustrating 7-5 game.
Emil’s note: this was really the only
disappointing game of the tournament for me. Not just
because we lost, but also because, as Kevin noted, both teams
were playing so sloppily. It was the only game in which I
was reminded just how young these players are.
Atlantis 10 Upright Rogues 24. Game 5 was our first
international game of the weekend, as we played Toronto’s Upright
Rogues. Upright owned the first half by scoring 3 tries to
our zero. The bright spot of the first half was Alex Pipkin
holding a potential try off the ground early in the game.
The second half told a much better story. Atlantis received the
kick and after working the ball through the hands of almost every
player on the field, captain Kathleen Dzaran brought in a 50+
meter try. Minutes later, Ariana Ramsey ran almost the full length
of the pitch to put another one on the board. Even though
our defense was relentless with shining tackles and rucks by
Kelsey Svaasand to shut down the Rogues’ forward motion, Upright
would eventually score once more as time expired.
Atlantis 20 Rocky Mountain Rebels 5. Our last
opponent was Rocky Mountain of Colorado. The Atlantis girls were
competing with fire in their belly, as they wanted to go home
winners. Minutes into the game, after the first scrum, we
saw a beautiful 60+ meter run by our wing Loren Lewis after
working the ball through several hands in the backfield. A
few minutes later Atlantis scored another long try by scrum half
Lauren Buchholz after she scooped a ball that came out of the back
of the Rebels’ scrum. Rocky Mountain fought back with an
unconverted try as the half ended.
Defense dominated the second half with some great hits by both
Cheyenne Staab and Loren. Gabbi Hall played a great game and
funneled the ball back and forth through the backline until Julia
Riekena found a hole and offloaded to Kathleen Dzaran for another
long try. The game would end with one more try by fly half
Alex Pipkin. We finished with a win, a 3-3 record, and 4th place
in the U18 girls’ bracket.
2016-0730g6-Alex
Pipkin breaks tackle to score v RockyMtnRebs-1200w.jpg
Alex Pipkin broke this Rocky
Mountain Rebel attempt at a tackle and scored
1. There is no tournament video from this game
2.
Click here to see a parent's video on Dropbox
Emil’s note: not too shabby for a team whose final
composition was unrecognizable from the original roster! I was
really pleased with the girls' performance; in my best native
New Jersey-speak, “we done good”! Had we pulled off a win
with Play Rugby we would have had the bronze. One of our late
pickups, Julia Riekena, was selected to the tournament
All-Tournament VII, who were
Olivia Apps, Upright Rugby
Malery Billingy, Play Rugby (& Atlantis alumna)
Danni Grant, Upright Rugby
Maddie Lane, Rocky Mountain Rebels
Julia Riekena, Atlantis
Alexandria Sedrick, Utah Rugby Academy
Kat Stowers, Utah Rugby Academy
Appendix:
Individual Scoring, Atlantis Girls
Postscript: 46th
country represented!
Emil Signes
One of the things I'm really happy
that I've done is keep track of 30 years of Atlantis statistics -
I've numbered all our players chronologically - we're up to 1233
(Kelsey Svaasand) - and also all tournaments (157), squads (240),
our won-lost records (848-371-13 total; girls/women are
384-108-4), how many countries we've played in (31)
and how many countries our players have represented (whether
born there, or resided or were citizens at the time they played
for Atlantis).
We've had players born and residing in countries you'd expect,
besides the USA: 18 from England, 13 from Canada, 11 South
Africa, 8 New Zealand and several each from Australia,
Argentina, and the rugby-mad islands of Fiji (2016 Olympic Gold
Medalist), Samoa & Tonga.
To get to 45, of course, you need lots more, and I have all this
information and hope to get it online sometime in the
not-too-distant future... [---]
Kazakhstan!! I was surprised and even amazed to
find out that one of our players - Carly McMahon - had been born
in Kokshetau, Kazakhstan. Kazakhstan had a spell in the early
2000s when their women's team put together some really nice
teams at the Hong Kong Sevens, beating us for 3rd place one
year. It was about that time when Atlantis was invited to
send a team to a tournament in Kazakhstan; I was eager to go,
and they would have covered our internal expenses, but airfares
- via Moscow - were nearly $2000 and reluctantly we didn't go.
Once I saw this information I of course contacted Carly to find
out more and learned she's had a very eventful life.
Adopted at 2 months of age by a family in the US (she only knows
her birth parents from documents), her adoptive mother - the
only one she knew - died when Carly was 12. "I had no clue
how to handle such a deep and penetrating loss."
"My mom always told me to follow my heart and she was so amazed
of how strong I was, mentally and physically." Then Carly found
rugby. "When I first stepped on to the pitch I knew instantly
this sport will take me far in life." From her first practice
her freshman year in high school, when she made a ferocious
mud-splattering tackle that has apparently become legendary, she
knew she had made the right decision.
Carly is off to Lindenwood University to join their powerhouse
program.
It occurred to me that the rugby profile, which I have done for
players at Princeton, where I have been putting them together
for a dozen years, would be appropriate to put together for
Atlantis players as well... So why not start with someone as
interesting as Carly?
Name: Carly Janese McMahon
Place of Birt
h: Kokshetau,
Kazakhstan
Date of Birth: 12/14/1997 (18)
Ht, Wt: 5’7”, 156 lbs.
Position: Second row (15s), Prop (7s)
High School: T.C.
Williams High School (VA) (Class of 2016)
HS Sports: Wrestling,
Rugby
College: Lindenwood University (MO) (Class of 2020)
How did you find Rugby? As a freshman in High School I
wanted to find a sport that included contact and
aggression. My counselor encouraged me to try out for
our high school rugby team.
What got you and why did you decide to stay? The first time
I stepped onto the pitch, something clicked inside my mind.
I do not know what made me so excited about this sport but I knew
it would open doors for me. Seeing these girls pass so
smoothly and seeing all of this positivity made me stay.
I love the atmosphere, especially how our field is like a
sanctuary. All of my problems go away for those few hours
and it is just me and my team. Also, I love how once you
step onto the pitch you can feel the rivalry. And afterwards
everyone is so friendly and complimentary. Also, during the
preseason, I wanted to do a sport that could increase my strength
and conditioning. I came upon the high school wrestling team,
which was a great decision. Wrestling built up my upper and lower
body by a huge difference. Once Rugby came into season, I was
prepared.
Favorite moment: There are so many favorite moments
but winning the High School Division at CRC's [Collegiate Rugby
Championship, in Chester, PA] in 2016 was definitely my
favorite. I still get goosebumps remembering myself run
through the tunnel. We had a game plan: play our hearts out and
play as a team. These fundamentals made us champions.
