MUNCIE, Ind – The Ball State Women’s Rugby Club recently competed in the Nash Bash, the biggest social rugby tournament in the Midwest.
Head coach Broadrick Gaines had a couple of key takeaways from the two-day competition.
“We gained experience playing against three relatively good teams, which kinda hardens your mental toughness and gets you an idea of this is where we gotta go and what we need to work through,” said Gaines.
With the team playing in a two-day weekend tournament, it gave the team a chance to grow their chemistry amongst one another.
“You’re kind of forced to be amongst your teammates,” said Gaines, “You get to hang out, you get to kind of get to know some players and some people that you may not necessarily interact with in the same way outside of it.”
The Nash Bash includes teams all over the Midwest, with many top-ranked college teams competing.
When asked how the club performed during the weekend, Scrum half president Shylea Knapp thought the team had a good outing.
“We played pretty well in our first game, we won, and we only played with all veterans for one half, but after our coach wanted to get all of our rookies' experience, we did mix an A and B side,” said Knapp.
With the season ramping up, Knapp believes that the team is working in the right direction toward their primary goal.
“The goal by fall after seeing how we performed against these teams that are like number eight or number two or number one because the University of Michigan was there and they’re national champions,” said Knapp, “Now we are ready to start taking that road to nationals in the fall.”
The Women’s Rugby team is continuing to practice as it has several upcoming games, including one at Notre Dame in April.
Contact Jalen Mckissic with comments at Jalen.mckissic@bsu.edu.
