Meet The Team CC7s Edition: Deven Oswiany

Deven Owsiany is one of the most recognizable and decorated names on our  Stars Rugby 7s women's roster. She's won collegiate national titles, was the MVP of the 2010 national championship, earned First Team All American recognition in 2010 and 2011, and has since kitted up for the USA Women's National Team for both 7s and 15s (check out her USA Rugby profile here).


She competed for the Eagles in the 2014 Women's Rugby World Cup in France, and is one of a few players that also donned the red, white and blue for the USA Women's 7s team that finished 3rd at the 2013 IRB Rugby World Cup Sevens  in Moscow, Russia. She additionally captained the Eagles 7s side on the 2012 iRB 7s circuit.

 
Deven and I had been connected via facebook where she commented on an early post from CC7s asking about this new USA women's program. Discussions developed further when I reached out to USA 7s Women's Coach Ric Suggitt regarding our roster; she was one of 4 players he immediately recommended to come on tour. Deven and I continued chatting while she was in France and worked out the logistics for her to join us on a one way ticket to Sydney - there are some higher rugby forces at work here as she'll be moving to Australia for a year for more of a rugby adventure. Our Stars family is doing their best to assist with her work and accommodations!

Here's more of her story:


How I started playing rugby- I started playing rugby my sophomore year of college at Penn State  after a previous soccer team told me that I should come check out rugby after soccer season was done. I went to a rugby practice thinking I was just going to play to stay in shape and make some new friends. After the first practice and a trip to Spain and France, I fell in love with the sport.


(editors note - Penn State is the USA's most titled women's collegiate rugby program. They have won multiple Women's Collegiate D1 National Championships and produced countless Eagles under the guidance of coaches like Pete Steinberg, Farrah Douglas, Peter Bagetta and Kate Daley)


Teams I’ve played for – Northeast Rugby Union, Keystone, MARFU All-Star, USA National 7s and 15s team

I love rugby because of the people I meet, the places I get to travel too, the camaraderie and the discipline involved to stay fit.

Why I want to play at a higher level- I love competing against the best because it pushes me to be at my best every time I train. The feeling of playing for your country and beating another country is an amazing feeling and I want that feeling more and more every time I take the pitch.

Why I’m looking forwards to Australia- I am excited about Australia because it’s going to be very competitive but I also want to make the tour very enjoyable meeting new teammates and being in a new country. I am going to be staying on in Australia after CC7’s and look forward to meeting some local people to play rugby with and enjoy my new home for a little while.

Canada Player Profiles: Lara Gartner of Georgia Tech

On the pitch for Georgia Tech

Lara Gartner of Georgia Tech comes to Stars Rugby 7s as another recommendation from Coach Rosalind Chou of Life University (who also sent us Elissa Gerard & Nicole Strasko from Life, Jessica Wooden, Judy Dickson & Kassadi Wynter from the Atlanta Harlequins, and Chi Chi Chukwueke and Lara from Georgia Tech). Before Ros took over the Life Women's Rugby program she led Georgia Tech Women's Rugby to successes in the SIRC, USA Rugby 15s and 7s Nationals, and the CRC 7s. She had much to say about Lara's skills as a key contributor on the Georgia Tech team. Lara is often not as flashy as some of her teammates, but is a reliable workhorse who is consistent on the pitch.

Ros further went on to compliment Lara's rugby 7s abilities as a playmaker and finisher, that she was one of the few collegiate players that had earned a spot on the Atlanta Harlequins competitive 7s side this summer. Lara surpassed expectations in her first qualifier tournament, Atlanta's Midnight 7s, where she led the 'Quins in scoring for the day! The switch from collegiate rugby to women's club, especially with a WPL team, is not an easy transition to make. That Lara fit in so seamlessly speaks volumes.

Georgia Tech 15s

Lara will be traveling to Calgary having just spent time with the Women's Collegiate All American East Camp the weekend prior to this. She is currently one of many Stars players attending the Serevi Elite Residency Camp at the Olympic Training Center in Chula Vista. Just today we learned she was selected for the Women's Collegiate All American squad and their own Canada tour later in July! We cannot wait to see what Lara brings to the team at Stampede 7s. It bears noting that this is a homecoming of sorts for Lara, who spent part of her childhood in Winnipeg.

Here's her profile in her words:

.

I'm going into my fifth year at Georgia Tech as a biomedical engineering major and am graduating in December. I'm currently interning at CareFusion as a product engineer working with hand-held surgical instruments. I started playing rugby my freshman year in college after growing up in Winnipeg and Atlanta playing hockey, softball, baskball, track, and swimming.

I started as a lock until our backs coach, Rosalind Chou, saw me and thought I could be more useful in the backline. I then played inside center or flyhalf for my junior and senior year. Last summer, Georgia Tech started a sevens team that went to CRCs in Philadelphia and then the USA Rugby Collegiate Sevens National Championships in Greensboro, NC. For the latter tournament, I was named one of the 8 players to watch which was very exciting! After spraining my ankle during our game against Norwich on the first day, I was unable to play in the final games, however, I was still very proud of my Yellow Jackets! 

At USA Rugby Nationals

For 15s this season, GT went undefeated until conference playoffs. We beat University of Florida then lost to University of Central Florida in the final to finish second in the Division 1 Southern Independent Rugby Conference (SIRC); I was named an SIRC all-conference player. Even though we lost, we got a bid to Sweet Sixteens with UCF, Arizona State, and West Chester which was being played just down the road from us at Life University. We got to play West Chester, who ended up going all the way to Final Fours, which was a great experience.

I love playing great teams and being challenged by them and learning from them. It was a great way to end my rugby career at GT and a great start to my career on the Atlanta Harlequins 7s and 15s team in the fall. Last year, I was invited to the U-20s camp in Atlanta and this past weekend I attended the Women's Collegiate All-American Camp where I met Swift and Kim and a lot of other amazing rugby players. Next week I will attend the Serevi Elite Residency Camp and I can't wait to spend a week playing and learning more about 7s before heading out to Calgary with the Stars where I'll have some family members who live nearby coming out to support! 

At the Olympic Training Center

I also asked Lara for a recap of her experience at the WCAA camp and here it is:

The WCAA camp was a 3 day camp at James Madison University in Virginia where we had 2 practices a day with a lunch break in between and a required ice bath afterwards with all of the free Gatorade products we could ever want (yay for sponsors!). The practices focused on offensively creating space and the importance of trailers, contact body position and form, and defensive alignment and communication. The practices always incorporated "games" of some sort which made it even more fun and competitive. Then there was a team meeting where we talked about different defensive strategies or we had time with our team to strategize and prepare for the scrimmage on the final day. 

Breaking the line on the way to a try with the Atlanta Harlequins

Then on Sunday, we had our scrimmage of blues (dark side!) vs. pinks. It was so much fun playing with all of those amazing rugby players who knew what to do and when to do it and I felt that playing with such high level players really helped elevate my game as well. It was an amazing experience and I had so much fun meeting everyone from all over the country and getting to play with some of the best collegiate players out there. I wish I could go again next year!

Canada Player Profiles: Kim Semiglia

Kim with the ball against Team Lola at the LVI

Kim Semiglia (see previous posts here and here) was a member of the Stars Open team for Las Vegas that vastly improved as the tournament developed. As the games went on, her leadership from the flyhalf position helped the team gel and knock out several more experienced clubs, including the Combined Services military team that competed in the Club 7s National Championships, to take 6th out of 24 teams. Given that this was several of our athletes first 7s tournaments and that we had one night of scrimmaging/learning names going in to the tournament, this was no small feat.

Kim has updated us as she returned to her collegiate career at FIU and sent in this post about her experiences at the Women's Collegiate All American East Camp last weekend at James Madison University in Virginia. There she drilled, scrimmaged, and learned alongside fellow Stars players Christina Swift, Nicole Strasko, Lara Gartner, ChiChi Chukwueke and more. They also had the experience of playing for my own amazing collegiate, club and all-star coach Sue Whitwell and the wonderful Martha Daines. I cannot wait to see what she brings to Calgary based on her experiences and feedback at camp! She'll take what she learned into Saturday's Midnight 7s tournament in Atlanta where she'll be playing with Vice City 7s (a new Miami based team with players from FIU, FGCU, AIC and other programs) for summer 7s prior to joining Life University's Women's Rugby team in the fall of 2014. 

Here's Kim's take on WCAA camp and her rugby future:

Although my team and I weren’t fortunate enough to bring home the title in the Final 4 in California, one great thing came out of that weekend for me: I had the honor of being personally invited by the assistant coaches Brandon Sparks and Sue Whitwell to attend the All-American East camp. 

I learned so much throughout the course of 3 days. I feel very fortunate that I had the opportunity to experience this camp led by such great coaches, including the head coach Martha Daines. I wish everyone I play with had the opportunity to attend this camp. Not only did I learn entirely new concepts that I could add to my game, I learned how to correctly do a lot of things that I had been previously doing wrong. Another positive result of the camp was that I made a lot of great connections. It was wonderful being surrounded by so many other women who love the game as much as I do.

The Red Team with a Few Stars Faces

Each day we had a morning and afternoon training session and each session had a specific focus. Every night we would gather together and reflect on the day’s events. On Sunday we ended camp with an 80 minute scrimmage where we aimed to apply everything we had learned throughout the weekend. 

Some key things I learned were how to properly make a spin pass which was slightly different to what I was used to but I’m sure the small difference will do wonders to my pass once I get comfortable with it. Additionally, I learned how to strategically catch a ball from the scrum half depending on where I want my back line to attack. I learned a great way to win a ruck by grabbing one leg of the opposing player while driving up.

Kim, 2nd row, 4th from the right, with her Blue Teammates

An aspect I loved about the camp was how easily applicable many of the things I learned are;  in other words, I can confidently apply it to my game immediately. Everything was explained in a very clear way.  Additionally, we spent a good deal of time practicing the many skills. We would start a drill, stop in the middle, the coach would then see if we had any questions, she then would give us more advice and then we would finish doing more repetitions of the drill. This way if we were doing something wrong, they made sure to correct us so that we could make the best use of our time and practice the correct way. 

The coaches were very happy to help clarify any misunderstandings. Another plus was that if I failed to do something right, rather than just letting it go, they would tell us what we had to fix to be successful in the next attempt. Even if we successfully tackled someone, the coach would critique us if we did it in the wrong way. I think this is useful, because it would suck to get confident tackling with bad form - although it may work at my current level of play, once I get to play higher level I would not be as effective. It stood out when the coaches corrected me for making an arm tackle.

The Red Team and Blue Team on Sunday's Scrimmage

Ultimately, attending this camp was an amazing experience.  I am looking forward to the next time I get to be coached by this coaching staff!

Another great thing that came out of our playoff run was being introduced to Life University’s coach in the rounds of 16 and 8. Life University is one of the few, as well as the newest,  women’s varsity programs in the country.  I’m super excited to be given the chance to be a part of this new team and being coached by Coach Rosalind Chou. The heavy rugby atmosphere that will be provided excites me and the fact that I will be playing alongside other very passionate and talented players excites me too.  It’s going to be awesome to transition from playing for a school where rugby is recognized as a club to a school where the sport is a varsity program. It was a tough decision to make after having such a successful season and being a part of such an amazing group of passionate and talented women at FIU, but it was the best decision to make and I can’t wait to be a part of the Running Eagles.

Canada Player Profiles: Meet Nicole Strasko of Life University

**UPDATE: Nicole was unable to join us for the Calgary 2014 tour but I  had the pleasure of watching her develop in both 7s and 15s over the course of the 2014-2015. With several Stars already on Life's roster and Tobago Star KB transferring in winter quarter, this is a program where Stars keep a close connection. We finally saw Nicole play live at January's ARPTC camp in Little Rock which she attended with fellow Life speedsters Christina Swift and Deshel Ferguson as well as S&C Coach Kimberly Knipe. Over the course of 4 days their already solid skills developed and tournament play yielded several tries by the Running Eagles contingent.

Stars ties with Life U meant we spent an additional 5 long weekends with the team this spring observing trainings, in the weight room, watching film, supporting at men's and women's matches, and attending ODA sessions. Both undergrad programs ended their15s seasons ranked in the Top 5 nationally and will compete in the CRC tournament in Philadelphia this weekend; the men's Elite Training Group ran the table in the Atlantic Rugby Premiership to take the title.

As a first year D1 women's program Life has achieved a lot of success. Their coaching staff transformed a team where some of the players first picked up a ball in September into disciplined national contenders. Their players bought into the system and have challenged themselves in a rigorous training environment. The 2015-2016 campaign, in which Life will play an independent schedule against varsity sides from across the US will see continued growth and an outpouring of rugby talent from Atlanta.**


Nicole Strasko comes to Stars Rugby 7s via the Life University Women's Rugby Team coached by my good friend (and awesome rugby chatterbox/HUGE women's rugby advocate/dreamer of bigger things/ amazing Atlanta Harlequins player and president) Ros Chou.

Ros is one of the best and brightest rugby minds I know who is more than capable of leading Life's women's program to success to equal its men's. She has done an incredibly thorough job in her recruiting process (Life is a varsity program with scholarships available) in traveling across the US and we've had long discussions about potential players from the Midwest and from the Stars!

Thus, a few of our Vegas Stars will be transferring to play for her this fall and will join rookies Nicole and Elissa on the pitch as Running Eagles. This Canada trip will be a fantastic opportunity for Nicole, Elissa and Kim to play together prior to fall 15s training (Gracie is also moving to play at Life but was unavailable for the Calgary Tour). I cannot wait to see what this combination of women are capable of... if Ros recommended them they have to have some serious potential.

Here's Nicole's rugby story in her words:

I started playing rugby last season for the first time ever. I came in knowing nothing, but am falling in love with the game the more I learn and the more I play. After playing my first season I was chosen as an honorable mention for the Independent South Conference. The closest to a contact sport I had played previously was basketball, which I played at my undergrad college for 4 years and loved it! I am an aggressive athlete, and can't get enough of the physicality of rugby.

I just returned from the USA Women's Rugby Collegiate All American Camp in Virginia where I learned a great deal and was privileged to play with passionate women with talent.

Additionally, I can't wait to further my 7s game, because I have been playing as a loose forward and I love the freedom it gives me. I take this opportunity whole-heartedly and take new experiences as a way to grow, and of course all in good fun!

I am in chiropractic school right now, and I want to take care of the Olympic Rugby team as well as all rugby players and athletes in the future. Opportunities like this opens up doors for my dreams to come true. Plus, the more I know about the sport and the more I play myself, the more I can help those athletes in the future because I have been in their shoes. 

I believe everything happens for a reason, and I know that to be true for rugby and the people I have grown close to because of it!

 -Nicole Strasko

8-man

Life University Women's Rugby

Note: Nicole has a personal fundraising page here for anyone interested in supporting her Calgary travels!

A Stars Player Round-Up

Several of our Stars have been in action over the past few weeks (so much so this blog has been difficult to keep up with):

-Rookies Tatum Walker and Michelle Montague competed with the Beavers 7s side at the festival tournament alongside Amsterdam 7s. Our friendly rivals Tribe 7s from Australia also competed and took the title.

-Vets Liz Entwhistle (Fort Miami) and Rebecca Trapp (Pittsburgh) were in Pittsburgh for the USA Rugby Club Championships where pool players Kyle Granby (NYAC) and Marcus Satavu (New Haven) also hit the pitch. Rebecca's Pittsburgh Angels team won the East to advance to the USA Rugby D2 Championship game in Madison, WI.

-Rookies Nana Fa'avesi, Sana Fa'Avesi and Siu Green won the USA Rugby West Championship with their Sacramento Amazons team. We may be picking up Mariella Hey for the squad too!


-Rebecca's Pittsburgh team prevailed in Madison to repeat as D2 Women's Club Champions in what was the closest and best game of the day!

-Stampede 7s Rookie Kayla Rudman and Vegas Vet Carly MacKinnon attended the Women's Collegiate All American West Camp in Colorado.

-Vegas Vets Christina Swift and Kim Semiglia are participating in the Women's Collegiate All American East camp this weekend in at James Madison University in Virginia. Rookie Lara Gartner is there as well as injured pool player ChiChi Chukweke.

-Rookie Ty Elkins is competing this weekend for the Ohio All Star Team at the Elite City 7s Competition in Houston. Earlier this spring he traveled to play 7s in Norway and was named tournament MVP. Additionally this spring he has been competing in 15s for the South All Stars in the NACRA Championships where they look to repeat as title winners.









-Rookies Josie Ziluca and Kaelene Lundstrom and pool player Jessica Turner toured Spain with Atlantis 7s over the last week of May.

- We added 5 Canadian collegiate players from University of Victoria and University of Alberta to our roster for Stampede 7s!

- Kyle Granby also took part in the first Super 7s test on US soil. The New York Rhinos squad lost to the Ontario Blues  79-43 in this four quarter, 48 minute long 7s match that allows rolling subs and a 16-man roster.

A Spring Season Update from Christina Swift

In late January I had the chance to surprise some of our Stars 7s players from FAU and FIU and fly to Boca Raton for their Friday Night Lights clash. Getting to see the girls in action with their home clubs playing 15s was an awesome experience and Swift definitely shined as a center making some devastating runs and even stronger tackles in a close match. Here's her update as she starts prepping for the Women's Collegiate All American East Camp (Eyal sent in a U-20 nomination and USA Rugby elevated her to WCAA consideration).

"Boy oh boy where do I start?

This spring season is definitely one I won’t forget! Our FAU Women’s team did rather well - we could have done better but next year were definitely going further than we ever have, I can feel it! On top of playing for FAU I got to play with the amazing and talented Ft. Miami Womens team in the Ruggerfest that was an awesome tournament and we ended up getting second place in!!!

In other news I have been training very hard lately and had my coach Eyal send in a nomination for U20 tryouts this year. A month later I get the invite to the Women's Collegiate All American East Camp tryouts!!! I am beyond excited for this opportunity and where it could lead me!

Every day I think about rugby and what more I can do to go further and knowing that I get to play in my first INTERNATIONAL Tournament with the Stars makes it even better.

This summer has so many opportunities for my rugby career and I couldn’t be happier to be apart of the Stars program. I have never been to Canada and I can’t wait to play!

I have learned nothing is just going to appear I front of you, you have to work towards your goals every day to make them achievable. One of my favorites “Pain is weakness leaving the body.” I live by that because I am determined I finally found a sport that I can give my all and absolutely love every second about it!" 

To help support Swift in her rugby goals, including the Stars tour to Calgary, the WCAA camp and her invite today to the Serevi High Performance Residency Camp, please visit her GoFundMe page!

A Little Bit of Catch Up

It's been nearly 2 weeks since our last post and what a busy two weeks it has been. We'll go into more details on each of the following with regular posting to resume tomorrow:

*Canada's Women's 7s National Team claimed the 16th spot for Central Coast 7s. Our Stars Women will be competing in a field of 4 nationals teams (Australia, Canada, Fiji, Brazil), 2 National Champions (ACT Brumbies of Australia and RuGirl 7s of Japan), the last two CC7s champions (Sunnybank and Tribe 7s) and a field of other representational and developmental sides from Australia and New Zealand.

*The Men's Field for CC7s is also full with teams from Fiji, New Zealand, Australia, Borneo, and Tiger Rugby from the USA in the mix.

*Our Canada Tour invites went out and we're still awaiting some final responses. Due to the increased men's opportunities between All Star City 7s, their club 15s and 7s series, developmental camps, collegiate 7s and more (injuries and family life among the other reasons), we will only take one team of men to Calgary. We retain a deep pool of women for two sides in the premier division.

*Speaking of Stars Women - FIVE of our pool players have received Women's Collegiate All American or
Women's Junior All American camp invites so far! CONGRATULATIONS to Christina Swift of Florida Atlantic University, Carly MacKinnon of Washington State University, Chi Chi Chukwueke of Georgia Tech, Kayla Rudman of Notre Dame College and Lara Gartner of Georgia Tech. Unfortunately Chi Chi is injured and will be unable to join us for Calgary.

*And speaking of Calgary, we started out fundraising efforts with another gofundme campaign here. Our aim is to raise $2000 for a Stars Rugby 7s Scholarship Fund to assist our younger players with their tour costs. Beyond that we'd like to raise $100 per player to offset tour costs through small donations. A full sponsorship package will be out on Thursday with several tiers of involvement.

*There is still a recap/thoughts on China 7s to come as well as posts about "What if the Olympics Were Now" and the iRB expanding the Women's Sevens World Series. ScrumQueens covered some of this before we could with an in-depth look at the changes in the WSWS for next season and the Olympic implications. They also have a good piece about the state of women's 7s in Latin America.

*The NRFL held a combine in Minneapolis and one of our men's pool players, Kenneth Hepburn, attended. Kenneth showed extremely well in front of several European clubs.... well enough that he may not be available for our tours. We wish him the best of luck and are still waiting for his report on the weekend.....

*We also had Ty Elkins from our men's side travel to Norway for a 7s tournament where his team took the Bowl Championships and he earned tournament MVP honors. Photos and a recap to come.

*The USA Women's 15s team traveled to Canada for a 2 game Can-Am series with our neighbors to the north. Both games ended in a loss for the Eagles and we'll have a recap as well as some thoughts on development (Canada has now reached 100 test matches as the first non-European club to do so and also has a Tri-Nations series coming up with New Zealand and Australia; the USA goes on tour to England and Wales this summer) and the impact of 7s on the outcomes of the games (Canada used their carded/centralised 7s players while ours were home in Chula Vista).

*Finally a belated congratulations to Stars Vegas 7s Elite player Amanda Divich (formerly Martin), on her recent wedding to Jacob and for their little one on the way! We're thrilled your family is expanding and will be on the lookout for rugby onesies while on tour!

BUFFALLLLLOOOOOOOO!

Kat and I met three LVI tournaments ago when I first played for the Beavers and she was there with Notre Dame University (coached by my friend and Lions 7s teammate Kate Daley). Since then she's expanded her rugby career greatly regularly travelling out of country to pursue higher level playing opportunities. We are Beavers teammates (and also kitted up for Seattle together in 2013) and now add Stars teammates too. Kat was a great get for our roster, winning best playing face by far - see right!

 

 

In her words:

 

 

I started playing fall of 2010 at the University of Notre Dame, senior year. I was in the women's boxing club at ND but was convinced to join by a friend to "just give rugby a try - you'll love it!!" Well I tried it, and after the initial frustration of not being able to pass the ball forward, I LOVE IT. That first year as a team, we made it all the way to the DII National Championships! After the season I was named a DII All-American. I played for the Midwest Collegiate/U23 team for the summers of 2011 (when we won it!!) and 2012. 

 

 

 

 

I moved to Buffalo fall of 2011 and immediately joined Buffalo Women's Rugby Club (BWRC). Looking for more rugby, I found the Toronto Saracens and fell in love with that team also. I was voted "best newcomer" at our banquet my first year, and my second year with the team we won the OWL championship!! - what an amazing experience!!! 

 

 

I have played with the Beavers in Vegas 7s and in Tobago 7s, and the Stars at Vegas 7s this year; I've also played in the Kinsale 7s tournament in Ireland with the Vixens. 

 

I love rugby, everything about it - the contact, the camaraderie it creates, the community, the celebrations. I love dedication of the players and the fans, the way people come from all over the world to cheer on their teams. I'm so grateful for the opportunities I've had to play with, play for and play against some incredible players and coaches. I had an awesome time in Vegas with the Stars!!

 

  Beavers as Breakers LVI 2013