Another Belated Player Profile: Meet Gracie

Gracie was our latest Star to join the team, hopping on it and buying a flight the Monday before Vegas and wiring money in order to play 7s with us. She was a fantastic addition that added skills and extra personality to our group; Vegas wouldn't have been the same without her!

Here's her profile in her words:

Gracie Martinez

Years Playing 15s: 4 years 7s: 3 months

College: Florida International University, Miami, FL

Hometown: Bronx, New York

I started my rugby career during the freshman year at Pennsylvania State University. I was trying out for the schools softball team when the rugby coach approached me. He asked if I wanted to play rugby and I pretty much already knew I wasn’t interested. After not making the softball team I decided to give rugby a chance. After my first practice I was in love with this sport. 

After my freshman year at PSU I transferred to Florida International University and was planning on trying out for the softball team here at FIU but I decided that rugby was where my heart belonged. Ever since I started rugby at FIU I have attended a couple of rugby skill developmental camps as well as several Serevi camps. 

I have been playing 15s for four years and 7s for about 3 months. Switching over from 15s to 7s was much harder than I thought but going to Las Vegas for the sevens invitational really helped me a lot. Being able to play with girls from all over the world and with such knowledge for 7s was beyond amazing. If I took anything away from this trip it was learning how to take criticism and adapt it to make me a better player. I am so happy that I got to meet such wonderful women and that I was able to learn from them in many way.

 I am grateful to have been coached by our coach Eyal. It isn’t easy coaching team of 25 women who all come from different parts of the world and have never played together. He stepped up to the plate from the start and coached our open side in the Plate finals. Although we lost in the final we still got 6^th place out of 24, which for a team who has never played with each other, is amazing. After seeing our elite team play it inspires me to want to be playing with them and to be on the same level as them.

 A huge thanks goes to Liz Entwhistle. She recruited all the girls from our team, as well as making sure we had everything from hotel rooms to food to transportation. I consider Liz a role model and only hope to follow her steps with my rugby career. She is very helpful and genuinely loves rugby. It is refreshing to come across someone in rugby who really cares about helping others get to the next level. I can’t wait to attended the invitational again next year, it was a great experience accompanied with great memories.