2003
 

rugby player Rugby: not for the faint of heart

Rugby is the largest fraternity in the world,” says Peter Carmine, former New Zealander and rugby coach at Reed since 1986.

What defines rugby Reed-style? For one thing, Carmine says, recruiting for the men's and women’s squads is done entirely by students. Not only do upper-class students recruit freshmen, but men recruit for the women’s team and vice versa. Carmine says that at Reed squads seem to excel by training against one another, and eighty percent of the training is coed.

The Reed women’s squad is currently undefeated in the Pacific Northwest Rugby Football Union A Division, which includes teams from the University of Oregon, Oregon State University, Central Washington University, Washington State University, and Western Washington University. The men’s squad is a strong competitor in the B Division.

Rugby, they say, is “a sport of ruffians played by ladies, rather than a sport of ladies played by ruffians.” Perhaps what is most attractive to Reedies about rugby is that while it is a fiercely competitive game on the field, it somehow does not incite animosity off the field.

Carmine says that as part of the Reed fraternity, rugby players can go anywhere and be part of the sport. As it is, Reedies are coaching all over the world—a remarkable detail when you consider that ninety percent never played the sport before coming to Reed. End of Article

Photos by Daniel Gidycz ’06.



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