Dear Harvard-Radcliffe Alumni, Fans, and

Friends, As many of you know, this past semester was our last as a club sport. When we

return in the fall, we will officially be the 42nd varsity sport at Harvard. A lot has happened over this past semester as we

went through the final stages of our transi-tion. Though there were many bitter-sweet moments, the team is very excited

to begin our next chapter among some of the first Division I varsity women’s rugby programs in the United States.

We recently welcomed Sue Parker, the team’s new coach. We were able to meet

with her a bit at the end of the semester and we look forward to working with her more next year. We also have a new

strength and conditioning coach, Chantelle Boucher. Though we are slightly terrified of her summer fitness plan, we are sure

she will get us into great shape for the season and we are excited about the en-ergy she will bring to the program. We

are eagerly waiting to hear who else will round out the coaching and training staff. Of course all of these new additions

meant that we had to say goodbye to some very important members of the Rad-cliffe family. We will forever be grateful to

our coaches, Bryan and Mel, our strength and conditioning trainer, Beth, and of course Gianna, our athletic trainer and the

BFFL of everyone on the team. We also graduated six seniors—Sarah MacVicar, Chloe Bates, Emily Yorke, Rina Perrault,

Kellie Desrochers, Megan Verlage—and our favorite 3L, Sam Fox. All of them contributed an incredible amount to the t

team both on and off the field and they will

be sorely missed. We hope (read: expect) that they will not be strangers and we will see them cheering us on at some of our

games in the future. You all will forever be members of the Radcliffe family.

Though a lot has changed in the past few months, our Radcliffe spirit still re-mains. Our current team is determined to

never lose that spirit and to pass it on to future generations of Radcliffe ruggers. To steal a quote from Ali Haber, “Harvard is who we play for. Radcliffe is who we are.”

Rad Love,

Brandy

President’s Letter

I N S I D E

T H I S

I S S U E :

President’s

Letter

1

Captains

Note

2

Spring 2013

Recap

3

Beast of the

East Results

3

Sue Parker

Named Head

Coach

4

Meet Coach

Chantelle

Boucher

5

Female Club

Athlete of

the Year

5

Alumni on

Campus

5

Senior Send

Off

6

Senior

Thoughts

7

Harvard Radcliffe Rugby Football Club Newsletter S U M M E R 2 0 1 3 V O L U M E 4 , I S S U E 2

Stay connected!

Like us on Facebook

www.facebook.com/HRRFC

Follow us on

Twitter: @RadcliffeRugby

Shoot us an Email:

radclifferugby@gmail.com

Check out our

website

hrrfc.wordpress.com/

Join the Alumni

Email List

Email

lenicamorales@gmail.com

Donate!

Visit our support page

hrrfc.wordpress.com/

support/

Thank you to everyone who

participated in the Harvard-

Radcliffe Foundation for

Women's Athletics phone-a-

thon!

P A G E 2

Captains Alexandra

posing after winning

the Beast of the East

Championship.

Captains Note Happy summer to all Rad rug-

gers past and present! The

current team has dispersed for

the summer, but we’re all

working hard on fitness and

skills and getting ready for our

inaugural varsity season. The

expectations are high as we

acclimate to a new coaching

staff, but morale on the team is

higher than ever. We know

everyone’s watching our pro-

gram, and we can’t wait to

represent Radcliffe (and Har-

vard) on the national stage.

Our spring 2013 season was a

unique one, starting off with

league playoffs in March in-

stead of the fall. With only

one warm-up game in the sta-

dium bubble beforehand, we

were outmatched and lost a

couple of hard games to

Princeton and Dartmouth.

Since only the top team from

Ivies qualified for nationals, the

rest of our spring season was

focused on development and

gearing up for Beast of the

East.

Our first step was recruiting a

new class of rookies who

gained both nicknames and

Radcliffe badassery very

quickly. Leading up to Beast,

we had two more games to gel

the team and work on rucking,

d e f e n se , a n d b a l lh a n -

dling. First, we played against

the Providence women’s club

team. This game was more for

practice than for pride, and we

rotated through the entire

bench, giving a lot of rookies

their first taste of a rugby

game. It was a close game that

showed much more of our

potential than playoffs did and

set the positive tone for the

rest of our season.

We then had a Friday night

game against BC, which we

dominated despite horrendous

weather conditions. Our

rookies had quite a showing,

and the game was another

strong stepping-stone to the

Beast of the East.

That next weekend was the

tournament, and our goal since

Ivies had been to take home

the Beast trophy. We faced

off against UConn Saturday

morning, taking them down

easily 24-0 and then shutting

out BC as well that afternoon,

42-0. Sunday morning we beat

Yale 35-0 in a rough semifinal

game and moved on to play

BU in the finals. The last game

was the hardest, with several

tries held up and lots of ques-

tionable penalties, as BU held a

5-0 lead for most of the sec-

ond half. Radcliffe fought hard

and rallied, though, winning 7-5

and taking home the trophy, a

giant rugby ball, and some

awesome trucker hats.

We finished up the season

with one last game at home - a

rematch against BU only a

week later. Unprecedented fan

attendance helped push us to a

much more resounding vic-

tory, but it was bittersweet to

know it would be our last

game in those Radcliffe jer-

seys. We also said some really

tough goodbyes to our won-

derful coaches, Bryan and Mel,

and our athletic trainer Gianna,

who only joined us this year

but really became part of the

family. We cannot express

how much we appreciate all

they have all done for this

team, and we would be no-

where near where we are

today without them.

The road ahead of us is far

from easy, but we’re so ex-

cited to be embarking on it

and to take this program and

this sport to the next

level. We will officially be-

come Harvard’s 42nd varsity

team this coming fall, but we

will never lose the thirty years

of ragtag Radcliffe spirit that

built this community and fueled

our determination to get to

this groundbreaking moment.

RadLove,

Ali Haber ‘14 and Xanni

Brown ‘14 (a.k.a. Captains

Alexandra)

H A R V A R D R A D C L I F F E

R U G B Y F O O T B A L L C L U B

Recap of the Spring 2013 Season

P A G E 3 V O L U M E 4 , I S S U E 2

BROWN UNIVERSITY, Rhode Island

With the move of the Ivy League Playoffs to March, qualifying for Nationals became the primary focus for the HRRFC 2013 Spring

Season. In the first match of the weekend, HRRFC faced Princeton. After a long, hard game filled with injuries and a strong, physical

Princeton lineup, HRRFC fell to the Tigers 49-5. On day two of playoffs, HRRFC faced Dartmouth. After another hard game filled

with heart and intensity, especially demonstrated by our new class

of rookies, HRRFC fell to Dartmouth Women

with a final score of 20-12. The remainder of the season was used for player development and

recruitment.

In subsequent weekends, HRRFC played develop-mental matches against Providence Women’s

Rugby and Boston College. Following these matches, HRRFC jumped into the 2013 Beast of

the East Tournament. The team capped off the season with the first and only home game of the

spring season against Boston University.

Day 2

HRRFC vs. Yale 35-0

HRRFC vs. Boston University 7-5

Day 1

HRRFC vs. UConn 24-0

HRRFC vs. Boston College 42-0

On day two, HRRFC faced Yale Univer-

sity in the semifinals. With the 35-0

victory, HRRFC catapulted into the

Finals.

In the championship game against Bos-

ton University, HRRFC entered the

match confident and hungry for the

victory that would clench the champi-

onship title. After a tough match

against a strong BU defense and ques-

tionable calls from the referee, HRRFC

came out on top. With the final score

of 7-5, HRRFC claimed the trophy as

well as the tournament’s signature

champions trucker hats and earned the

right, once again, to be called “Beasts of

the East.”

Portsmouth, Rhode Island

April 20th &21st, proved to be a

weekend filled with rugby as the annual

Beast of the East tournament kicked off

on one of the few nice spring days that

the East coast had to offer. Per usual,

the pitches and handcrafted uprights

were set for some of the best competi-

tion in the northeast.

Competing in the DI bracket, HRRFC

faced the University of Connecticut and

Boston College on the first day of com-

petition. Both games ended in Ws for

the HRRFC squad with scores of 24-0

and 42-0, respectively.

Beast of the East 2013

Beast of the East Results

A HRRFC scrum against

BU in the final match of

the tournament.

In response to the Boston Marathon tragedy and the campus

wide lockdowns, teams from the Boston area, including HRRFC,

took the time to pose for a BOSTON STRONG! photo to dis-

play the solidarity amongst the rugby community.

HRRFC

preparing

for the

match in a

pre-game

huddle.

P A G E 4

"I am thrilled to be

joining the athletic

department as the

head coach of

women's rugby, and

am very much

looking forward to

working with such

an exceptional

team of women."

Sue Parker Named Harvard’s First Varsity

Women’s Rugby Head Coach

CAMBRIDGE, Mass. -- The

Harvard athletic department has

announced the hiring of Sue

Parker as the first head coach for

women's rugby, as the program

will begin play in the 2013-14

academic year.

Women's rugby will be the

21st varsity sport for women and

42nd varsity sport overall at Har-

vard making the university the

nation's leader in both areas.

"We are excited to have Sue

Parker join us as our first coach of

varsity women's rugby," said Bob

Scalise, Harvard's Nichols Family

Director of Athletics. "We believe

that she will provide excellent

leadership both for our program

and athletes. As the head coach of

the first varsity women's rugby

program in the Ivy League, she will

also be a leader in the rugby com-

munity as a whole, a role I am sure

she will fulfill with equal ability and

enthusiasm."

"I share Harvard's philosophy that

rugby presents a unique educa-

tional opportunity to its student-

athletes," Parker said. "I am

thrilled to be joining the athletic

department as the head coach of

women's rugby, and am very much

looking forward to working with

such an exceptional team of

women."

Parker, who brings a host of na-

tional team and international com-

petition experience to Cambridge,

served as head coach for women's

rugby at Navy from 2002-08 and

2011-13, establishing a perennial

national championship contender

in Annapolis, Md. Parker cultivated

a positive team culture in the club

environment, while sustaining

excellence on and off the field. She

developed players in all facets of

the game and oversaw the

strength and conditioning program

for the team at Navy. In addition,

several members of the Midship-

men earned spots on various

national teams. Parker also

worked to form an alumni net-

work and led all fundraising ef-

forts.

Parker was the head coach of the

Washington, D.C. Furies Women's

Rugby Football Club during the

summers of 2010-12, establishing

the team as one of the best in the

country on a consistent basis.

In 2009, Parker was tabbed head

coach of the USA Women's 7s

Rugby National Team, and she

managed all aspects of the squad

and program. She led the team at

the Dubai International Tourna-

ment, and created a city-based

league to serve as the beginning of

a high-level infrastructure for

developing the game in the United

States.

From 2007-08, Parker worked as

an assistant coach for the USA

Women's 7s Development Team,

and frequently acted as head coach

in international competitions,

including the North American

Caribbean Rugby Association in

the Bahamas in 2007 and the Na-

tional All-Star Championships

from 2007-08. Parker also served

as an assistant coach for the USA

Women's U-23 15s squad from

2003-07.

The Chair of the USA Rugby

Women's Collegiate Strategic

Committee, Parker helped draft

the vision statement promoting

women's rugby to NCAA varsity

status and presented the plan to

the USA Rugby Board of Direc-

tors. Parker is also a member of

the USA Rugby Women's NCAA

Committee and is a non-voting

member of the USA Rugby

Women's Collegiate Competitions

Committee.

Parker, a former member of the

USA Rugby 7s Eagle from 1997-

2000, holds several rugby coaching

education certificates including the

iRB Sevens Level I, USA Rugby

Level I and II and the Developing

Rugby Skills Course. She is also a

USA Rugby Level I Instructor.

A 1986 graduate of the University

of Maryland, Parker was a member

of the women's track & field team

for four seasons. She also attended

Virginia Law School, earning her

degree in 1990. Parker is a mem-

ber of the American Bar Associa-

tion and holds Bar memberships in

New York, Maryland and the

District of Columbia, as well as

the United States Courts of Ap-

peals for the Fourth and Federal

Circuits and the United States

District Courts for the Southern

District of New York and the

District of Colorado.

Harvard will be the first Ivy League

institution to sponsor a varsity

rugby program and continues to

lead the field with its long tradition

of supporting athletics for women.

This tradition began in the 19th

century when Radcliffe College, its

sister school, offered tennis and

basketball teams. In 1923, Radcliffe

competed in the country's first

intercollegiate swimming meet.

The women's rugby club, which

began in 1982, has won two na-

tional championships (1998, 2011)

in the club ranks.

Division I women's rugby is cur-

rently classified as a National

Collegiate Athletic Association

emerging sport. This designation is

used to encourage growth of

opportunity at the intercollegiate

level in these sports. According to

USA Rugby, growth of the sport

has increased exponentially at the

high school and intercollegiate

level and currently there are over

300 collegiate women's rugby

clubs. The sport of rugby also

returns to the Rio de Janeiro

Olympics in 2016 after being rec-

ognized in four previous Games.

To view the full GoCrimson arti-

cle, view: http://

www.gocrimson.com/sports/

wrugby/2012-13/

releases/20130508_Sue_Parker

H A R V A R D R A D C L I F F E R U G B Y

Meet Chantelle Boucher: Strength and Conditioning Coach

P A G E 5 V O L U M E 4 , I S S U E 2

Hello Radcliffe Alums!

My name is Chantelle Boucher and

I will be the Radcliffe Rugby’s

Strength & Conditioning Coach. I

am very excited to work with Har-

vard’s newest varsity sport. I am

eager to help build a physically fit

and mentally tough team that is

ready to compete on a National

level. A brief background about

myself: I have had the opportunity

to live all across the US as well as

in the Gold Coast of Australia, but

ultimately I call Maine home. I at-

tended The University of Maine

where I earned a degree in Kinesi-

ology/Exercise Science. This up-

coming fall will be the start of my

third year at Harvard University

working with the Strength & Condi-

tioning department in the Palmer

Dixon Strength Training Facil-

ity. Palmer Dixon is a 24,000

square foot training space equipped

with 24 power racks and lifting

platforms. We have approximately

40 usable yards of track that is 12

lanes wide, that will soon to be

converted into indoor turf. We

believe in full team lifts while using

free weights to train our athletes to

their highest potential. As some of

you may know, Harvard has the

largest athletic department in the

nation with Women’s Rugby mak-

ing our 42nd varsity sport. Along-

side Rugby, I also design and imple-

ment training programs for the

Field Hockey, Sailing, Diving, Alpine

& Nordic Ski teams as well assisting

with Football. Each program is

designed to increase the athlete’s

on-field performance and decrease

their risk of injury. I am thrilled to

have the opportunity to become a

part of the Radcliffe family and to

take the program to a new level.

GO CRIMSON!

Coach Chantelle Boucher

let others tell them the life they

should be leading.

Ms. O’Brien has been named a

Harvard Distinguished Visiting

Fellow for the Graduate School

of Education during the year of

2013. Ms. O’Brien will be work-

ing with Harvard Ed School to

make education more accessi-

The Class of 2013 welcomed

one of our very own, Soledad O’ Brien, as they sat and lis-tened to her inspirational speech during Class Day exer-

cises. Ms. O’ Brien, whose par-ticipation on the team was in-cluded in her introduction, en-

couraged recent graduates to think for themselves and not listen to the advice of others or

ble to everyone,

despite economic

background or

race. We welcome

her back to campus

and hope to see her

at some of our

games.

Following HRRFC tradition, our

very own Megan Verlage won the

title of Female Club Athlete of the

Year 2013. Megan “Taco’ Verlage

won this honor in recognition of

her four year commitment to

HRRFC, her starting presence on

the field, her grand showing during

the 2011 DII National Champion-

ship, and her off the field leadership

and mentorship to younger mem-

bers of the team. Finally, as a lasting

testament to her commitment and

badassery, Megan accepted the award

with one arm in a sling, demonstrating

once again her willingness to give her

left arm, literally, to her team and

family. Congratulations, Megan!

Megan Verlage wins Female Club Athlete of the Year 2013

Alumni on Campus: Soledad O’Brien

Soledad O’ Brien giving her

Class Day Speech.

(Photo Credit: Harvard Magazine)

Megan Verlage

accepts her 2013

Female Club Ath-

lete of the Year

Award.

(Photo Credit: Go

Crimson)

Senior Send Off

Congratulations

Class of 2013!

From Left to Right: Sam Fox, Emily Yorke, Megan

Verlage, Kellie Desrochers, Chloe Bates, Rina Per-

rault and Sarah MacVicar

Congratulations to our graduates: Emily Yorke,

Megan Verlage, Kellie Desrochers, Chloe Bates, Rina

Perrault, Sarah MacVicar and Sam Fox. We thank you

for your contributions to HRRFC and look forward to

seeing you succeed in the life beyond Radcliffe

(which apparently exists). Again, thank you for your

leadership and instilling the Radcliffe way for future

generations of Radcliffe ruggers.

HRRFC Ruggers line up to sing

the Radcliffe Hymn to the gradu-

ating seniors during the Senior

BBQ.

Keeping with HRRFC’s long

standing tradition, a Senior BBQ was thrown in honor and recog-nition of the graduating class of

2013. The afternoon was filled with four years worth of memo-ries, commemorative gifts, and, as

always, the Radcliffe spirit. How-ever, this Senior BBQ proved to be even more heartfelt as our

team also said goodbye and thank you to our coaches Bryan Hamlin and Mel Denham as well as our trainer Gianna Sarra. As we move

for ward, remembering the precedent that the seniors and coaching staff have set for us,

HRRFC hopes to continue many

of these traditions and honor the hard work, dedication, and love that many ruggers have put

into this program.

when the team has rallied to support

someone going through a rough

patch in school or in life. It is no ex-

aggeration for me to say that Rad-

cliffe is one of the reasons I made it

through Harvard, and I am grateful

every day that I found my way to this

team.

The culture on this team is unlike

any other I have before encountered.

We may not be perfectly cohesive all

the time, but there is a fundamental

understanding that being a part of

Radcliffe means being ready to go to

bat for any teammate at any time.

This is what sets us apart. This is

why when we call each other family,

we mean it. Sure we may have our

family squabbles from time to time,

but at the end of the day, this is the

only community I have found at Har-

vard, and perhaps even more broadly

than that, that truly understands the

meaning of unconditional love.

Radcliffe is the kind of team they

make sappy sports movies about.

We are the underdogs, the scrappy

team with the most heart, and the

team that perseveres to win Na-

tional Championships we were not

even considered contenders for.

Never forget our roots, but do go

forward and realize the dreams the

senior class has for this team. You

are an extraordinary group of

women, and I count myself lucky to

have each and every one of you in

my life.

I am so grateful to be taking this

scary next step into the world know-

ing that while we may no longer be

geographically close, I am in the

company of such a phenomenal class

of young women.

Dear Radcliffe,

Several weeks ago, I began the

process of reflecting on my most

formative college experiences. Part

of this process has been trying to

express the role Radcliffe has

played in these four years, and what

follows are my thoughts on what

this team has meant to me. It may

not be well-written or even coher-

ent, but it is 100% genuine and I

wanted to share it with all of you.

I’ve spoken to a lot of you about

my attempts to articulate what this

team means to me and how far I

could be willing to go for each of

my teammates. The inspiration of

certain recent events led me to the

realization that one of the bench-

marks I would use would be the

fact that I (as I think would many

others) would without hesitation

give any one of you a kidney. But

this measure still hasn’t been satisfy-

ing, and so this letter will be a com-

pilation of my continued attempts

to describe what has made Radcliffe

such an integral part of my life here.

When I came to the team freshman

year, I had no idea that it was about

to become the all-consuming force

that it has.

I’m not sure when exactly it hap-

pened, but at some point during

freshman year, I began to under-

stand why the Radcliffe bond was so

strong. Some of it is intangible, but I

have also watched the Radcliffe

spirit manifest itself in very con-

crete ways as the team has fought

back from a losing score when a

teammate goes down, when ruggers

have stood concussion watch for

each other late into the night, or

Thank you, Radcliffe, for four

incredible years on and off the

pitch. Memories of early morning

practices on the goose poop field,

freeganed dinners, Roast, long

van rides all over the Northeast,

a National Championship, hypo-

thermic games, even more hypo-

thermic post-game ice baths, Pri-

mal Screaming, email threads

about dog breeds and favourite

things, snugby, Beast hats, Gator

Ball, finding out about going var-

sity, and of looking up in the pre-

game huddle to see the intensity

in the faces of those I care about

as we prepare to pummel our

opponents will not soon fade.

I love you all, and I trust you to

carry on the traditions and values

that make this team so special

while forging Radcliffe’s next

chapter in your own way. Good

luck, have fun, and ruck on.

RL,

Sarah

Senior Thoughts by Sarah MacVicar

Sarah Mac Vicar

Treasurer and President Emeritus