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Higgins emerges from the scrum

From staff reports
June 03, 2010

Kurtis J. Wood/sports@qvpr.com Above: Kathleen Higgins displays the medal she earned as part of the national championship Washington State University women’s rugby team.

Kathleen Higgins certainly didn’t go to Washington State University with the idea of playing on the school’s rugby club.

The idea just sort of found her.

“Last year I saw signs on campus advertising the women’s rugby team, and I thought it was interesting,” she said. “But at that time, I was on the school’s rowing team, and I was taking up 20 hours per week with that, so between rowing and school there would be no way I could do rugby.

“But at the start of this year I left the rowing team, and my new roommate played rugby. She encouraged me to come to a practice, and I ended up joining the team.”

A few months later, she ended up being a national champion.

The WSU women’s rugby team defeated Temple 37-0 last month in the NCAA Division II championships in Sanford, Fla., to cap an undefeated season.

“Everyone was so happy,” she said. “A couple of girls were seniors and would be leaving the team, so people were crying. It was good to know that we didn’t go thousands of dollars in debt (the team receives minimal financial support from the university) for nothing.”

Higgins didn’t know a lot about the sport when she first started playing it, but over time grew to learn about its intracacies and appreciate its unique nuances.

“It’s not like any other sport,” she said. “In almost every other sport, you’re opponents on and off the field, and there’s a lot of trash talk going on, but in rugby, your opponents are also your friends. After every game there’s a social gathering with the two teams, a barbecue or something. It’s a lot of fun.”

Higgins said that while the sport appears to be nothing but contact at first glance, there’s actually a lot of strategy going on.

“There’s plays that we run,” she said. “I’m a forward, and forwards are doing a lot of tackling and rocking, and they’re in the scrum. But it takes a lot of skill to throw the ball because you can’t pass forwards.”

Higgins said she hopes to play again next school year.

“I enjoyed it a lot,” she said. “It’s a great way to de-stress after a bad day.”

Higgins just completed her sophomore year at WSU. She’s planning on double-majoring in public relations and political science.

For the second consecutive summer, she will be serving as the Quincy Valley Post-Register’s summer intern. Higgins will be writing a variety of news and feature stories for the newspaper.

“This year at school I loaded up on writing classes, so I feel as if I know how to write this year and do actual ledes and nut grafs and things like that,” she said. “I learned a lot last year about the people in the community (by writing for the Post-Register). I had a lot of fun.”

Eventually Higgins would like to serve as a public relations representative for a politician or serve on a human resources campaign in Washington, D.C.

“I think it’s interesting that people can change things just by voting,” she said.

She’s also active at WSU as part of a campus club called V-Day WSU, a registered student organization that presents benefit performances of “The Vagina Monologues.” Performances raise funds for local and global organizations that are working to stop violence.