{"id":227261,"date":"2024-07-16T00:00:00","date_gmt":"2024-07-16T00:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/adn.monetizemail.com\/?p=227261"},"modified":"2024-07-17T19:18:49","modified_gmt":"2024-07-17T19:18:49","slug":"army-beats-air-force-to-win-gold-during-armed-forces-womens-rugby-championship","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/adn.monetizemail.com\/?p=227261","title":{"rendered":"Army beats Air Force to win gold during Armed Forces Women\u2019s Rugby Championship"},"content":{"rendered":"
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\n Army 1st Lt. Cienna Jordan, right, and Air Force Capt. Katie Mueller battle for a ball during the 2024-Armed Forces Women\u2019s Rugby Championships held in conjunction with the San Diego Surfers Women\u2019s Rugby Club 7\u2019s Tournament in San Diego, Calif. from July 12, 2024. (DoD photo by EJ Hersom)
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SAN DIEGO \u2013 Army dominated against Air Force to secure gold for the Armed Forces Women\u2019s Rugby Championship at Nobel Field here July 13 with a score of 27-5.<\/p>\n

During the only Armed Forces women\u2019s competition where all five service branches have their own teams, they met in 10 matches that lasted 14 minutes each over two days.<\/p>\n

Friday, match 1, Air Force won over Coast Guard, 29-5; match 2, Army took Marine Corps 20-12; match 3, Navy won over Coast Guard, 17-12; Army beat Air Force, 29-7 and Navy beat Marine Corps, 19-0. For the day 2 match up, Air Force beat Navy 22-14 in match 6; Army beat Coast Guard 33-5; Air Force beat Marine Corps 26-15; Army won over Navy 20-14 and Marines beat Coast Guard 14-12.<\/p>\n

Army Sgt. Joanne Fa\u2019avesi, Ft. Carson, Colorado and Army Reserve 1st Lt. Cienna Jordan\u00a0 earned spots on the 2024 Armed Forces all-tournament team.<\/p>\n

They will compete together on the American team for the CISM, or International Military Sports Council,\u202fagainst NATO rugby teams from Ireland, the United Kingdom and the Netherlands.<\/p>\n

Winning gold<\/strong><\/p>\n

Army Reservist Capt. Kaitlyn Kelly, an ROTC professor at Loyola University, Chicago, has coached the Army rugby team since its inception in 2019. She said she\u2019s extremely proud of them for winning gold.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe had three main words we went into this camp and tournament with. It was unity, accountability, and relentless pursuit,\u201d she said. \u201cEvery girl had their own brick where they wrote their own personal why and what they were bringing to the team. Before every training and before every game, we took the brick out. We, figuratively and physically, brick by brick, built our foundation for how we were going to play.\u201d<\/p>\n

Army took silver last year and won gold for three years prior. Kelly said the team\u2019s focus was on respect for the other players and for the game.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe always want to be confident, but with that confidence, we never want to settle,\u201d she said. \u201cI told the girls, \u2018I\u2019m proud, but I\u2019m not satisfied. And we shouldn\u2019t be satisfied until the very end of the tournament.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n

She said she\u2019s proud of the work they put in, their unity, mental toughness, and togetherness on and off the pitch.<\/p>\n

\u201cI know how hard the coaching staff has pushed them, and I know how hard they\u2019ve worked in the off season to get to this point,\u201d Kelly said.<\/p>\n

Kelly said rugby is chaotic and elegant violence, and the strength of the Army team is composure in that chaos and being Army Strong. The motto for the Army team is, \u201cfor those who can\u2019t.\u201d Each Army rugby player honored a fallen service member on their jerseys. They dedicated their gold medals to Army. 1st Lt. Hailey Hodsen.<\/p>\n

All the teams took a moment \u201cfor those who can\u2019t,\u201d female rugby players who couldn\u2019t play because of mental or physical injuries, deployments and for the fallen.<\/p>\n

Kelly coached Hodsen at the United States Military Academy in rugby. Before she had the chance to try out for the Armed Forces Army team, Hodsen died in a training exercise in Germany.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe had extra motivation this year because it was truly an honor to play for her and for those who couldn\u2019t be here,\u201d Kelly said. \u201cI\u2019m so proud of my team\u2019s resiliency to come together and truly play for those who can.\u201d<\/p>\n

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\n Wearing a pink ribbon in her hair, Navy Ensign Megan Neyen leads a huddle of rugby players from all services in a cheer \u2018For Those Who Can\u2019t\u2019 at the conclusion of the 2024 Armed Forces Women\u2019s Rugby Championships in San Diego, Calif. July 13, 2024. Team Army wore the motto \u201cFor Those Who Can\u2019t\u2019 on their uniforms to honor injured or deceased female service members. (DoD photo by EJ Hersom)
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Importance of rugby<\/strong><\/p>\n

Army 1st Lt. Rachel Henley, chemical officer and team captain, said her team focused on recovery and fitness.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe hit recovery really hard,\u201d said Henley, who\u2019s stationed at Fort Stewart-Hunter Army Airfield, Savannah, Georgia. \u201cWe focused on making sure we\u2019re all hydrated, recovered mentally, being good teammates, being loyal, understanding all our plays, making sure we were ready field-wise. The biggest start is recovery and the fitness you do prior to coming to camp. You had to prepare individually because we only have this opportunity once a year for two weeks.\u201d<\/p>\n

She said coming back with the gold medal around her neck will inspire her platoon.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt will inspire them to continue to love and embrace other hobbies in their life,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n

Henley said preparing for rugby both physically and mentally early morning and late nights translates to being a better platoon leader for her Soldiers.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019ve learned how to be a better teammate and a better leader,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n

RELATED LINKS:<\/strong><\/p>\n

Armed Forces Sports<\/a><\/p>\n

Army News Service<\/a><\/p>\n

AREWS archives<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Army 1st Lt. Cienna Jordan, right, and Air Force Capt. Katie Mueller battle for a ball during the 2024-Armed Forces Women\u2019s Rugby Championships held in conjunction with the San Diego Surfers Women\u2019s Rugby Club 7\u2019s Tournament in San Diego, Calif. from July 12, 2024. (DoD photo by EJ Hersom) (Photo Credit: EJ Hersom) VIEW ORIGINAL […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":227263,"comment_status":"close","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-227261","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/adn.monetizemail.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/227261","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/adn.monetizemail.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/adn.monetizemail.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/adn.monetizemail.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/adn.monetizemail.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=227261"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/adn.monetizemail.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/227261\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":227266,"href":"https:\/\/adn.monetizemail.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/227261\/revisions\/227266"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/adn.monetizemail.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/227263"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/adn.monetizemail.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=227261"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/adn.monetizemail.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=227261"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/adn.monetizemail.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=227261"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}