Women’s Rugby Tackling Connections: The Power of International Interaction

http://www.brown.edu/students/Brown_Women_Rugby/ January 10, 2006

Brown Women's Rugby team announces
Spring Break initiative in Uganda

While most college rugby teams plan spring rugby trips to the verdant green fields of Ireland or the white beaches of Bermuda, the Brown women are choosing a very different path. This spring, the Brown women will pack cleats and mouthguards and head to Uganda, East Africa. This thirteen-day trip will take thirty-two Brown players, five Brown alumnae, and two coaches to Kampala, Uganda for a week of clinics and matches.

The Brown women are hoping that their thirteen-day journey will help raise the visibility of the growing women’s rugby movement in Africa and inspire all to see the value of sport in building international bridges but this is also about competition. Brown will field one strong, highly competitive side of twenty-one and one developmental side. Current players are joining with several Brown women’s rugby alumnae who have pursued rugby at the national level since graduating from Brown. The team has invited Candi Orsini, the backs coach of the U.S. national women’s team, to accompany them on the trip.

Brown will be the first non-African women’s team to play in East Africa. Thus, this tour will focus on the development of both Brown women’s rugby and international women’s rugby. Women’s rugby in East Africa raises fascinating questions about the role of women’s sports across cultural and socioeconomic divides. In addition to preparing for the physical demands of the trip, the team will host a series of discussions and lectures throughout the winter and early spring with Brown faculty on emerging sports and development in East Africa through the frameworks of ethnicity, gender, community health and economics.

This trip has been initiated by Scrum Captain and three-time MVP of the Scrum Jen Hustwitt. Hustwitt, an international relations concentrator and Royce Fellow at Brown, spent the past summer in Uganda studying youth and secondary school achievement. Another key player involved is team president Kelsey Engelbrecht, selected for the 2005 Northeast Rugby Union U23 team.

The Brown women’s rugby team has committed to raise the money necessary for every interested and committed player to go: a total of $122,620. This initiative combines practical and academic experience and emphasizes the value of international cooperation. Seeking to build an international partnership through women’s sport in this way is unprecedented. Please consider supporting the team in their endeavor.

For more information, or to make a donation, please contact Jen Hustwitt or Kalie Gold.

Jen Hustwitt
Jennifer_Hustwitt@brown.edu
401-225-8337

Please make checks payable to:
“Brown Women’s Rugby – gift”
Gift Cashier Box 1877
Brown University
Providence, R.I. 02912

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