South West Illinois News

The Olympic games almost always feature some firsts, usually in the form of event records being set.

This year, however, there's a bit of a different first.

Women's rugby will be part of the Summer Games for the first time in Olympic history, and the United States has put together the first U.S. women's rugby team.

Meridian High School and Eastern Illinois University (EIU) grad Lauren Doyle was selected as one of the squad's 12 members.

It's an exciting time for both the sport of rugby and for Doyle, and she plans to take advantage of the opportunity to perform and to showcase the sport she loves on the world stage.

"It’s an amazing feeling to be a part of the first U.S. women’s Olympic rugby team," Doyle recently told Southwest Illinois News. "It is really hard to grasp the concept of how powerful that position is. We, the team, are really pioneering rugby in the United States, and I hope we inspire a whole generation of kids to go out and try rugby. I'm most looking forward to our first game when we step onto the field and see the crowd that has come to watch the amazing sport of rugby. It’s the first time women’s rugby will be in the Olympics, so it should be a pivotal moment in the sport's history."

It's been an interesting journey for Doyle, who didn't play the sport until college. She instead played volleyball, basketball and soccer, in addition to running track. But she was such a stellar all-around athlete that she was recruited by EIU for the rugby field.

"I got a rugby packet from (EIU head coach) Frank Graziano my junior year of high school and decided right there that I was going to play rugby in college," she said. "I needed to take a break from track, but I still wanted to play a sport and rugby is what landed in my lap."

With rugby still mostly a niche sport in America, the vast majority of Team USA were also similar in that they didn't start playing the sport until after high school, which may put the team at a slight disadvantage as they compete against worldwide players that have been ingrained with rugby most of their lives. 

Yet they have been able to find an angle for victory, utilizing their speed, athleticism and pure, old-fashioned conditioning to overwhelm opponents. This strategy has resulted in recent wins against Russia, Spain, Japan and an elite New Zealand team.

They also have been able to do some scouting. The rugby games will be played from Aug. 6-8 in Rio De Janerio, Brazil, but Team USA has known their draw for a few months now, which has allowed them to be fully prepared. They'll be in Pool A with Australia, Fiji and Columbia. They've already beaten Fiji three times earlier this season, while losing to the Australians twice.

"We have known our pool for the Olympics for a few months, so we have been watching a ton of game film and really learning our competition," Doyle said. "Honing in on specific skills and really focusing on a game plan has been part of our main preparation for the Olympic games."

In addition to competing, Doyle is looking forward to the entire Olympics experience. After the rugby games are finished, she plans to hang around and catch some of the other events. After that, however, it'll be right back into training and competing. After a short break back home in Illinois, of course.

"After our games, I will be staying in Rio until Aug. 16, and then I will go back home to Illinois for a few weeks," she said. "I will start back up playing rugby in October preparing for our World Series tournaments and ultimately preparing for the World Cup in 2018."