Game on: A day in the life of a female rugby player

Sarah Rababy / contributing photographer Rugby is a rough sport - especially for a girl who is slight in stature. However, sophomore Julia Swavola makes up for what she lacks in size with speed and agility on the field.

Sophomore Julia Swavola is 5 feet 2 inches tall and 115 pounds, but she’s as tough as girls three times her size. She’s a rugby player.

Swavola has been playing rugby for a little over a month. The games are divided into A side and B side, in which the A side game counts for standing. Almost every game has an A side game first and a B side game second. "I usually play all of A side and most of B side," Swavola said.

Swavola wakes at 6 a.m. Tuesdays so she can be at UREC for SAQ’s. "Speed, agility and quickness," Swavola explains, "which are pretty much just sprints."

Afterwards Swavola gets either a half-hour nap or a shower and classes begin at 9:30 a.m. and go until 1:45 a.m. "Then Easy Mac and more class from 3 to 4 p.m." On Tuesday nights, rugby meetings are held from 9 to 10 p.m. Members of the competitive student-run organization spend between 11 and 14 hours dedicated to rugby-related activities each week, including practice, meetings and games.

Swavola is a double major in integrated science and technology and pre-med and finds it very difficult to balance both schoolwork and rugby.

"It’s especially hard on Tuesdays because I have to go a really long time without a break and I never sleep for more than three hours Tuesday nights," Swavola said. "And I have a lot of work due on Wednesdays — I’m usually up studying until between 4 and 4:30 in the morning."

Even with lack of sleep, Swavola loves the game. She played soccer for years and always wanted to play tackle football. "I also really love being on a sports team where the team camaraderie is so strong," Swavola said. "It’s a sport where you have to be really tight with your teammates."

Before Swavola’s first game, she looked at how massive the other girls were she was supposed to tackle. Even as one of the smallest girls in the club, Swavola tackled a girl three times her weight, she said.

Swavola has the bruises, cuts, wounds, gashes and scrapes to prove her devotion to the sometimes-dangerous sport. "I’m pretty much bruised and battered all the time," Swavola said. "I don’t even notice the smaller ones anymore."

However, she has not had any serious injuries. "I’ve never had any really fun ones, but during my first game, two people left in ambulances and three or four people ended up in the ER," she said. "But I wasn’t in any of those."

Although rugby takes up a lot of Swavola’s time, she plans to keep playing, because the sport is something she is dedicated to and really enjoys.