Army dominated against Air Force to secure gold for the Armed Services Women’s Rugby Championship here July 13 with a score of 27-5. 

During the only Armed Forces women’s competition where all five service branches have their own teams, they met in 10 matches that lasted 14 minutes each over two days. 

Air Force took silver, with Navy, Marine Corps and Coast Guard finishing third, fourth, and fifth respectively.  

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. 

Army Sgt. Joanne Fa’avesi, Ft. Carson, Colorado, Army Reserve 1st Lt. Cienna Jordan, Marine Cpl. Anastasia Schraff, Marine Corps Air Station Miramar, California, Air Force Capt. Adrienne Yoder, Ramstein Air Base, Germany, Coast Guard Lt. Hollis Connick, Sector Delaware Bay, Pa., Navy Ensign Megan Neyen, NB Pearl Harbor, Hawaii and Navy Petty Officer 3rd Class Alex Sutton, Naval Air Station Jacksonville, Florida, were named part of the 2024 Armed Forces all-tournament team. 

All the teams took a moment “for those who can’t,” female rugby players who couldn’t play because of mental or physical injuries, deployments and for the fallen. 

Army

Army Reserve Capt. Kaitlyn Kelly, an ROTC professor at Loyola University, Chicago, has coached the Army rugby team since its inception in 2019. She said she’s extremely proud of them for winning gold.

“We had three main words we went into this camp and tournament with. It was unity, accountability, and relentless pursuit,” she said. “Every 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.”

Army won gold for three years and took silver last year. Kelly said the team’s focus was on respect for the other players and for the game. 

“We always want to be confident, but with that confidence, we never want to settle,” she said. “I told the girls, ‘I’m proud, but I’m not satisfied. And we shouldn’t be satisfied until the very end of the tournament.’”

She said she’s proud of the work they put in, their unity, mental toughness, and togetherness on and off the pitch. 

“I know how hard the coaching staff has pushed them, and I know how hard they’ve worked in the off season to get to this point,” Kelly said.

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, “for those who can’t.” Each Army rugby player honored a fallen service member on their jerseys. They dedicated their gold medals to Army. 1st Lt. Hailey Hodsen. 

Kelly coached Hodsen at United States Military Academy in rugby and before Hodsen had the chance to tryout for the Armed Forces Army team, she died in a training exercise in Germany. 

“We had extra motivation this year because it was truly an honor to play for her and for those who couldn’t be here,” Kelly said. “I’m so proud of my team’s resiliency to come together and truly play for those who can.”

Air Force

Two F-22s from Marine Corps Air Station Miramar flew over Nobel Field as the games kicked off Friday. The Air Force rugby players said they couldn’t help but smile and yell, “Airpower!” as they fought for their place in the championship match. 

Air Force Capt. Adrienne Yoder is a C-130 pilot at Little Rock Air Force Base, Arkansas, and team co-captain.

“Our relentless effort, resiliency, speed and deeper bench really got us there,” she said. “Army has a target on their back next year. We get stronger every year.”

Retired Air Force Maj. Patricia “Patty” Adams, security forces instructor, has been coaching the Air Force rugby team since it began.

“We went from the lowest place when we first started to putting points on the board to now being in contention for the final and gold medal every year,” she said. “The best part about the Air Force program is that we develop a play from the ground up.”

She said active duty, Reserve and Guard players from around the world find a tournament they want to participate in and play together in social tournaments to build their skills and communication amongst each other. The Air Force has a junior varsity team called the Warthogs, which participated in a local tournament and cheered on their fellow rugby teammates during the championship.

“We all cheer for each other; we’re all superstars,” she said. “We have 15 players who all work together to achieve that common goal of scoring tries and winning games.”

The Air Force team is a combination of Air Force and U.S. Space Force Command. Playing on the rugby team gives the athletes a chance not only to network among the two Air Force service branches but among the joint services. 

“They support each other. We have connections and networking. We help each other achieve goals both personally and professionally in military careers. We show up at each other’s weddings and promotions,” she said. “Rugby players are a very tight knit community. We’re women, we’re rugby, we’re military. This is the strongest family I’ve ever seen.”

Marines

Marine Gunnery Sgt. Alan McAlister, operations chief, 2nd Battalion, 7th Marines, Marine Corps Air Ground Combat Center, Twentynine Palms, California, has coached the Marine team since 2019, when they took silver.

“It was amazing because the battle between us and Air Force was 5-0, and it came down to the last play,” he said. “The women were so excited and putting full effort into it since it was a new women’s sport. The men had been playing for 10 years. It was amazing.”

He said that though the Marines had some bumps in the road, they took away some good lessons and know what to build upon as the program moves forward.

“We learn from our mistakes,” McAlister said. “We’ll just get better and come back stronger next year. We have fight. They know how to take the ball and run as hard as they can. We run harder than any team. We have the IQ, we have the field identification, we know plays, we can make reads on the field.”

He said each year, the talent has been improving but they always need new blood. He encourages any Marines who play any sports to consider coming out for rugby.

“We’re not going to turn anyone away from camp. New players have no bad habits,” he said. “They do exactly what they’re told, and it fits so well into the game plan because they don’t know anything else other than what we just told them. Submit the application.”

McAlister said he’s proud of his team.

“They just don’t quit,” he said. “The fight in these women is unreal. They come focused; they come hungry. Leaders step up on this team.”

He said competitions like the Armed Forces Women’s Rugby Championship are vital.

“You build competition here,” he said. “You put yourself up against your brothers and sisters and other armed services and show what you have on so many different levels. It builds camaraderie. It builds aggression. It's physically fit, and for the Marine Corps, this is maneuver warfare. Rugby is nothing more than retaining a ball and trying to identify a gap in the enemy's defense.”

He said he’s also had numerous Marines re-enlist and encourage their friends to enlist in the Marines or in other services because of sports like rugby. 

“They get to do something they love, get treated like a professional athlete, make friends with athletes from different services, travel to different parts of the world and get that mental refresh,” he said.

Navy

Navy coach Talia Carasquillo, a fitness specialist out of Naval Base Point Loma, has coached Navy since 2019. 

“It’s been about growth since the beginning,” she said. “Last year was the first year we had forward momentum because we actually had more than 10 players. It was a great year for growth. It was a competitive camp. Everyone really showed up.”

She said she was proud of her Navy team this weekend. 

“Everybody understood the common goal and lifted each other up toward that goal, whether they played or not,” she said. “Each game was tight. We kept a level head in chaos and kept continuity., finding our rhythm. We had great attitudes around this weekend and during the training camp.”

Navy Lt. Tia Blythe, a physical therapist stationed at Marine Corps Base Camp Pendleton, is co-captain of the team. She said the Navy finished better than they have in the past. 

“It’s the best we’ve done,” she said. “I’m very proud of my team. The difference between our scrimmage last weekend with the local teams and the way the teams played this weekend is incredible. There was big improvement, considering we only play together once a year.”

Blythe played on the USA 7’s team for two years and earned a silver medal in Dubai. She said representing Team USA then and now with the Navy team is exciting. She encourages any Sailors who play sports to try out for Armed Forces teams. 

“We had a girl who’s only been playing rugby for five weeks, and she did amazing,” Blythe said. “She ended up starting in each game this weekend. Even if you don’t have a lot of experience, we have a great coaching staff and a good program. You can learn so much in this short camp and then come back next year even stronger. It doesn’t matter what sport you may have played in high school or college.”

She said winning is great, but all the rugby athletes, regardless of service branch, pride themselves on team culture. 

“We bring each other up. There’s no negativity between players,” she said. “We make new friends, learn something new and are always excited to come back each year.”

Coast Guard

Coast Guard coach Donnie Harbert brings 23 years of rugby coaching experience at the premiership and national level. He served as an Army medic with the 4th Infantry Division, Fort Carson, Colorado. 

Being a veteran, Harbert said he understands the importance of the military mission and giving the active, guard and reserve military athletes a positive experience.

“They put their lives on the line to help protect us. As a coach and veteran, I take that very seriously and want to give them the most positive experience possible so they can take away mental toughness and self-discipline, take ownership over their progress and skills,” he said.

 The athletes are a mix of enlisted and officer out on the pitch, mentoring each other, teaching each other leadership skills and resiliency, the coach said. 

He said it’s easy to focus on physical strength but at every camp, he also teaches them mental toughness and mental resilience, pillars they can use in their military careers and day-to-day life. 

“You’re not going to get all the calls. You’re not going to get all the bounces. How do you react to that?” he said. “How are you going to move forward from that? How are you going to learn from it?”

The Coast Guard rugby team is 15 members with no substitutes. 

“Learning these resiliency and critical thinking skills will make them stronger Coast Guardsmen so that when they have a real-world situation, they’ll be fully capable,” he said.

Visit armedforcessports.defense.gov for information about the Department of Defense's Armed Forces Sports Program.