Framed by crumbling, abandoned school buildings and Connecticut back roads, a long way down Long Lane, Wes rugby players practice in what seems like the middle of nowhere. Without a coach, without money, and without an on-campus field, they drive themselves to practice, to games, and to the height of their ability.
No one can deny the role that heart and personal motivation plays in sports. Coaches can drive athletes to get better only to a certain extent, and from then on it’s all up to them. For Wes Rugby, it’s literally all up to them. Without a coach and with little support from the athletic department, it has risen to become Wesleyan’s only Division I team. It has done so on the backs of team leaders that act as player-coaches, and this year they are led by the experience and heart of senior captain Molly Dengler.
Dengler has played rugby at a high level for over eight years, competing on some of the country’s best women’s rugby teams. Playing for so long at such a high level has given her the experience and knowledge necessary to take on the responsibilities of a Division I coach.
“She is by far the most experienced player on the team, because she has a background that no one else has,” said teammate Rae Kaplan ’07
Dengler got into rugby at Minneapolis South High School as a freshman and was captain by her senior year. At only 18 years of age she was playing for a statewide all-star team. Instead of going straight to college after graduation, Dengler took a year off to play top-level rugby in Chicago for a Division I women’s team.
After two years on the Wes team, she took her entire junior year off to play rugby and travel the world. She spent the fall semester in New York playing for the second-ranked team in the country and then honed her skills competing against men in the Dominican Republic in the spring. During summers she plays for the Northeast Select Side team, a high level program that is one step away from Team USA. The Northeast All-Stars travel throughout the country all summer playing in national tournaments.
Now, as captain, Dengler has assumed what is virtually the job of a Division I program’s head coach, while leading her team on the field as well. She plans the practices, deciding what the team needs to work on and how they will execute better. Part of such a task is designing plays and going over strategies for beating upcoming opponents. Dengler creates the team’s schedule and organizes transportation to all the games. Time is an issue for any Wesleyan athlete, not to mention one who acts as a coach as well. Dengler expressed gratitude for the efforts of her teammates.
“My teammates here at Wes, in New York, and in the Dominican Republic all play with such an overwhelming amount of heart and passion for the game that it pushes me to hold up my end of the bargain,” Dengler said.
Her dad, who comes out each year to watch a match, drives her to get better, as does her girlfriend, a National Team rugby player who Dengler says, “I’m always chasing after.”
Spending four years on Wes rugby fighting for funding and respect has made Dengler fairly bitter about the team’s place relative to other Wesleyan sports. She feels that as Wesleyan’s only Division I program, Wes rugby should be treated equally, despite its official status as a club team. But according to Dengler, professional rugby in the United States as a whole is suffering from a lack of respect.
“Since high school, I have dedicated 100 percent of myself to this sport,” she said. “I was the captain of my high school team, but did colleges recruit me or offer me scholarship packages? No. When my teammates or I hurt ourselves playing the most high-contact sport on campus, do we get to see the trainer right away? No.”
Wes rugby receives funds from the Wesleyan Student Assembly that helps pay for referees and a trainer. The team buys its own practice equipment and game uniforms. The expenses start to pile up in the summer, when Dengler has to pay her own airfare to travel to tournaments around the country. Wes rugby is a year-round commitment, and she asks the athletic department to, “just give us the respect we deserve as the school’s only D-I sport.”
Although they are a Division I program, it is hard for the rugby team to compete against the big guns who have more funding and coaches. Despite this disadvantage, Wes rugby is looking toward the spring season with optimism. After a rough fall, which included a 41-0 loss to Yale, the squad made some huge changes after the fall season and will be playing teams that are closer to its level.
“We have a huge batch of standout new freshmen who will be a driving force for the team in the years to come,” Dengler said.
Dengler looks to continue playing after graduation, and her ultimate goal is to be selected to play for the under-23 Women’s National Team and go on to play for the Women’s (senior) National Team. Regardless of whether or not that happens, she sees herself living, working, and playing rugby in New York, for the women’s team that is ranked number two in the country.
For now, she is concentrating on leading her team here at Wesleyan, and on transferring the heart and personal motivation that has taken her into the elite heights of women’s rugby onto her teammates and onto the Long Lane field this spring.
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