Waiting for game day

One of the most profound emotions I've felt this season has been impatience. Not with athletes or coaching staff or administration. They have all been exceptional - as usual. It's odd, since as a coach I've always felt like slowing things down was the best option since we usually want MORE time to work on strategies and tactics before the actual performance demands of a game.

No, this season has been different for many reasons. Not the least of which is because we're so darn excited to play! At times I think that it would be nice to slow things down and to savour the moments I treasure with players - a chat on the bus, the brillance of seeing a player be successful in the application of a new skill, the last pass before the try, the redshirts working their tails off so they can be on the field next year, an in-depth conversation about strategy with one of my coaching colleagues - and then I think of how far away game day is and just want to hit the fast forward button.

And, man...it's only Wednesday...7pm kickoff at Trent this Friday!

Women's Rugby 2012

Hello all,

After a whirlwind two week training camp and tour, we are ready to finalize our preparation for the 2012 OUA season. We started training earlier than ever in an effort to prepare for our exhibition tour to Alberta this year - the players are prepped and ready to go and the coaching staff is focussed on how to achieve our potential this year.

The Alberta preseason tour was facilitated with the help of the University of Lethbridge and University of Calgary. While in Alberta, we were able to run joint training with the Pronghorns and their staff and contested a scrimmage and game during our stay. We also were able to do a short sightseeing side trip to Waterton Lakes National Park for great photo opportunities! We finished up back in Calgary for our final exhibition and had a guest coach, Graeme Moffat, come to work with the team.

The team is feeling well-prepared and focussed going into our first game with Brock University. Game time has been changed to 5:30pm to facilitate officials and lighting. Please come and join us for the first game on the brillant new Nixon Field!

All the best,
Beth

Exhibition Season Opens

Hello Gaels followers!

We are 3.5 hours away from kickoff for our first exhibition game vs Concordia University. Come join us at Tindall Field to see a great, early-season match up.

Next exhibition is on Saturday, Sept 3 at 1pm vs McGill University. This will lead up to our first OUA league game of the season which will also be at Tindall Field on Sept 10th. The Queen's women will kickoff at 1pm vs Trent and the Queen's men will kickoff at 3pm vs the University of Toronto Blues.

Cheers,
Beth

Training Camp

Hello Gaels fans!

Tomorrow is the first step in the 2011 season with tryouts and fitness testing. Can't wait to see everyone!

Looking forward to updating the blog...

All the best,
Beth

On to semi-finals with Rugby-W

The women's rugby team has taken another step towards the goal of advancing to the OUA women's final. With a victory against the University of Toronto for the second weekend in a row (the regular season finale was also against U of T) the Gaels have stepped into the semi-finals for the second year in a row.

The Gaels opponents will be the Waterloo Warriors who are the second-best team in the Shiels Division this season. The Warriors have two new coaches who have plenty of experience and will be prepared for a full 80 minutes of play next weekend.

For our side, our athletes are well-rested and ready to play, even after a long OUA season. We had an excellent mental/physical recovery session today in the classroom and on field and, with the work we'll do this week, we'll be counting down the hours until we kickoff next weekend.

Gametime is 12noon on Kingston Field and our men's team will be taking on Brock at 2pm. We'd love support from our Kingston fan base and anyone else who can make the trip!

All the best,

Beth

Game #3

So, we're away from the home pitch of Kingston Field this weekend to play McMaster at their own Homecoming. We've backed up the normal kickoff time to 12noon instead of 1pm to accomodate three games on the Mac field today, and we're up and ready to go.

Much has been made of our last two meetings with Mac in the 2009 season. We are ready to go and using many of our best attributes to goal set and to motivate ourselves for today.

Best of luck to the football Gaels in their match-up against Ottawa and a big shout out to the Queen's alumni who have made the trip to Kingston this weekend, including the PHE '00 alumni and other pseudo-physed types!

All the best,

Beth

Team Building

Hello Gaels fans,

Yesterday was the next step in our team's journey with a victory over the York Lions.

Yesterday, we really came together as a team. We proved ourselves to be dangerous from all positions on the field with six different try scorers and three different athletes who were able to convert attempts at goal into points. There was diversity to our attack and the ability to create dynamic play from seemingly difficult positions...and our defensive strengths are certainly showing in our ability to put pressure on our opposition.

Next week, we play at McMaster at 12noon on the "Back 10 Field." We hope to see you there - last year, the Queen's women's lacrosse team came over during a tournament and lent their voices to the cause (thanks, ladies!) - the more Tricolour we have in the stands, the better for our Queen's Gaels!

All the Best,

Beth

Weekend's reflection

The women's rugby Gaels started the season off the way we planned through using an attacking defense to kick start our attack. This turned out to be a 24-0 win to start off the season which earns us a bonus point (for scoring four tries) plus the four points for a win.

Excellent team play from all aspects - the forwards running the team attack well, the backs having no handling errors, and the team truly being dedicated to the performance goals of the game - allowed us to perform at our best.

Next week, we have our home opener against York University which kicks off at 1pm at Kingston Field. We've been told that CBC will be filming and broadcasting parts of our team preparation and game as part of their 'Sports Day in Canada' and as a preview to the Queen's vs McGill women's basketball game at 4pm. We can't wait for exposure on a national scale on our beautiful home field - it's the most picturesque field in the OUA.

All the best,

Beth

Season Opener - Rugby-W vs Brock

Hello to all those Gaels fans out there!

We are eagerly anticipating our first game of the season in St. Catherines vs Brock University which kicks off in three short hours. The women's rugby team has been working extremely hard this week and is looking forward to playing a game with meaningful results.

The team received a boost this week after being ranked #10 in the country in the CIS Coaches Poll pre-season rankings. See the article at http://english.cis-sic.ca/top_10_releases/2010-11/20100907-top10-2.

The team has added some new talent this year. First year players who are dressing today are: Taylor White (prop), Kayla Roote (back row), Amanda Djurickovic (prop), Sonja Moroz (wing) and Natalie Poirier (centre and sister of co-captain Jocelyn Poirier). First year Gaels and four year vets from St. FX X-Women and the Alberta Pandas respectively are Ash Ward (8) and Melaina Weiss (L).

We look forward to sharing our journey with you this season!

All the Best,

Beth

Return to this page soon for select blogs from members of the coaching staff of the Queen's Gaels.