Addison Carvajal ’16 moved up the ranks quickly in the women’s rugby world. She began playing last fall and trained with the National Women’s Rugby team for a week this month.
“I run track...but I wanted something to do in the fall, so my friend convinced me to try rugby, so I went for preseason and really liked it,” said Carvajal.
“[Carvajal] walked on to the team and clearly is very athletic, has a very athletic background,” said women’s rugby Head Coach MaryBeth Mathews.
“She’s very athletic and fast,” said Mathews. “It seemed apparent that if she picked up the game pretty quickly, she would make an impact on the team. And she did.”
After one season as open side flanker, Carvajal was named to the NESCRC All-Conference Team.
Carvajal said that the team atmosphere was “phenomenal.”
“I’ve never seen a more united team and coaches who genuinely care about making me better at the sport,” said Carvajal. “An incredible environment, a competitive environment.”
Mathews called Carvajal “an excellent athlete, wants to learn the game and be very good.”
“She’s made an immediate impact in the NESCRC conference because she’s so quick,” said Mathews. “Her mental attitude is phenomenal. She just is mentally tough, mentally and physically tough.”
After briefly attending a recruiting camp in Boston, the coach of the Women’s National Sevens team asked Carvajal if he could work with her more extensively, going so far as to offer her an all-expenses-paid week training with the U.S. Women’s Rugby Team in California.
“It was really, really hard,” said Carvajal. “I’m inexperienced and all these girls have been playing for a really long time, but it was absolutely incredible to sit in a room with these girls who were talking about winning a gold medal and that’s their goal and I just felt honored to be in that pool.”
“The [U.S. Women’s Rugby] coach’s thing was ‘I like your attitude, I like your athleticism, I can teach you how to play rugby,’” said Carvajal.
When offered to continue her role with the national team, however, Carvajal turned down the spot.
“Rugby is so new to me and I’m very excited about it, but I would have to defer from Bowdoin and move out there for two years,” Carvajal explained. “I need some time to learn to love the sport. I need to finish school.”
Carvajal said she would consider rejoining the national team after graduating from Bowdoin.
“Right now, I’m just interested in track, school, and this rugby team,” she said. “But if I get better, go to more camps, develop an instinct, develop a skill, learn to love it as much as these girls who have dedicated their lives to it, I would absolutely give him a call again.”
“I’m in a great place in my life right now with school and everything that’s going on at Bowdoin, and while this is an incredible opportunity, I don’t think I could take full advantage of it right now,” said Carvajal.