• Tropical 7s by Emma Smouse

I am so grateful for the experience I had to be able to go to Tropical Sevens and play with MacDowell Rugby! The MacDowell teams and staff were so great! They made me feel welcome and included. My coaches, Alejandro Chavez and Zoe Tuyu, were amazing; they gave me insightful feedback and helpful advice. We practiced skills that we could easily apply to the game.

Meeting so many new people who love rugby was so fun! It is amazing how much people can unite over sports! It was so fun to meet people from all over. I met people from Canada, the United States, Mexico, New Zealand, and Australia. Every person I met was so kind and understanding.

The games were so fun and high-level! Compared to the level  in New Mexico it was very fast paced, because of the fast pace I was able to learn the game quicker, and was able to move faster without questioning where to go. When I did question, my team was great at guiding each other. Our team was able to connect so well in our games, and in each game we improved significantly, because of the fast pace we were able to see how we could improve and implement it quickly. Throughout the tournament,  the teams we played had great skill and sportsmanship.

I loved that I was able to connect so quickly with girls I had never met before. I loved that because of our love for rugby, we were able to become like a family and build such great relationships over such a short amount of time. I loved that every person on our team had such different skills and that all our skills were able to mesh together. Overall, I loved the entire experience, and I am so grateful I was able to play rugby in Florida and with MacDowell Rugby.