My rugby family is everything to me. I grew up playing soccer and was lucky enough to get offered a chance to play at a D3 college. I spent a year at that school fulfilling a dream that I honestly hadn't believed I had the skills to fulfill. During that year, my college went out of business and was subsequently bought by Northeastern University. I was not able to stay or play soccer, and instead took the opportunity to transfer out to the Boston campus of Northeastern University. By a stroke of luck I passed by the rugby team's table during the club fair, and I never looked back. My teammates and I have worked incredibly hard over the last couple of years to achieve on the field, winning two national championships in the last year alone, but when I gradute the thing I am going to carry forward is the family I found on the team. The people I have practiced with and trained with for the last four years have become some of my closest friends. We spend almost all of our time together off the field, studying together, taking trips together, laughing together, supporting each other's academic and extracurricular achievements, eating meals together, and pretty much anything else you can think of. I'm leaving the team with no doubt that those friends will be with me forever. This year, I helped plan and host our team's 30th anniversary weekend, drawing in about 100 alumni. Over the course of the weekend, the one thing I heard repeated over and over again was how much the community of the team meant to all its alumni. How much they cherished the friends they had made and how important that had been to their experience at Northeastern and then beyond. Reflecting on the weekend afterwards, I realized that in 20 years, when the team hits 50, that's going to be my friends and me. Traveling back to Boston from wherever we land, to spend a night together reminiscing and rejoicing in the connections we made now. I am at the end of my college rugby career, but I got more out of the experience than I ever expected to. Never have I felt so supported and welcomed on a sports team than on this one. A trend that I've come to realize is not local to my team but one that most rugby teams try to follow. And at the same time, never have I been so successful on a sports team. It is a cliche but there is very little I can say to do justice to the feeling of winning a national championship. On a personal level, seeing myself progress from season to season and helping newer athletes learn to love the sport has been incredibly rewarding as well. I don't know if I will find something like this again. I don't think it can be replicated, but I am so incredibly grateful for the group I call my team. However, I do want to do my best to foster these feelings for female athletes throughout my career. Over the last couple of years, as women's sports have skyrocketed in terms of the number of players and leagues, I've been inspired to be involved. I want to pursue a Master's in Sports Management to be able to contribute to this expanding landscape of athletic opportunities for both girls and women. I aim to deepen my knowledge of organizational and managerial structures that support athletic programs in order to effectively help advance the growth and sustainability of women’s sports.

I was twelve years old the first time I asked to watch a soccer game on TV, forcing my mom to drive an hour during our yearly camping trip to watch the semifinal game of the 2015 Women’s World Cup, Germany vs. the United States. There was an injury almost 30 minutes into the game that would become the catalyst for my women’s sports obsession. Alexandra Pop, a German player, and Morgan Brian, an American, both went up for a header and came down with their heads bleeding. Both were taken off the field, but were back within minutes. Heads bandaged, faces pale, and the only thing I could think was “those women are badass.” I was hooked. I had been playing soccer for several years at that point, but had never really shown an interest in anything to do with the sport outside of attending my own team's practices. But suddenly I was poring over the magazines in the grocery store looking for any mention of the United States Women’s National Team (USWNT), checking the team's schedule on my mom's phone, and marveling over how cool Alex Morgan was. As my passion grew and I got older, I became even more absorbed by the saga between US Soccer and the USWNT players surrounding equal pay. I read every article published surrounding Title IX and the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission, researching their laws and regulations. I was enamored by the resilience of the players and fascinated by the politics of women's sports. The creation of new women’s sports leagues, expansion teams, and the ever-growing popularity of female athletes has been so rewarding to watch, and it has inspired me to want to be involved in the continuation of women's sports. I want to work in sports to be able to contribute to this expanding landscape of athletic opportunities for both girls and women. Through further education, I aim to deepen my knowledge of organizational and managerial structures that support athletic programs, in order to effectively help advance the growth and sustainability of women’s sports. I grew up playing soccer, but during my sophomore year in college, I joined my university's rugby team, a group that has helped shape the way I think about sports and their importance. My team and I have worked incredibly hard to be successful on the field; we’ve won three national championships, and I was selected as an NCR All-Star this past winter. And those achievements will always be special to me, but more than that, I am leaving the team having made some of my closest friends, and the knowledge that there is a whole community behind me that I can always turn to. I was reminded of this community this past fall when I helped plan and execute the team's 30th anniversary weekend. Over the course of the weekend, I heard stories from all generations of players of how the team's community had made them feel welcomed and how it had supported them even as they graduated and scattered across the world. That sense of community is a standard I want to foster in my career for athletes of all levels because I believe it is a huge benefit for athletes and can be just as important as the athletic success someone can gain. I want to create a career for myself where female athletes at any level feel supported through their community, and have ample opportunities to grow and succeed.