USA Women 7s Team
Tours Fiji, New Zealand, and Hong Kong
I: Fiji, February
1-9, 2003
Emil
Signes
(originally written APRIL 14, 2003; edited for the web JANUARY
12, 2014; rev. 1/18/14)
Note of January 2014: This article was
originally written - with no photos other than the team
picture with trophy - for Rugby Magazine.
For the most part I have used this article as originally
written, adding a few things from earlier drafts omitted
because of size restrictions in the magazine, and
additional 2014 comments. Interestingly, although the
article covers both on and off-the-field activities, there
were no action pictures of the games themselves. So the
photos that accompany the article will just about be all
off-the-field activities and atmosphere. Text from 2003 original in black; 2014
additions in teal.
0208c-Champions.jpg
USA Women Following Victory
over Fiji Women at Lomaiviti Sevens
Standing L to R: Jen Sinkler, Lindsay Davison, Ashley
Farmer, Lyn Wissmiller, Jo Ward, Dana Creager, Jess Hammond
Kneeling L to R: Laura McDonald, Liz Reed, Katrinka Blunt
(captain), Pam Kosanke
Men's Champions Red Rock are in background
Following an intense 3-day camp
in Fort Lauderdale on January 17-19, 15 players participated in
the Lomaiviti Sevens in Fiji, the Whangarei Sevens in New
Zealand, and the Hong Kong women’s sevens. They were
| Name |
age |
Club |
Tournaments |
| Katrinka Blunt |
26 |
Bay Area She Hawks |
all 3 |
| Dana Creager |
29 |
NOVA |
Fiji and New Zealand |
| Lindsay Davison |
27 |
Beantown |
all 3 |
| Ashley Farmer |
21 |
West Chester U |
all 3 |
| Val Griffeth |
21 |
Vassar College |
Hong Kong |
| Jess Hammond |
30 |
New Orleans |
Fiji and New Zealand |
| Pam Kosanke |
25 |
Chicago North Shore |
all 3 |
| Tasha Maninno |
26 |
Atlanta |
Hong Kong |
| Laura McDonald |
23 |
San Antonio |
Fiji and New Zealand |
| Erina Queen |
32 |
Emerald City Mudhens |
Hong Kong |
| Liz Reed |
27 |
St. Louis |
Fiji and New Zealand |
| Lisa Rowe |
31 |
Maryland Stingers |
Hong Kong |
| Jen Sinkler |
24 |
Minnesota Valkyries |
all 3 |
| Jo Ward |
24 |
Beantown |
all 3 |
| Lyn Wissmiller |
27 |
Chicago North Shore |
Fiji and New Zealand |
Chris Ryan was the tour manager,
and I the coach, for both tours; Beet McKinnon the physio in
Fiji and New Zealand and Doc Sue Bercuk in Hong Kong.
Program Director Al Caravelli assisted with the coaching chores
in Hong Kong. Accompanying the team to Fiji and New Zealand were
Chad Wamsley and my son Stephen Signes.
Leg 1: Fiji
There is nothing better for a
sevens player than a “working” trip to Fiji. We were in
the national newspapers every day we were there; recognized on
the streets of Suva and in the village where we stayed, and were
guests of Ambassador David Lyons at the US Embassy.
From the playing perspective, there was a bit of a hiccough
along the way, with a 7-0 loss to Touch Down, the Fiji touch
rugby team preparing for the South Pacific games.
Nevertheless, a final match vs. the Fiji national team, with 8
of the same 10 players resulted in a decisive 21-0 win.
Fiji, as sevens-mad as it is, however, is also much more than a
rugby experience; it is that trip to a South Pacific paradise
some of us dreamt about when reading childhood novels of
adventure.
Jeremy Duxbury & Teivovo. We have
been trying to get to Fiji for a sevens tournament for several
years, and the Fiji women have been trying – unsuccessfully
until now – to return to Hong Kong for the first time since
1997, and to qualify for the Women’s World Cup in 2006.
Through the good offices of Jeremy Duxbury, publisher of Teivovo
Magazine, not only Fiji’s rugby magazine but also the biggest
circulation magazine in Fiji, we were able to arrange for a
women’s bracket at the Lomaiviti Sevens.
Franck Boivert. Also instrumental in helping to
arrange our tour was Franck Boivert, former US women’s coach,
current Stanford coach, and a half-time resident of Fiji.
In particular, his recommendation of the Fiji Beach House on the
Coral Coast was to lead us to three days in paradise.
Jone Ratu. During all my previous rugby visits to
Fiji, our liaison was former Fijian international Jone
Ratu. Jone is also an employee of the Fijian hotel, and I
emailed there to try to track him down. Luckily he was on
leave and ended up joining us for the entire trip, adding value
in many, many ways.
Departure and Arrival. The team gathered at LAX on
Saturday afternoon February 1. Many people arrived several
hours ahead of time: it was, after all, mid-winter, and a missed
flight would have meant 3 days delay getting to Fiji, as the
next Air Pacific flight was on Tuesday. We arrived in Nadi
at 5:15 AM Monday.
01-Jen Jess Dana @ LAX-600s.jpg / 01-Steve &
Emil @ LAX-600s.jpg
Relaxing
at LAX Airport: Left, Jen, Jess, Dana; Right: my son
Stephen and I
Another contact in Fiji was Laisa Vulakora, whom Franck
describes as “the Tina Turner of Fiji.” She met us at the
airport, organized a bus for us as well as a trip to Natadola
Beach, considered by many as the most beautiful beach on Viti
Levu, Fiji’s main island. Isolated and difficult to get
to, it was a great start to the weekend (as we arrived in Nadi
at 5:15 AM, it was a nice early morning swim, especially as a
transition from mid-winter in the US). Unfortunately for
the environment, the tourist industry has discovered Natadola:
the dirt road and one lane wooden bridge over which we traveled
there are being replaced, and within 3 years there will be 3
sparkling new luxury hotels there.
(Note of 2014: not sure what
has happened to Natadola Beach in intervening 11 years.)
0203-Jen & Jess & X on
beach-DSC00096-900w.jpg
Jen
and Jess in water. Looks like a snorkeler's foot is
motoring by Jen
0203 Pam running on beach Dana w
ball-IMG_2717-900w.jpg
Dana and
Pam get into rugby mode on beach. They were also the
two tour comedians
Fiji Beach House,
Navola. Billed as a resort for backpackers, the Fiji Beach
House has very few amenities: no air conditioning, no hot water,
communal bathrooms, and yet . . . and yet it was like being in
paradise. The dense foliage and the breeze through the
room windows in the evening kept us cool, the local village of
Navola lent us their rugby field for practice and rented us a
TV-VCR. They also invited us over to share yaqona (kava)
with them, at which time we presented them with the traditional
gift of waka (the root from which yaqona is made). From
the Beach House to Navola was a 10-minute walk through a black
night with a sky filled so densely with stars that no city
dweller can even imagine.
In between our 7 AM and 3:30 PM practices, team members had
their choice of relaxing, scuba diving, and other activities.
2014: Fiji Beach House. Although
these trips are always too short, it was a pleasure to have
been able to spend these few days here. As noted, the
sleeping arrangements were satisfactory, the surroundings were
beautiful, between the beach and the shaded and indoor common
areas, we had plenty of time to "hang out," and there was time
for some organized snorkeling and other activities for those
that wished to participate between practices.
And then there were the wonderful massages.
There were signs warning us of the dangers of falling coconuts
and of the dangers of going beyond the swimming lagoon into
the whitewaters of the Pacific, but we managed to stay clear
of these dangers and were safe.
0204-1-fijibeachhousepath-450w.jpg
0204-1-warning sign1-DSCN0550-450w.jpg
Left:
Path on Fiji Beach House property / Right: Warning Sign
(beware the whitewater)
0204-3-Warning coconuts-DSCN0549-600s.jpg
0204-4-Climbing for coconuts-IMG_2792-600w.jpg
Left:
Warning about Falling Coconuts / Right: Hotel Worker
Climbs for Coconuts
0204-6-One of our rooms-IMG_2734-600s.jpg
0204-7 Jess on hammock-600w.jpg
Left:
One of our rooms at Beach House / Right: Jess relaxes at
Beach House Beach
0204-8-Katrinka on massage table-IMG_2801-600s.jpg
0204-9-Jen being massaged-IMG_2803-600s.jpg
Massages
at Beach House. Left: Katrinka / Right: Jen
0204-9a-Coaching session-IMG_2808-900w.jpg
Reminding
us all why we're there, I conduct a pre-practice
coaching session
2014: Practices at
Navola school. We practiced on the
grounds of the Navola elementary school, and therefore had to
get our practices in before and after classes. This
meant practicing at 7 AM and again at 3:30 PM. This in
turn meant getting up not much later than 6 AM. This was
actually OK because we wouldn't have wanted to practice in the
midday heat anyway; the 7 AM practices provided the perfect
weather for us. And it's not like this was a night-owl
kind of place anyway. It was about a 10-minute walk, up
a slight hill, down a slight hill, to a school whose roof was
a beautiful Atlantis aqua. We passed by the sign for the
village of Navola and a bunch of kids waiting for the school
bus.
0204-10-Walk to Navola school-1-IMG_2741-600s.jpg
0204-11-Walk to Navola School-2-IMG_2746-600s.jpg
Walk from
Beach House to Navola School Field. Left: start. Right: end
in view. We practiced in front of the Atlantis colored
roof:)
0204-12-Navola signIMG_2748-900h.jpg
0204-13-Kids at Bus Stop-IMG_2750-900w.jpg
As we walk
into Navola proper for our 7 AM practice we walk by a bunch
of kids waiting for the bus
14-B-2003-02-04c warming up at school.jpg
15-B-2003-02-04f LO practice.jpg
Left:
Warming up at Navola school field
Right: Lifting Lindsay in lineout
0204-16-Sinkler at practice-900w.jpg
0204-17-Sinkler with sunburn-IMG_2759-900h.jpg
Jen
Sinkler at 2 practices: early AM and later in PM after a
day in the sun
Blondes that don't use sunscreen: yikes!
2014: Jen
Sinkler has weighed in on the tour and on her sunburn. "Aww,
so much fun! The Fiji-New Zealand trip was my favorite tour
ever. Except... Lindsay should not be allowed to
(pretend to) work the sunscreen bottle. That burn...." She
didn't specify, however, exactly what Lindsay did or didn't
do.
We were also joined for two practices by Jese Venaisi, a
resident of the local village of Navola, who demonstrated
fabulous skills and sidesteps. She wasn’t even in the loop
for the tournament we were to play in on the weekend (but based
on our observations should have been). Jese grew up in a
family of rugby-playing brothers, one of whom now plays for the
Fiji national Rugby League team. Jese’s “being in the
wilderness” made me realize just how good Fiji women could be if
someone was out there actively looking for them.
2014: Jese was amazing! She participated
in both practices barefoot, had a fabulous sidestep, great
speed and could effortlessly make 25-30 yard passes. If
she'd been an American, I'd've had her at my next camp,
whatever it took to get her there. As noted above, she
comes from a successful rugby playing family which made it
even more surprising that, once we got to Suva, it seemed as
though no one had ever heard of her.
2014: From Katrinka. "Your comments about
Jese are spot on. The thing about Fiji is that we were
there chosen after tryouts etc. and in any number of villages
you might find some talent just as good or better than
ours! That is why as a rugby player you have to go
somewhere that lives rugby--then you understand potential and
how good you really are (or not)."
0204-19-Jese Venaisi-IMG_2771-900h.jpg
0204-20-Interested observer-IMG_2827-900w.jpg
Left: Jese
Venaisi / Right: Interested observer
0204-18 Group & guests at
practice-900w.jpg
Tour party
and guests following one of our practices
Standing, L to R: Emil Signes, Chris Ryan, Jess
Hammond, Fiji guest, Laura McDonald, Jen Sinkler, Jo Ward,
Katrinka Blunt, Liz Reed
Seated, L to R: Ashley Farmer, Dana Creager, Lindsay
Davison, Pam Kosanke, Lyn Wissmiller, Fiji guest Jese
Venaisi, Beet McKinnon
Yaqona
in Navola. We were invited, perhaps as
renters of the school field, to attend a yaqona (pron.
yanggona) ceremony in Navola. (Yaqona is the Fijian word for
what we more commonly refer to as kava.) As part of a
"sevusevu" (small offering) I brought a half kilo of waka
(root of the yaqona/kava plant) as an offering to the
village. During a visit to Fiji with the Atlantis men in
the late 90s, we had so much grog (another word they use for
the resultant drink) in the village of Rukurukulevu that all
of us slept the entire hour of our trip back to our hotel (I
met one of the villagers in Hong Kong a month later and he
commented "Man, we had a lot of grog that night!" Yes we
did). This evening's libations were much shorter, more
like a couple small bowls each.
0204-24 Preparing the grog-900h.jpg
0204-23-Fiji kids at kava evening-900w.jpg
Navola
man prepares the yaqona for the ceremony while a bunch of
Navola kids hang out with us
0204-21-Waiting for Kava-900w.jpg
Seated
and waiting. In front of me is a package of waka, the root
from which the yaqona is made, as a gift for the village
of Navola
0204-22-Lindsay drinks the grog-900w.jpg
Lindsay
has a taste; Joanne in background
Note of
2014: Note the bottle of FIJI Water in the
picture of the kids. From the fijiwater.com website,
"The natural artesian water from FIJI Water comes
to you straight from the isolated and idyllic Fiji Islands
without ever being touched by man." I'm sure this is
true, but --- and I'm sorry none of us took a picture of
this - we were also amused that every bottle of FIJI water
we got in Fiji had the ubiquitous deposit announcement on
the label (for US states only): CA 10¢, DE 5¢, etc.; it
struck us as odd as well as slightly amusing.
US Embassy, Suva. Our stay in paradise was shortened by a
couple of hours Thursday. We received a call from the US
Embassy saying that Ambassador David Lyons had read in the
newspaper of the arrival of a national US team and wanted to
meet us. We left the Beach House at 8 AM Thursday and
arrived at the Embassy at 9:30 AM for a very nice visit with the
Ambassador and his staff.
While we were there, who should pop in but Tiffany Capdeville
and a couple of her Chico State teammates [Note
of 2014: Tiffany Capdeville was well known in rugby circles at
the time as she was the captain of the Chico State team that
upset both Princeton (Semifinal) and Penn State (Final) in the
USA Rugby Final Four to win the national collegiate
championship in 2001]. They were in Fiji to visit
and were invited to fill out the Teivovo team to participate in
the women’s tournament. I had tried to get Tiffany
to sevens camp for a couple of years with no success, and it was
an interesting surprise that I would first get to see her play
sevens in Fiji, and, as it was to turn out, against us.
2014, Katrinka writes: "I appreciated how
enthusiastic the ambassador was to meet us. It felt
great to be recognized for representing our country."
24-B-2003-02-05g USW at US embassy in Suva.jpg
Tour
party at US Embassy
Back: Stephen, Jone, Katrinka, Emil,
Lindsay, Ashley, Dana, Laura, Chris, Lyn, Chad, Jess, Beet
Front: Jen, Jo, Pam, Liz
2014:
Suva. We stayed at the Travel Inn in Suva, a
completely no-frills hotel, but we didn't spend much time
there, so frills weren't needed, all that mattered was that we
got a good night's sleep. We practiced in Suva and
wandered the streets a bit. We passed a McDonald's en
route, I remember some discussion as to whether to eat there,
and there might have been a couple that did; no longer sure
... Later, as it was Chris Ryan's birthday we decided to
create party hats and celebrate.
The evening concluded with a fine session and a jersey
presentation.
0209-30-at Travel Inn-DSCN0566-600s.jpg
0206-30a-practice in Suva-IMG_2876-900w.jpg
Left:
We settle in to the Travel Inn in Suva / Right: final
practice before tournament
2014: We appeared in a articles in a
couple of Fiji newspapers and this publicity combined with the
fact that 11 white girls wandering together around Suva in
similar attire was a pretty unique sight meant that we were
recognized and greeted, sometimes with car horns, but at least
waves, smiles and a friendly "Bula!" on several
occasions. The following picture took up the entire back
page of a Fiji tabloid (sadly I didn't keep the picture of the
entire page, which would have been a nicer historical document
than just the photo).
0207-26a-sinkler in fiji paper-600h.jpg
Entire back
page of Fiji tabloid, Friday the 7th, I believe
Ashley? Katrinka? grabs
Jen at Suva practice session; Beet looks on
0207-27-McD sign-900h.jpg
0207-27b-Dana-Liz-Laura-Ashley-Lindsay-Lyn-900w.jpg
We found a
ubiquitous McDonald's in Suva; my recollection, however, is
that most of us headed elsewhere
0207-28-Chris Ryan b-day-DSC00266-900w
The
evening before the tournament we celebrate Chris Ryan's
birthday
(He must have taken the picture)
0207-26-Finemasters-DSC00270-900w.jpg
0207-29b-Liz jersey-IMG_2891-900h.jpg
Following
a hilarious fine session (Ashley & Dana), we present
jerseys (Liz gets hers)
Jeremy and I had been in contact for more than a year trying to
arrange for the US team to participate in a sevens tournament in
Fiji. As we had asked for a weekend prior to or following
the Whangarei Sevens (one trip to the South Pacific in our
winter is prohibitively expensive let alone two!) Jeremy
contacted the organizers of the Lomaiviti Sevens to see if
they’d be willing to host a women’s bracket. They said yes
and the tour was initiated.
0208-Lomaiviti program-600h.jpg
0208-Lomaiviti program page Fiji v US-900w.jpg
Program
for Lomaiviti 7s, with details about women's competition
Participants. Originally there were teams from New
Zealand and Australia scheduled to participate, but in the end
it was just us and five Fijian teams. For the Fijians,
this was the primary selection vehicle for the team to represent
Fiji in Hong Kong.
At any rate, because of the small number of teams, it was agreed
that we should play a tournament plus a sevens test match, USA
vs. Fiji. It was a good thing we incorporated the test, or
we would have left the tournament very disappointed tourists!
0208-31-Albert Park stands-900w2x1.jpg
The stands
in Ratu Cakobau Park in Nausori
0208-32-Team under shelter-DSCN0564-900w
On
the other side of the field: keeping under shelter during
the rain
In our first game, the Eagles cruised to an easy 40-0 victory
over Nukuvuto, and there was a sense that the tournament would
be ours in a walk-over. Any thoughts along those
lines, however, were dismissed when we were shocked 7-0 by the
Fiji national touch rugby team in preparation for the South
Pacific Games to take place later this year in Suva.
Touchdown kept the ball away from us for most of the game, and
although our defense was superb, we seemed to forget that the
object of the defense is to get the ball back, not just to stop
the opponent’s attack. Following a mediocre 14-0 victory
over invitational side Teivovo, which included top US player
Tiffany Capdeville, the team decided - 2014:
belatedly I give full credit in print to Chris Ryan for the
emphasis - to focus on forcing turnovers in the test
match vs. Fiji. This strategy paid off and the Eagles’
stifling defense never allowed Fiji room to breathe. And we got several turnovers. The game
was played entirely within the Fiji half and resulted in a
“never in doubt” 21-0 victory.
2014: Our tries were scored by Jo Ward, Katrinka Blunt and
Ashley Farmer. Pam Kosanke converted all 3, one from the
touchline, wowing the crowd. At least two of the three tries
resulted from turnovers. This article currently resides in two
places: http://www.erugbynews.com/goffonrugby/archive/Articles/usawomen7s021003.htm
and
http://www.rugbymag.com/usa-sevens-women/10245-usa-takes-7s-test-in-fiji.html
0208-33-Ralphie running-600s.jpg
0208-35-Katrinka gets trophy-600s.jpg
Left:
Our only action picture of the day; Ralphie (Jess) heading
somewhere fast
Right: Katrinka with our championship trophy after
defeating Fiji
2014: It
was nice to see Nas (Anasa Koroitamana, whom I coached at
Philadelphia-Whitemarsh) at this tournament, as he was back in
Fiji, and Nausori - location of the tournament - is his
hometown. More than 10 years later, I was on the
sidelines against Nas, as I was an assistant coach with both
Princeton U. women and Lafayette College men at the USA Rugby
Collegiate Sevens championships in North Carolina in December
2013. He was coaching Sonoma State men and they won the 3rd
place game against Lafayette.
2014: In her comments on the draft of this article, Katrinka
noted the following: "If you are going to play in Fiji you
have to be ready to be laughed at... the crowd reacts in ways
different than its American counterpart and you have to be
prepared to not let it get in your head." This is a
significant observation that I first noticed on my first trip
to Fiji, in 1993 with the US men. The crowd laughs at
mistakes, even little ones. Imagine, if every time a
football wide receiver dropped a pass, the entire crowd burst
into laughter. It can be a bit disconcerting, but after
a while, when you recognize this is just part of the culture,
you (hopefully) learn to dismiss it.
Team
Lineups, USA vs Fiji
| Fiji |
|
|
USA |
|
| Name |
Club |
Pos |
Name |
Club |
| Siteri Rasousou |
Touchdown |
1 |
Katrinka Blunt |
BASH |
| Merewalesi Buloulevu (capt) |
Touchdown |
2 |
Laura McDonald |
San Antonio |
| Tanya Vatubua |
Touchdown |
3 |
Ashley Farmer |
West Chester U |
|
|
|
|
|
| Salote Tikoisuva |
QVSOB |
4 |
Jess Hammond |
New Orleans |
| Merewai Sokovata |
Touchdown |
5 |
Pam Kosanke |
Chicago North Shore |
| Merelesita Koroi |
Touchdown |
6 |
Jen Sinkler |
Minnesota Valkyries |
| Anaseini |
Touchdown |
7 |
Jo Ward |
Beantown |
|
|
|
|
|
| Lavenia Yalovi |
Touchdown |
R |
Dana Creager |
NOVA |
| Toni Ratabua |
Touchdown |
R |
Lindsay Davison |
Beantown |
| Elenoa Kunatuba |
Teivovo |
R |
Lyn Wissmiller |
Chi. North Shore |
|
|
R |
Liz Reed |
St. Louis |
Individual
Scoring, USA at Lomaiviti Sevens
| Name |
T |
C |
Pts |
| Pam Kosanke |
2 |
9 |
28 |
| Jen Sinkler |
3 |
0 |
15 |
| Jo Ward |
2 |
1 |
12 |
| Ashley Farmer |
2 |
0 |
10 |
| Katrinka Blunt |
1 |
0 |
5 |
| Liz Reed |
1 |
0 |
5 |
| Total |
11 |
10 |
75 |
| Opponents |
1 |
1 |
7 |
We were all invited to Jeremy’s house that evening where we
watched New Zealand hold off England to win the Wellington
Sevens. And met up with the Fijian players and socialized.
Katrinka, 2014: "The party was a blast
and if anything can be said about the rugby community in Fiji
it is that they are truly friendly and welcoming."
0208-36-Eagles at party-DSC00314-900w.jpg
Most of us
gather for a final photo before leaving the party
0208-37-Fiji girls sing Isa Lei-900w.jpg
The
Fiji girls sang us the Fiji farewell song, Isa Lei, and
waved goodbye
The next morning, about half-way through the 2 ½ hour trip to
the Nadi airport, we stopped at Jone’s house in the village of
Rukurukulevu, where we met several of his family members, had
another Kava experience, and headed to New Zealand.
0209-38-Jone house meal-900w.jpg
0209-39-Jone house-kava-900w.jpg
Left:
Our group and several villagers have midday meal
Right: yaqona ceremony at Jone's
0209-40-Team & Jone Family-900w.jpg
One
last group picture in Fiji
The children in the bottom row (Jone's kids and Beet)
0209-41-with Jone & family-IMG_2914-600s.jpg
0209-42-getting on bus-IMG_2915-600s.jpg
Left:
Emil & Steve with Jone, Mili and kids / Right: we
leave Rukurukulevu to head to New Zealand
0210nz1- Welcomed in NZL @ airport.jpg
Welcomed at
Auckland Airport by representatives of Whangarei
("Fong´-uh-ray") Sevens
Leg 2: New
Zealand
We arrived in Auckland in the middle
of America’s Cup fever and spent an hour or so overlooking the
harbor area before heading to Whangarei (pronounced
"Fong´-uh-ray").
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