Piecing together the women's rugby team at ASU are athletes from varying backgrounds in sports and skills. Despite these differences, the team is unified through strong leadership and a shared sense of grit.
By welcoming athletes to the field, regardless of their familiarity with rugby, the team provides students the chance to try something new in an inclusive environment.
At the root of creating this culture are team president Julia Bognar and vice president Riko Takayoshi. The mix of the pair's backgrounds and personalities provides the team with well-rounded leadership.
Bognar, a senior studying graphic design from East Brunswick, New Jersey, came to ASU with no rugby experience but rather a background in soccer. But Takayoshi, a senior studying global management, who grew up in Japan and New Zealand, has over a decade of experience with the sport.
During her first semester of college, in the era of trying new things, Bognar experimented with rugby, a choice she reflects on as "the best thing I've ever done."
Having a history with the sport, rugby has always been a stabilizer for Takayoshi, who views it as a "universal language." The worldwide aspect of the sport enabled her to find community in different countries, and now at ASU.
Bognar quickly fell in love with the rugby environment that exists on campus, which later transformed her, creating a president with a passion to support peers who are new to the sport.
"I wanted to give back what rugby gave to me," Bognar said. "Which was confidence, strength and a community of women that were there to support you no matter what."
Similar to Bognar, Takayoshi pursued a leadership role to provide athletes with a sense of community, but also to take a larger role in that community herself.
"I want them to feel what it's like to be in a community," Takayoshi said. "In a community with strong people, with people that care about each other."
The two's emphasis on culture and a supportive atmosphere seeped into the team, establishing a group with a strong work ethic.
Camryn Sheen, a senior studying biomedical engineering, has been with the team for two years, during which she's been surrounded by a "culture of hard work."
"It really does feel very connected, and it's unlike any other team I've ever played on," Sheen said. "I think because of the leadership, and because the sport requires you to put in effort and be connected with everyone in order to play as a unit."
The aggressiveness and team-oriented style of rugby drew an inexperienced Sheen to the sport. Like many of her teammates, her diverse athletic past, consisting of wrestling, soccer and lacrosse, had the makings of a rugby player.
The culmination of skills and shared characteristics of the team elevate the game as a whole, and Bognar believes the groundwork of this culture comes from grit.
"We all come from different backgrounds of sports," Bognar said. "You have girls that have played soccer or softball or wrestling or honestly, no sports at all, and I think they all bring something really interesting to the table. But everyone here has the same baseline skill of grit and hard work, and strength, and I think that's something you can't really teach to a lot of people."
Edited by Niall Rosenberg, Henry Smardo and Pippa Fung.
Reach the reporter at cjoneil6@asu.edu and follow @cjojournalism on X.
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Char O’Neil is a junior studying sports journalism with a minor in special events management. This is her third semester with The State Press. She has also reported for AZPreps365, Blaze Radio and Phoenix College Basketball.
