This article is written by a student writer from the Her Campus at Marquette chapter.
Meet Kelsey Macejkovic, a junior in the College of Communication. She’s a member of the honors assiociation Lambda Pi Eta and volunteers for Habitat for Humanity. We’ve asked her a few questions about her role as captain of the Women’s Rugby Team, which is growing on campus!
HCMU: What is your favorite part about being captain?
Kesley: My favorite part about being captain is having people look up to me and being able to share my knowledge of the game with the team. And I get to control how slow we take our warm-up jog which is nice.
HCMU: What’s the most difficult part about being captain?
Kesley: The most difficult part about being captain is taking on the responsibility for the whole team. During a game I am the only one who is allowed to talk to the Sir (the ref) so all information needs to go through me before the Sir hears any of it. Also, off the field I’ve found that my team comes to me with personal issues more, which can get a bit overwhelming at times.
HCMU: How have you applied your leadership skills learned through rugby to other aspects of your life?
Kesley: Rugby has taught me to have a voice. When Im at work or in a social situation, I am not nearly as quiet and reserved as I used to be. Im not afraid to speak up and ask questions or give ideas like I used to be.
HCMU: What position do you play?
Kelsey: Messy question… haha I’ve played 4 different positions since coming to college but as of right now I am our 8-man.
HCMU: What do you see for the future of women’s rugby, both at Marquette and in the US as a whole?
Kelsey: In terms of Marquette, Im hoping to see the sport grow more. The past few seasons have been tough in terms of getting recruits. We are in a bit of a rebuilding phase since a lot of our top players recently graduated. We are in a new conference now so I am hoping that we will see a lot more succes in the upcoming seasons. In terms of women’s rugby as a whole, I see it getting bigger and bigger. It started as more of a “midwest” sport much like lacrosse is considered an “east coast” sport, but now its becoming more of a nationwide thing. I know a few people on the Women’s National Team that also work for USA Rugby and they are doing a lot of work to start up clubs in different states. I see a lot of progression coming for the sport in the next few years.
HCMU: What advice would you give something considering playing rugby?
Kelsey: DO IT! It will be one of the best decisions of your life. It looks like a rough and tough sport (which it is) but the gratification you have after making an awesome tackle or scoring your first try (kind of like a touchdown) is definitely worth the bruises you’ll get. And its pretty awesome to be able to say “yeah I play rugby”. No one believes me when I say it at first so its definitely a conversation starter. But the key takeaway from this–play rugby because its great and you get to hit people without getting the cops called.