This past week, Her Campus interviewed Abbey Coleman and Jordan Winston, two members of Virginia Tech’s Female Rugby Team.
Abbey Coleman is a senior studying Art History. She is a prop on the team, a forward position that requires strength and bravery. Jordan Winston is a junior double majoring in Biology and Spanish. She is Captain and Treasurer of the team and plays scrum half, a position that is similar to that of a quarterback. Coleman and Winston are from neighboring counties in Richmond, Virginia.
Jordan and Abbey shared with us the story of loss, strength and family that has led the team to organize the Tackling ALS Rugby Tournament. The tournament will be held on April 16, 2016, close to an anniversary that is significant to the team, especially to Abbey Coleman.
“My mother was diagnosed with ALS back in 2013,” said Abbey. “I started playing rugby in 2014, so she had been diagnosed for about a year then. Everyone [on the team] knew about it; everyone was super supportive of me. Last year, about this time, April 18, 2015, she passed away. Since then, the team has been super supportive in really keeping the memory of her alive and supporting me.”
“We had all decided we wanted to do something,” said Jordan. She explained that, at the beginning of the fall semester, they decided to hold an event to support ALS at the end of their season. The original idea for this tournament came from the team’s community service chair, Sarah Woynicz.
“[Sarah] is organizing [the tournament] but a lot of us are helping her out because it’s a really big job,” Jordan said. “Honestly, we’re like a giant family of thirty girls; we are always there for each other and we always want to help each other. So, when we saw the opportunity, everyone wanted to do it. We all agreed.”
Abbey shared that it means a lot to her and her family that the team is organizing this event. Personally, support from the team helped her get through the passing of her mother; with her family being over three hours away, Abbey said it was nice to have the team with her like a second family.
“It’s really important to me and my family to get the word out about the disease to try to raise awareness along with funds to find a cure. It’s awesome that my team is doing this.”
Even before Tackling ALS, the team was supporting the Coleman family.
“The team really rallied behind me,” Abbey shared, when reflecting on the time after her mother’s passing. “They did a fundraiser themselves when I was at home for her memorial service. I didn’t even know but when I came back they presented me with this paper that said they had raised about one thousand dollars to donate to the ALS Association.”
Abbey explained that Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis, commonly known as ALS, is a 100% terminal disease. While one medication has been invented that can somewhat slow the progression, there is no cure. The development of a cure for ALS is hindered by the random nature of the disease, as it affects people of all age groups evenly. Another issue is that ALS has been relatively unknown. Besides the Ice Bucket Challenge—which the entire Coleman family completed together—there has been relatively little awareness raised for the disease.
“They really need the funding to work on an actual cure,” Abbey said. “It is terrible to watch someone go through what [ALS] does and I don’t want anyone to have to see that or have to go through that.”
The team has also raised money by selling t-shirts and setting up a donation site on Tilt. They raised $400 from shirts and more that $1,300 in donations.
Tackling ALS will be held on the rugby pitch in the Southern Recreational Area, past the parking services building on campus. The tournament will be round-robin style.
Coleman explained that any money raised will be strictly from donations, saying, “[Other teams] aren’t paying anything to play. They just volunteered to come so that we could raise money.”
Attending the tournament will be a rugby team from VMI, as well as a local youth rugby team. The tournament is also free for spectators and the team hopes to bring in a crowd. Tackling ALS wristbands will be for sale and the proceeds will go to benefitting the ALS foundation. Come out on April 16th and wear Hokie colors or royal blue, the official color of ALS.
“We want this event to bring together the campus, rugby and the community,” said Jordan. “We are really excited to… spread awareness and also have fun while doing it.”
You can show your support and make donations to Tackling ALS on the Tilt app or website.