Profile: Cameron Michels

Class: Senior

Major: Sociology

Hometown: Kirkland, Wash.

Sitting on the couches at Reid, wearing a Motherruckers sweatshirt and shorts, Michels has a temporary cast on her foot.

When did you start playing rugby?

I started at Whitman as a Jan-start and have been playing ever since . . . so I guess three years?

So what happened to your foot?

It’s a hairline fracture; I actually got it playing flag football. But it should be better after two weeks; that’s when I get to stop wearing this thing [gestures at the cast].

What is your favorite part of playing rugby?

[Rugby’s] a really awesome sport, and what goes along with that is the camaraderie. All the people on the team are my best friends. Practices are only three times a week, and we have games almost every weekend, so it’s not a huge time commitment, but we choose to be there. It’s also a huge self-esteem booster to go out and play an 80-minute game: afterwards you just feel so great.

What kinds of traditions do you guys have?

There’s the “Zulu” where after you score your first try ever––which is like a touchdown for rugby––you get as naked as you want and run to the other try post. We have some around the full moon too but I don’t know if I can talk about those . . .

What about traveling?

It’s really good bonding time––we’re all sleeping in the same rooms for an extended period of time and get to bond on a whole other level. We’ll see each other and be like, “Remember that time we went to Spokane?” It’s an adventure where we get to celebrate our love for each other.

And the freshmen?

Oh my gosh, yes, there’s lots of new people: and they’re not only freshmen: maybe 10ish? There’s a game this weekend and I’m excited to see how they do!

Do you have a big rivalry with anyone?

The thing is, we don’t win a lot because when we go up against some schools like [University of Washington] who have huge pools of girls to draw from, they end up with giant girls. They’re huge! So we really like to play Gonzaga: we’re pretty evenly matched and we’ve actually won the past couple of times. With the smaller schools we have more of a chance.

What else do you guys do together?

We do team dinners once a week and trade off with the off-campus girls cooking and the freshmen swiping us in [to the on-campus dining halls], so this year will be a good year for that. We’ll have to take advantage of all the new girls . . .