Bridget Galaty '21
Major: Undeclared
"Muffget,
I'm
on
your
right."
Run,
don't
look
back,
hit
hard.
Then
sing
a
silly
song
tonight.
Love
you!"
The
CC
Cutthroat
Rugby
team
is
the
most
important
community
I
have
had
the
opportunity
to
be
a
part
of
at
college.
Both
on
and
off
the
field,
I
know
that
I
have
found
a
family.
From
all
the
silly
nicknames
they
have
given
me
(Birdget,
Muffget,
My
Hole,
PterodactBull,
Brisket,
etc.)
to
the
sense
of
trust
that
this
team
embodies,
I
cannot
imagine
a
better
group
of
people
to
play
alongside.
Just
after
midnight
on
a
chilly
Saturday
in
December,
I
walked
back
to
my
room
in
a
daze.
I
could
not
begin
to
contain
my
joy.
I
found
myself
standing
in
the
middle
of
Armstrong
Quad
unable
to
think
about
anything
except
love.
The
events
of
the
past
few
hours
rushed
through
my
head,
and
I
struggled
to
piece
together
all
the
amazing
things
I
had
just
experienced.
In
the
course
of
one
evening,
I
felt
I
had
been
transformed
from
a
member
of
a
team
into
a
member
of
a
family.
I
was
filled
with
emotion,
and
I
could
tell
that
that
moment
would
truly
mark
the
beginning
of
many
lifelong
friendships.
While
so
much
had
happened
in
such
a
short
time
span,
this
whole
thing
didn't
all
happen
overnight.
I
played
rugby
in
middle
school
and
high
school.
After
years
of
trying
soccer
then
T-ball
then
tennis
and
even
fencing,
I
had
never
really
found
a
sport
that
really
felt
right,
so
when
I
first
started
rugby
I
assumed
it
would
be
the
same
way.
I
came
to
be
pleasantly
surprised.
The
community
I
found
in
the
game
of
rugby
was
unlike
any
I
had
seen
in
the
sports
I
had
played
before.
After
many
years
of
rugby,
I've
found
that
most
people
don't
really
know
much
about
the
sport,
and
what
they
do
know
comes
mostly
from
seeing
the
films
Invictus
or
Murder
Ball
or
from
watching
the
New
Zealand
All
Blacks
perform
the
Haka
(if
you
don't
know
what
that
is,
I
strongly
recommend
checking
it
out).
From
that
minimal
exposure,
it
can
be
easy
to
assume
that
all
rugby
players
are
beefy
men
who
love
aggression
and
beating
people
up.
In
reality,
I've
known
far
fewer
people
who
fit
this
rugby
stereotype
and
far
more
who
totally
buck
the
trend.
The
thing
about
rugby
is
that
the
people
who
find
themselves
drawn
to
the
sport
tend
to
be
misfits
in
some
way
shape
or
form.
Maybe
it's
that
they
don't
feel
like
they
fit
in
playing
other
sports
or
that
they
were
looking
for
something
a
bit
out
of
the
ordinary.
Maybe
it's
that
they're
small
but
like
to
hit
people
or
that
they're
super-fast
and
want
to
pass
the
ball.
Maybe
it's
that
they
never
felt
comfortable
with
the
binary
division
of
"men's"
and
"women's"
sports
or
else
it's
just
that
they're
fascinated
by
playing
a
sport
with
so
many
rules
that
even
the
referees
don't
always
know
what's
going
on.
Whatever
it
is,
rugby
definitely
draws
together
a
motley
crew
who
are
bound
by
both
their
differences
and
their
shared
love
of
the
game.
Going
into
college,
I
knew
that
rugby
was
something
I
wanted
to
keep
pursuing.
When
I
was
in
the
final
stages
of
the
college
decision
process,
I
met
with
the
rugby
captains
at
my
top
schools
and
asked
them
what
the
teams
were
like
and
even
checked
out
a
couple
practices.
So
as
soon
as
I
got
to
CC,
I
sought
to
hit
the
ground
running.
I
can
remember
from
the
first
practice
being
impressed
by
the
comradery
of
the
team.
It
was
clear
that
everyone
was
excited
to
begin
a
new
season
and
all
the
members
of
the
team
were
excited
to
see
each
other.
The
love
was
palpable,
and
I
couldn't
wait
to
be
a
part
of
it.
From
the
early
stages,
I
was
glad
to
find
that
people
wanted
to
know
you
for
who
you
were
as
a
person.
The
team
was
quick
to
pick-up
on
names
and
soon
learned
what
each
person's
individual
skills
were.
The
people
I
met
were
clearly
interested
in
my
life
and
they
already
treated
me
as
a
friend,
even
after
we'd
only
met
once
or
twice.
During
my
second
block,
my
class
took
a
weeklong
fieldtrip,
and
when
I
returned
people
told
me
they
had
been
concerned
where
I
had
been.
After
only
knowing
these
people
for
a
few
weeks,
they
were
already
invested
in
me.
I
was
soon
excited
to
learn
about
the
team's
stance
on
being
the
Cutthroat
Rugby
team
rather
than
the
women's
team.
The
inclusivity
of
the
team
runs
deep
and
wide
and
it
is
clear
that
players
are
dedicated
to
supporting
each
other.
We
have
multiple
members
of
the
team
who
identify
outside
the
gender
binary,
and
we
deliberately
refer
to
each
other
as
mates
rather
than
ladies
or
guys.
As
a
gender-nonconforming
person,
it
has
been
weird
in
the
past
trying
to
fit
into
the
strict
male/female
dynamic
of
sports.
In
rugby
(and
on
the
Cutthroat
rugby
team
especially),
I
have
never
felt
questioned
and
have
always
felt
supported
-
even
celebrated
-
for
being
my
authentic
self.
One
of
my
big
fears
about
playing
rugby
in
college
was
that
I
had
heard
the
team
had
a
big
party
culture.
As
someone
who
is
intentionally
substance-free,
I
worried
that
I
wouldn't
be
able
to
find
a
place
in
the
social
network
of
the
team.
I
quickly
learned
that
this
would
not
be
the
case.
From
the
first
rugby
social
I
attended,
it
was
clear
that
no
one
cared
whether
or
not
I
imbibed
and
were
much
more
concerned
with
making
sure
I
was
having
fun
even
if
I
didn't
drink.
My
teammates
offered
to
let
me
play
the
games
without
drinking
and
encouraged
me
to
participate
as
fully
as
I
wanted.
(Somehow,
even
in
an
uninhibited
state,
I'm
still
not
very
good
at
any
of
the
games.)
As
the
year
went
on,
they
began
to
buy
me
soda
to
drink
instead
of
alcohol
and
would
always
make
sure
to
tell
me
where
the
nonalcoholic
beverages
were.
Safety
and
comfort
are
paramount
to
this
team
and
there
is
no
pressure
to
do
anything
you
don't
want
to.
That's
the
thing
about
CC
Rugby.
Everyone
wants
to
see
you
succeed
and
will
fight
for
you
however
you
need
it.
From
the
lowest
of
low
to
the
highest
of
high
both
on
and
off
the
pitch
I
know
my
teammates
will
be
there
to
support
me.
Leaving
the
social
on
that
cold
Saturday
night,
I
was
reminded
of
the
love
of
this
team.
And
I
couldn't
wait
to
keep
on
rucking.