CC Cut Throat Rugby 7’s won the Rocky Mountain Conference Regional Playoffs, qualifying to play in the National Small College Rugby Organization Sweet 16 National Championships this weekend, April 28-29, in Pittsburgh.
“This season has been really incredible so far,” says team captain Nora Holmes ’18. “It’s an amazing feeling as a senior captain to see the leaps and bounds of improvement that every player has made since the beginning of the fall season. The whole team has dedicated themselves to working hard this season and we are so excited to compete in the national tournament.”
Historically, CC rugby has done well during the spring season with a fourth-place finish at nationals last year, and second-place finish the year before. Holmes, an organismal biology and ecology major, is the only senior remaining from the team that started playing together as first-years. It’s a team that has seen a lot of transition with Vic Tise serving as the third coach in four years.
“We’re very happy to have him,” Holmes says of Tise. “The team dynamic has evolved a lot since I began playing. CC rugby has always been an inclusive space and at the end of the 2015-16 academic year, we made the decision to become a gender-inclusive team. We call ourselves the Colorado College Cut Throat Rugby Club instead of the CC Women’s Rugby Club.
The team also uses inclusive language like “mates” “ruggers” and “y’all” instead of gendered terms like “ladies” or “you guys.” Though the team competes in an institutional women’s league, not all teammates identify as women. “Our intentional use of language and desire for inclusivity exists to welcome all individuals,” says Holmes.
Holmes describes the CC Cut Throat team as one built on a foundation of unconditional love and support, which is reflected in strong bonds both on and off the field. “I have never been a part of such a genuinely caring and compassionate community,” Holmes says. “Through a lifetime of playing on various sports teams, this team is by far the most open and tight-knit community I’ve ever had the honor to be a part of.”
