Being part of a team is a special bond that athletes miss after stepping away from sports. After high school, scrum-half Paige Bowen, wanted to get back into a team atmosphere so she found rugby.
While going throughout her first year of college at Arkansas State University, Bowen craved a team atmosphere and needed something to fill that void. After finding rugby, the rest is history. “Growing up I was always apart of a team, whether that was volleyball, basketball, student government, etc. As I went through my first year of college, I realized how much I missed being apart of something bigger, being apart of a team; so I decided to give rugby a try. I was curious to how the game was and I was ready to try something new,” she explained.
Bowen, an Alaska native majoring in business and accounting, is a part of something special at ASU as she is part of the early stages of the team. She has found a special bond with her teammates as they tackle this new feat. “It has been an unforgettable experience establishing a legacy for women to follow with the ASU Women’s Rugby Club. Also, being far away from home, I have been able to find a new family with these ladies I play with on the pitch,” said Bowen.
With so many incredible experiences at ASU, Bowen struggles to nail down one in particular but during a 7’s tournament when her team finally came together stuck out the most. She said, “One of my favorite rugby moments was when we had gone to our first 7’s tournament in Wayne, Nebraska. We did not start out too great. We weren’t clicking, we were beating ourselves up, losing game after game; until we made a play in our third game of the day. In that third game we finally made a play that gave us our first try of the tournament which set things off. We were able to relax and have fun with it while playing good rugby; which gave us our first win of the tournament. We were able to see our weeks of hard work and dedication come together.”
ASU opens up conference play this weekend against a tough opponent in LSU. Bowen is ready for kickoff and for her team to take to the pitch. “Heading into the LSU game we want to be able to walk away a better team than we came in as. Our goal is to have everything we’ve been practicing come together while on the pitch,” said Bowen.
Be sure to tune into the Arkansas State vs LSU women’s rugby match Saturday January 30th, 2016 at 12 p.m. HERE on Gift-Time Rugby Network.