Kiva Talty, a Spring Hill College sophomore, is more than just the starting fly half for the Spring Hill women’s rugby squad. She serves as a freelance photographer, a full time student, and teaching young children English as a second language.
Talty never took the initiative to join rugby, a little push from a friend sent her in the right direction. Talty explained, “I never actually voluntarily joined rugby. My friend Mary Boeckmann, who had played freshman year, asked me to come out to the first practice. After that, I was completely in love with it.” From there, Talty became the starting fly-half for the inaugural women’s team and continued her role into her sophomore season.
Rugby teaches life lessons for us all and Talty is no different. She explained that rugby has taught her a ton about teamwork. “Rugby has taught me a lot about teamwork and constructive dependence. I’ve played team sports in my life before, but none that were as physically tolling as rugby. When you’re doing that much work and suffering the same injuries, stress and physical strain as your teammates, there’s a bond that’s built instantly that you can’t find in any other single sport,” said Talty.
Photo by Rebeca Marroquin
Talty said that a players first try is mostly every rugby players favorite moment but hers was a little different. She said, “Getting your first try is always a great memory for players, but I think the first time we had a game was one of my favorite moments, even if it was a scrimmage against ourselves. It started to rain and it was our first time playing ever. We were slipping and sliding everywhere because our pitch wasn’t very well laid out. After, I think there was more mud and grass on me than on the pitch.
While serving as a freelance photographer, Talty has had the opportunity to work with some big clients one of which was Serevi Rugby. She went to a high performance camp in New Orleans and took photos for the two day camp. She said it was not only rewarding to shoot for such a great client but she was able to learn a lot about rugby from watching the camp as it progressed. Talty said ” Serevi hired me to shoot photos for their website for promotional material. While I was there, I got the opportunity to speak to the coaches and trainers there, in a way learning the game better from an outsiders perspective. Though I didn’t get to physically experience it, I got to see a lot of great talent from every player on the pitch.”
Click HERE to see her photography.
Check out Talty and the rest of the lady badgers as they travel to Statesboro, GA on February 14th to take on Georgia Southern University at 2 p.m.