W. Reserve alum Elizabeth Royer coaches rugby team to playoffs

May 21, 2016 at 12:06a.m.

Elizabeth Royer was a freshman at Ohio Wesleyan when she saw a notice for rugby tryouts. The 1994 graduate of Western Reserve High School had played basketball and ran track in high school, and played recreational soccer years before.

“I wasn’t much of an athlete,” Royer said. “I played because my friends played.”

Asked what she knew about the rugged sport, Royer said, “Nothing — I had never heard of it. That was before YouTube and you couldn’t Google it.”

Two decades later, the daughter of Dr. David and Karen Royer of Canfield has learned plenty about rugby. Today, the Burlington (Vermont) community club team she coaches will be competing in a national quarterfinal tournament at Cheswick, Pa., a suburb of Pittsburgh.

Royer said she went to the tryout, figuring she could handle the twice-a-week practices with her pursuit of a biology degree.

“I finally found my sport,” Royer said. “With rugby, there’s really a place for everyone of every size and shape. You may not be the best kicker, but you could be the best passer.”

Royer said it was a blessing that the program was new.

“We started with the basics,” she said, adding that the first practice included a two-mile run. “I thought, ‘Oh no, it’s just like track.’”

Not exactly — track is a non-contact sport.

She played all four years in college then put the game on hold after graduation when she relocated to Washington D.C.

Rugby re-entered her life in three years later when she moved to Burlington to get her master’s degree in natural resources at the University of Vermont.

She joined the community team and played spring and fall seasons until 2012.

“I joined like the second day I was there,” said Royer, who works for the non-profit agency Vermont Rural Water Association as a drinking water protection specialist. “Once rugby gets into your blood, it’s hard to stop.”

The rough-and-tumble sport took its toll as she suffered two torn ACLs, a broken nose and a broken hand.

“Tackling was my favorite thing,” said Royer whose playing career ended in the October 2012 playoffs when she fractured a vertebrae. “That’s when I started coaching.”

She became the Burlington community team’s coach as well as an assistant coach for the girls team at Essex High School.

Earlier this month, Burlington qualified for the national quarterfinals by winning the Northeast bracket. After edging Portland (Maine) 19-17, Burlington needed overtime to defeat Providence (Rhode Island), 15-10.

If Burlington defeats Harrisburg (Pennsylvania) today at Pittsburgh Harlequins Rugby Football Club’s Founders Field, they’ll play again Sunday against Wisconsin or Charlotte. That winner will qualify for the national championship game in Colorado on June 4.

Last year, Wisconsin defeated Burlington in the quarterfinals before winning the crown.

The toughest thing for Royer is standing still.

“At this level, they have technical zone so the coach has tiny box to stay in,” Royer said. In a regular game, you can run up and down the sideline and yell.”