Meet The Eagles--Episode 3 (Kate Zackary)

Kate is a capped 15s and 7s player from Kansas. She recently captained the USA Falcons in the Okinawa 7s Tournament, which the Falcons won. She plays locally for the San Diego Surfers.

Meet The Eagles--Episode 2 (Naya Tapper)

Check out Naya Tapper talking about her roots and giving us an interesting "would you rather" question. Tapper is a capped 15s player and 7s player. She recently earned Player of the Final honors when the Eagles took Silver in Sydney earlier this month.

Meet The Eagles--Episode 1 (Bulou Mataitoga)

Get to know more about USA Rugby National Team member Bulou Mataitoga. Bulou earned her first 7s cap this year in Dubai and is a current USA 7s Resident.

Rainy San Diego

San Diego is known for its beaches and mild, year-long climate. More specifically, it's always sunny and 70 in San Diego (or as close to "always" as you can get). However recently, like several National Parks Services twitter accounts, San Diego has gone rogue. For the last three weeks, it has been raining constantly. Wednesday was our first day of sun in eons.

These pluvial and windy days have uprooted trees, caused power outages, yellowed cacti, and flooded our fields at the OTC. For a while, we were able to slosh around on the fields, but we have missed one day of training (unheard of) and have had to train a couple of sessions on the field hockey field.

On one particular day, we played rugby games on the field. This turned into a combination of mud-wrestling, dirty slip-n-slide and a little rugby. Most of us wound up looking like I do in the picture to the left.

This is the first day we found our field under a bit of water. On the sidelines, our bleachers were in a pool of water, and our workout tires were either underwater or just peeking above the surface. None of this deterred us from our work, but it certainly made for some fun in between sessions. Check out the photos below, and watch the video, for a glimpse into how rugby players make the best out of a not-so-ideal situation.

Tubing in the Canal

Gone Fishin'

Kris Ledecky...errr...Thomas

Some Great Podcasts

I am an avid listener of podcasts. Recently, I was recommending a few to a teammate, and my old pal, Stacey Bridges, suggested that I post a blog and share my favorite podcasts. I figured I could post the blog and ask for your recommendations as well, so that I too can expand my toolbox. So without further ado, here are some of my favorite podcasts:

1. Hidden Brain--This is one from NPR, and it tends to run neck-and-neck, for my favorite, with another NPR podcast. It addresses the brain's unconscious patterns, biases and triggers that affect our lives, from our behavior and choices to the course of our relationships and political leanings. I like this one, because I'm into anything dealing with our wetware. Though it is often difficult to change behavior and eliminate bias, awareness is the first step, and any time we can catch automatic thinking (especially if it's negative), we can have opportunities to better engage with our world.

2. Upwire: Hacking Human Nature--Another brain-related podcast, Upwire is presented by neuroscientist, Dr. Robert Cooper. The material addressed in Upwire will give you insight to how the brain works and help you to "unlock your true potential in life and work." While the content is great, Cooper's stories about his grandfather are perhaps my favorite part of this podcast.

3. Invisibilia--I've yet to miss an episode of this wonderfully insightful podcast. Hosts Lulu Miller, Hanna Rosin and Alix Spiegel, combine narrative, offbeat facts, and scientific research to keep the listener entertained and informed. The podcast touches on the invisible forces that control human behavior--ideas, beliefs, assumptions and emotions. Check out the one on Fear. It's my favorite.

4. The Art of Charm--No, this isn't some douchebag "how to" on getting laid. This is an informative podcast that addresses social science, cognitive psychology, behavioral economics, biohacking, etc. Where this one differs from other cognitive and behavioral podcasts is that it delves into the genre of fan mail and the advice column at times. The host, Jordan Harbinger, typically interviews some insightful and intelligent guests, but there are Fan Mail days and Minisode days that tend to be less science-driven and more advice-driven, but helpful nonetheless.

5. Bulletproof Radio--Though this one isn't my absolute favorite, I will say that it probably has the most Top 25 episodes on my list. While I think the host, Dave Asprey is a little full of himself at times, he is a smart guy and brings on his show experts in their respective fields. While most of the episodes touch on diet, exercise and/or biohacking, they also dig into the spiritual, emotional and cognitive worlds. Some of my favorite interviews are his talk with Robert Cooper (of Upwire), Mark Sisson, Vishen Lakhiani, Tony Robbins & Peter Diamandis, Dr. Richard Veech, Anthony Coletti & Joe Martino, "The Ibogaine Experience," and Alberto Villoldo.

6. Primal Blueprint--Done by Mark Sisson, this podcast is comprised mostly of articles, read by Sisson's team, that Sisson has written for his website. Sisson also interviews experts in their respective fields, and these episodes are my favorites. Primal Blueprint gives information and advice on how to be healthy, strong, fit, happy and productive with the least amount of pain, suffering and sacrifice.

7. Tackling Live--I only recently started listening to this one. It was recommended by Sara "Par Par" Parsons. Hosted by Ray Lewis, this one takes a "life mirrors sport" approach. Lewis throws in his sports knowledge, and co-host, Dr. Christian Conte, draws on his experience with emotional management. So far, I like it.

8. 99% Invisible--Yet another recent recommendation. Kelly Griffin turned me on to this one, and I have listened to one episode, Dollar Store Town, thus far, but I like what I've heard. Hosted by Roman Mars, this one explores the process and power of design and architecture.

9. This American Life--If you know anything about NPR, you know this show. This one has won all of the awards and is heard by 2.2 million people weekly. The awesome thing is, you can get it on your podcast app!

10 Poem of the Day--Yes, Poem of the Day. Keep your creative mind charged and active, people. Done by the Poetry Foundation, this podcast is exactly what it says in the title, a poem of the day. Featuring both classic and contemporary poets, the poems are read by both poets and actors.

Of course, I listen to more podcasts than just these, but I thought my readers would benefit most from this list. If you have any you love, feel free to share them with me. If you can't tell, I welcome all suggestions. Enjoy listening!

The Great Peanut Conspiracy

Lately, we've seen, in our country, a slew of senseless acts of violence and destruction. CNN (or the Crisis News Network) blasts these senseless acts across television screens across the world, and we, as a people, always seem to know the bad news. What about the good news? What about the bright side of life? What about senseless acts of happiness or kindness? How about senseless acts of comedy? These are the things that hold life together--bring humans together. The Great Peanut Conspiracy is one such uniting event.

A senseless act of comedy in its purest form, The Great Peanut Conspiracy started with a single peanut, furtively left on a pillow. There, there little beige legume waited patiently to be discovered by USA Women's Rugby prop, Catie Benson.

What did it mean, this common, salty nugget of fat and protein? How had it gotten on the pillow? Who could've put it there? These questions swam through Benson's tiny peanut brain, but in the end, she decided she needn't answer them. It was only a peanut on a pillow, after all.

The next day, in the USA Women's Rugby team room, as a team meeting was about to begin, two peanuts were discovered under Benson's chair. It was deja vu for Benson. She recalled the peanut on her pillow from the night before. Why were there peanuts now under her chair? She quickly dismissed any suspicion, as she had only hours before. The players were all in the team room, which was the home of the team snacks, peanuts included. It was only a coincidence that there were peanuts under Benson's chair.

Later that same night, while playing Bananagrams with other teammates, Benson found yet another peanut. This time, the legume had found a resting place closer to home--in Benson's sandal. This wasn't merely a little peanut on a pillow, or a couple of nuts strewn about the floor. This peanut in the sandal was deliberately placed there.

Who had done it? Benson quickly confronted teammates known to play silly pranks. She asked Naya, Hope, Kate Z, and she even barged into my room attacking me with the peanut that had been left in her sandal. However, she got no answers. All suspects had alibis. And to her dismay, while she was in my room, when I, one of her suspects, was in plain sight, she found a rogue nut nestled in the bun of her hair.

Benson had to reevaluate her suspect list. Everyone was now under her suspicious eye. Her investigation into the matter was made more difficult by the quantity of peanuts that began appearing all around her. If one person were doing all of this, then it would stand to reason that the person would be in her vicinity often. She could find no person, and it didn't help that the very nature of tour requires you be in the vicinity of your teammates most of the time.

Benson racked her brain trying to unravel the mystery. Everywhere she was seeing peanuts. Even her water began to taste like peanuts, but then she discovered that there was a gaggle of the wee things in her Gatorade bottle. She found peanuts in her rugby kit bag, one had somehow gotten in the sealed plastic bag that contained her game shorts.

On Thanksgiving Day, The Great Peanut Conspiracy reached its climax. The day started like any other. Throughout the day, Benson found the occasional peanut hanging around, which had become the norm. However, that night, at the jersey ceremony for our last match against the French, a rebel nut flew from the number 17 jersey (Benson's jersey) when our captain for the last match, Jenny Lui, picked it up. There was an initial hush--had the joke gone too far--then the room erupted in laughter. The peanut had given us all something for which to be thankful--humor and laughter.

That wasn't the only peanut Benson would find that evening. In honor of the holiday, someone decided to make a peanut pie for her and leave it on her doorknob. Despite acting like she didn't care for the pie, Benson couldn't help but smile at the thoughtfulness of the act. It dawned on her that someone cared enough to go to the trouble to make her a personalized pie. And we all learned on that Thanksgiving that enjoying the company of our teammates was something for which to be thankful.

Benson never nailed down the peanut culprit. She still has her suspects, even to this day, and some are still calling her Peanut Benson, but she never quite untangled the web of a mystery that was The Great Peanut Conspiracy. Perhaps we'll never know how all of those peanuts wound up haunting her during the France Tour. One thing is for sure, the great act of senseless comedy brought us all together in fun and laughter and made the stresses of tour a little more bearable.

The Shenanigans of Boo Brooks and Pankey Pants

Over the past few months, I've become pretty good friends with potato-woman, Emily Fulbrook, and we have fondly given each other nicknames. She is Boo Brooks (courtesy of AutoCorrect, which does not like her last name), and I am Pankey Pants (because, you know...pants).

Both Boo Brooks and I are lovers of life and enjoy the lighter side of all things (after all, life it too short to take yourself so seriously), so we partake in various shenanigans, from photo bombs to unconventional weight lifting methods.

So here's a little reminder to keep things light (shall we delve into the myth of eternal return...nah, I'll keep my nerd to myself).

Vegas Team Photo

Photo Bomb of Kimber Receiving the Trophy in Atlanta

Silly Video on Scion's Facebook Page:
Boo Brooks Pendlay Rows

Stay tuned for more shenanigans!!