The weekend of June 16./17th some of the Alba ladies were attending the Bishopscup & Cindy Trophy tournament in St.Gallen.
Our team, named The Amazons, consisted of eight girls of the Alba ladies (Aurelie, Juliette, Carol, Nina, Jess, Carole and Vicky, as well as former member Anne-Sophie), supported by Jana and Lisa from Thun as well as three players from Austria - Kathi, Kathi (no, this is not a typo, but just a popular name in Austria, speaking as a fellow Austrian) and Julia.
True to our team name, we fought hard, defying the heat and sunshine on both days and keeping up a great team spirit and all of our motivation. In the end, we could win against Winterthur on Saturday, while being defeated by the St.Gallen Cindies, Basel Birds and McFly Ladies from France.
On Sunday morning (despite the party the previous evening!) we were victorious against the Luzern Dangels. Later that day however, and with our support from Austria and Thun and two Alba ladies already gone, lost our last game against the Süd-West Piraten.
However, given that the Amazons formed on the spot merely minutes before the first matches were starting, we are very content with the way we played and surely experienced improvement with every further game.
Also, for two “Amazons” – namely myself and Jana from Thun, it was the first ever match in our young rugby career. I believe I speak for Jana as well when I say that we were lucky to having made this experience in a great environment, with a very friendly atmosphere and much support from our team mates and our captain Carol, for whom it was equally the first time as a captain – or Amazon queen?
Another premiere was the first try of another one of our Alba ladies, Carole – Congratulations!
Emphasising once more the thoroughly friendly atmosphere and sportsmanship experienced over that entire weekend, it also has to be mentioned that players of our Amazons team were helping out other teams such as the McFly Ladies during their last game when they did not have enough players left, as well as the other way around did we receive support from players of other teams when there was need on Sunday.
Aside from the pitch, we could score at the after party with our cat themed group costumes and were certainly able to keep up when it came to the beer challenge amongst the teams (at least amongst the girls’ teams – there clearly was no way of keeping up with the guys from Zurich when it came to that!)
In the end, taking with us a great experience, an amazing time with amazing people and only a few bruises, the Bishopscup in St.Gallen has definitely strengthened each and every one of us and even more so our team spirit. Also, I believe a very important ability all of us have learned or improved was to adapt to new situations, to give our best even though we had never played together before and therefore could not rely so much on established processes as usual.
According to the team’s motto for that weekend – “Amazons, fight!”- we shall continue not only to fight, but to learn, grow (together), and most of all, have fun playing rugby, which we definitely had that weekend in St.Gallen.
I believe to speak for all of us when I say that we are already looking forward to the Bishopscup 2019!
And, although the season has ended now, we are not planning on being idle during the summer, but have organised Touch Rugby sessions every Thursday in July – mixed and open for everyone and most likely followed by BBQ and beer, so feel free to join! (https://www.facebook.com/pg/AlbaRugbyOfficiel/events/?ref=page_internal)