ICEF Alumnae Return to Reinvest

It’s graduation season, a pivotal time that places reflection on the past alongside anticipation for the future. The rugby community also hovers, hoping that its members remain involved with the sport as they transition into different phases of life. That retention hinges on players’ positive experiences and the desire to replicate them with others. ICEF understands this cycle and it’s a major reason why alumnae return to Los Angeles and reinvest their time into developing the next rugby generation.

Jennese Bacon (26), Elona Williams (23) and Sarah Wells (20) all took different paths to and through rugby, but their origin is with ICEF. The places they traveled, the people they’ve met, the opportunities they took through ICEF – it’s a formula that produces leaders who want to contribute.

But they had to find the sport first.

“Basketball was my life,” Williams recounted her middle school self. “It took ICEF rugby founder Stuart Krohn – my 7th grade English teacher – and friends two years to convince me to play rugby.

“I loved how freeing it was to just run with the ball and hit people – versus being called for traveling or fouls [in basketball],” the scrumhalf and later wing continued. “So it was like getting the best of both worlds as an athlete to play both sports.”

Wells was an easier sell. Her older sister by two years introduced the sport to the family, and Wells booted up in 7th grade. She, too, loved running with the ball, but balked at the tackling aspect of the game come high school. Freshman year she took a break from rugby and ran track instead.

“With running track, you’re doing your race and there are relays and stuff, but you’re alone,” Wells said. “I missed running around with my friends. Rugby is fast-paced and everyone’s really into it, and I was missing that aspect of fun [with track].”

Wells joined a flag rugby class sophomore year and after day one she was ready to return to the rugby team full-time.

“The nervousness was gone,” Wells said of her attitude toward tackling. “You get more comfortable with it and then something switches in your brain. You’ve just got to go for it.”

Bacon agrees, and learned that lesson early in her rugby career. Not long after she started playing the sport, Krohn was building a team for the ICEF tour to Hong Kong and needed one more player to round out the high school roster, so he turned to the middle schoolers.

“When he picked me, I was shocked and surprised,” Bacon said. “I hesitated. I was only a kid and we were going to another country for 10 days, and I was scared.

“He wrote me a letter – I still have it – telling me I was an amazing player,” she continued. “I didn’t think I would get picked but he saw something in me that I didn’t see.”

All three recalled turning points in their confidence as rugby players, and these personal revelations only compounded during rugby tour. Bacon, Wells and Williams have collectively traveled to Hong Kong, China, Brazil, New Zealand, Tahiti, South Africa, England, France, D.C., Seattle and Des Moines, among other destinations.

“I was selected with two other 10th graders and we were all close,” Wells said of her first international tour to Brazil when she was a sophomore. “Everyone looked at us as the babies of the group, which was fine with me, because I knew I was still earning my place on the team. They treated us like little sisters.

“Everyone made me really nervous about the plane ride, but I actually enjoyed it. I didn’t mind the turbulence,” Wells continued. “Usually I’m a picky eater and can be weird about trying new things, but when I got to Brazil, I wanted to try everything, because I knew I might not ever be there again. It was cool to learn that about myself, that I’m willing and open to try everything and take advantage of opportunities.”

Bacon remembers standing in the middle of the Happy Valley Recreation Ground, where ICEF was playing a tournament, marveling at the Hong Kong skyscrapers that enveloped the pitches.

“I’m in a whole other world, and it’s a lot bigger than I thought it was,” she remembered thinking. “I never thought I would travel outside of California and the idea of traveling to another country never crossed my mind until the opportunity presented itself. It opened my mind.”

During tour, players often reside with host families, so they can experience the countries and cultures on a more intimate level.

“South Africa was the most impactful trip because of the people we were surrounded by,” Bacon said. “We took busses into one of poorest townships in Capetown and I was the first one to get dropped off at my host’s – it wasn’t a house, but it was a home. They were welcoming us with music, and were singing and dancing. They were so happy that we came to visit them. I’m African American and I don’t think they expected us to look like them.

“We sat down with our host mom and her husband and kids, and other families, and everyone told us how grateful they were that we were there, and how blessed they were,” she continued. “They saw it on our faces. ‘This is not fair that they’re living like this.’ And our host mom said, ‘Don’t feel sorry for us. We are happy and we are blessed.’ That really touched me. They had everything they needed and were O.K. and singing praises to god in the midst of poverty.”

Williams, too, had unique insight into the countries she visited and later returned to China to serve as an Ambassador through the Sports 4 All Foundation. She helped coach K-12 at Shanghai RFC.

Playing wise, Williams career took off. After graduating View Park High School as co-valedictorian in 2014, she joined the first ICEF Old Girls team at club 7s nationals. She shined at UC Irvine and won the Armstrong Leadership Scholarship for four-straight years. ICEF also facilitated her selection to the Tiger Rugby Camp at the IMG Academy, an experience that preceded next-level exposure with Tiger Rugby Elite, ARPTC, ROOTS and Life West.

“It helped a great deal with my struggling body mechanics,” Williams reflected on her time with the Gladiatrix. “Training with Eagles and playing in the WPL helped me to push past some childhood insecurities of thinking that I was too short or too skinny to compete with the professional women that I had often watched [and] studied growing up. I realized that I do have the potential to play at the highest level.

“I also realized the real reasons [and] challenges that women in the sport of rugby are up against,” she continued. “It broke my heart to see, feel, and hear about all the different ways in which women are being discriminated against and why things are in the state they are in now. I hope to bring those experiences and lessons to ICEF in hopes to inspire the youth to know their worth, take care of their mental health, and enhance their work ethic.”

Today Williams in an Intervention Specialist with the Special Education team at View Park, specializing in 12th grade English. She also supervises the ICEF high school students who coach middle school flag rugby and is now an assistant coach with the girls’ high school team. She’ll soon be starting her graduate program, in partnership with ICEF, in pursuit of a masters and teacher credentials.

“I would say the difference is that my generation had boys and girls who grew up doing everything together for a longer period of time,” Williams reflected on her playing days with ICEF. “The bond was so unique and we really pushed hard for the things we really wanted out of life. We, for the most part, knew we had to go to college, we didn’t have to be motivated to workout, we didn’t let our circumstances stop us, and we used rugby and our other passions as means to get through school and push for the lifestyles we want. This is still true for today however the work ethic and mentalities could be stronger for the majority! Great kids, they just need to know and understand how great they are and can be.”

Wells graduated View Park in spring 2018 and enrolled at the University of Southern California that fall. She has remained into touch with ICEF throughout her collegiate career and in January 2019 started coaching and intern managing the 4th and 5th grade touch teams.

“That was interesting. I hadn’t taught at that level for a while,” said Wells, who was an intern coach in high school. “I let them play on and get a feel for a moving game instead of stopping to explain something every minute. But when I came back, a lot of the high schoolers were newer, so I was coaching them in a way, too.”

Wells is studying business administration at USC and has entrepreneurial ambitions. She continually draws upon the lessons she learned with ICEF and hopes to impart that wisdom with today’s players.

“As far as on the field and playing: Letting go of mistakes and staying in the game,” Wells said of ICEF take-aways. “I struggled a lot with that especially in the beginning of me playing. I’d get down when I made a mistake and replay it in my head and lose focus. You have to let it go and figure out how to improve the game or change the pace, and just always move forward. Rugby is a fast game and you don’t have time to doubt yourself. You just have to do it.

“Keeping that mindset has been key, especially in college,” she continued. “‘Oh maybe I’ll do this or that,’ but you just have to put yourself out there and do it, even if it’s a bit scary. I want to keep that mindset for the rest of my life.”

Wells plans to return to ICEF after graduation and coach but wants to create something substantial herself.

“Coming back to ICEF as a coach has helped me figure out that this is something I want to do; I want to work with kids,” said Wells, who ultimately wants to set up a non-profit geared toward the youth in her community. “I’m coming from a community where there should be more opportunities to teach kids about the world. If they learn about, for example, the business world earlier in life then they can start building for it for college. We can introduce them to professionals who can share their experiences and mentor the kids, and they can start learning and experiencing things at a younger age.”

Bacon, too, took the lessons she learned through ICEF and applied them to her future endeavors. When she graduated high school, she wanted to pursue athletic training at a college that also allowed her to actively play rugby. She found that combination in Lindenwood University, although it took some convincing to relocate from Los Angeles to the Midwest. Bacon became a Lion in fall 2015, and helped the program develop from an emerging threat into a national 7s and 15s titleholder.

“I had many life-changing experiences and lessons learned but I couldn’t have asked for a better rugby experience,” said Bacon, who graduated in spring 2019. “Not only that but I made lifetime friends being there. Playing with them and traveling all around the world and winning a national championship – and not just that, but the boys winning [their college 7s title in 2017]. It was one team, men and women, winning the USA Rugby tournament. You couldn’t ask for more.”

Bacon took a little break from rugby after graduating but kept checking in with ICEF once she moved back to the west coast. She was working in rehab and then starting covering SoCal Youth Rugby games as an athletic trainer. That reconnection convinced Bacon that she wants to invest her time in ICEF and local youth rugby.

“I really just hope I inspire them to take risks,” Bacon said. “Go after different opportunities and don’t limit yourself to just California. Not that there is anything wrong with schools and opportunities in California, but going out of state and leaving your comfort zone, that’s where you grow the most.

“I also think it’s important to be leaders in this world, in our culture, and with peer pressure,” she added. “You’ve got to take that position as a leader and step out.”

All three alumnae are involved with ICEF today and their investment is a testament to the gratitude for and value they place on the rugby program. Williams closed:

“I want to impart on players my favorite poem, Our Deepest Fear, by Marianne Williamson.

“Our deepest fear is not that we are inadequate. Our deepest fear is that we are powerful beyond measure. It is our light, not our darkness That most frightens us…”