Rogers-Dellermann, Back in the Pack With a Reinforced Back

Life West was the story of the 2019 Women’s Premier League, for its debut and near-championship season and its stellar cast of players. Hope Rogers-Dellermann punctuated the dynamic roster and helped the Gladiatrix to a West Conference title; however, the USA prop did not feature in the post-season. Instead, she was nursing a recently broken back and contemplating what her rugby career might look like going forward.

The Women’s National Team (WNT) requests periodic fitness stats from its pool players, and last fall, Rogers-Dellermann needed to submit video for a one-rep squat. It was toward the end of the WPL season, her legs were a little fatigued, and so she and the WNT weren’t looking for a max – just a form check.

“Because I knew I had it,” Rogers-Dellermann explained why she didn’t have a spotter. “I knew I could do it for one [rep]. I did it the week before for three. I did it for five the week before that. I was very confident in getting the weight. I wasn’t even worried.”

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But Rogers-Dellermann got stuck at the bottom of the squat, and as her tailbone hit the ground, the barbell bounced off of her upper spine just under the neck. The impact of those two things occurring at the same time caused a compression fracture in the L1 vertebra.

Fortunately, she didn’t require surgery and just needed time to heal. She made use of Pulsed Electromagnetic Field stimulation, and four weeks after her first X-ray, she was nearly healed. By early 2020, Rogers-Dellermann was attending the USA regional camps at Stanford University with Richard Ashfield and working on a contact progression. And then Covid-19 hit.

Rogers-Dellermann didn’t have access to a gym but her husband, Keoni Dellermann, was able to borrow some weights from his school, Life West Chiropractic.

“So we had a barbell with 25 lb. weights,” Rogers-Dellermann laughed, “and a couple dumbbells. I did a little bit of lifting, but not what I was used to.”

Rogers-Dellermann actually developed a new love for stairs, chasing that leg burn that otherwise came from heavy weights. She did a lot of scrum profile work and refined her lineout throw – a skill she acknowledged might not be called into play but can be practiced without a team.

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“My husband does a great job of training with me but it’s still a little different,” she added. “He’s a winger/center/new flanker, so I still get to destroy him in the scrum, which is kind of fun when we’re doing scrum work. He does his best and he does really well.”

Covid-19 training is a challenge, full stop, and Rogers-Dellermann was grateful that her position with Rhinos Rugby Academy remained so engaging. She’s the Regional Academy Coach for Sacramento/NorCal, and the process of coaching, especially remote, was a constant exercise. She helped develop some new programming that filled the pandemic-sized hole, including the College Academy Program (CAP), a pilot that will liaise between aspiring high schoolers and collegiate rugby programs.

“We have a couple of girls from Rhinos going to the Ivy Leagues this year and they were literally thinking of community college [instead],” Rogers-Dellermann said. “There’s so much out there and I don’t think the athletes realize it. Even some of the coaches. It really meets both ends of the recruiting spectrum, from the college coaches and then our athletes achieving beyond what they think they’re capable of, which is ultimately what we want, for them to succeed in life, not just in rugby.”

As Covid-19 restrictions loosened, Rhinos was able to open to 10% capacity. And when the summertime approached, her work load actually increased. The benefit, however, was that the gym opened up for Rogers-Dellermann’s use.

Meanwhile, the WNT went remote. There were online video sessions and meetings, and Rogers-Dellermann praised the staff for keeping it fun, competitive and connected.

“Hats off to [WNT head coach] Rob Cain and the staff for really putting that all together because I can imagine it was a lot,” she said. “Being in different countries I think they were up at 2 a.m. and stuff doing these calls with us. They did a really great job.

“But it actually felt like we had more than what we normally do,” Rogers-Dellermann said of the work load. “It felt like we got more added to our plate – so that was different, but not a bad thing.”

When the WNT program announced the 15s residency – or Daily Training Environment (DTE) – Rogers-Dellermann initially committed to just the forwards mini-camp. But when work circumstances adjusted, she extended her stay through the Stars vs. Stripes match.

“I got to hit the last few weeks of the DTE and I was very happy I stayed,” Rogers-Dellermann said of the month in Glendale, Colo. “It was one of those experiences where, because of my broken back last year leading up to WPL finals, I essentially wasn’t playing for 13, 14 months. So you don’t play for a long time – and I obviously still love rugby – but that fire, or that passion, starts to dwindle a bit. But then when I went to mini-camp it was, ‘Wow, I really need to do this.’”

Rogers-Dellermann was a little nervous about her back but experienced no issues. It felt great, and she was able to chase three main goals in Glendale. First, Rogers-Dellermann wanted to apply all of the analysis and knowledge gleaned during the remote programming and put it into practice.

“I wanted to show that I could translate what I know into what I do,” Rogers-Dellermann said. “The remote sessions were really beneficial for myself and the team in general, because we were able to better understand what our goals are, how we want to do it, what are game plans are, thinking about the game, breaking the game down. … As a team, we don’t want to just be known as athletes or for our physicality. We also want to be known as rugby players who know the game.”

For Rogers-Dellermann, a complete rugby player meant firming up her defense.

“I’m known a little bit more on attack and my ability to go forward and make some big attacking hits, but I want to be an all-around rugby player,” Rogers-Dellermann said. “In 7s [residency], I was able to develop a lot of decision-making and passing skills, but I want to work on my tackling, make big hits and show different sides of what I can do.”

Rogers-Dellermann’s third goal was to perform well in the scrum and showcase the work she had been doing individually at home.

“I think I’m a good scrummager but I can be better,” Rogers-Dellermann said. “A lot of that is technical. My personal benefit is that I’m strong and so I get away with a lot of things in the scrum. But I want to show and really hone in on my technical ability to scrum technically with my strength because then as a prop I’ll be even more dominant.”

Rogers-Dellermann looked to role model Jamie Burke for that guidance and counted her years playing with the USA Rugby Hall of Famer as a major influence on her career. She also drew on her “brothers” to push her.

“All of the props push me in a lot of different ways,” Rogers-Dellermann reflected on the DTE. “Some are more core strength and power, others have more technical ability. We range in heights and weights as well, so it’s all really good stuff to practice and go at each other.

“The props call each other ‘brothers,’ and we will literally will be on opposite teams and helping each other,” she added. “Things like, ‘Hey, make sure this time to get your head in here.’ The props are this close-knit group of friends, which makes it special because our position is very intimate.”

Not all of the players who attended the DTE made the Stars vs. Stripes rosters, while others were brought in for the final two weeks for the games. Rogers-Dellermann was named to the Stars.

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“It was amazing to play again,” Rogers-Dellermann said. “Some people are being hard on themselves but it was the first game back. A lot of us haven’t played in a year – little longer for me because of my back. It was so fun to play to be honest. Camp renewed a fire and energy in me, so I’m glad they were able to put the camp on.

“Unfortunately the last game was canceled [due to Covid-19 cases] but for us to play in a game – I don’t think people realize the impact that has for us as a national team,” she continued. “Personally, on the player side, I’m extremely grateful because I’ve had that opportunity just to play a little bit and get my feet back in it.”

The DTE, mini-camps and scrimmage allowed a deeper dive into the player pool and provided a checkpoint for the staff, which facilitates better planning for the final push to Rugby World Cup 2021, and beyond.

“One of the biggest things that hurts us as a national team, we don’t get a lot of time together,” Rogers-Dellermann said. “We don’t have a Six Nations. We don’t play together. We don’t train together. We essentially come in a week before a match, and we train, we prepare, and we play. This was an opportunity to build some continuity with each other, some connections.

“So I think just starting to get to know your teammates a little – who they are, how they play, how they like to be talked to, how you play off of someone,” Rogers-Dellermann closed. “How I play off of Jordan [Matyas] is going to be different than how I play off of Charli [Jacoby] or off of [Catie] Benson or off of Bitsy [Cairns]. So just establishing those sorts of things is critical to our success at the World Cup and I think we were able to do that.”