Author: Josh Widjaja

From the eyes of someone who fell in love with the sport during COVID-19. 

I’ll never forget the rollercoaster of emotions I have gone through as a rugby player who witnessed the organization rise from the ashes.

Many people wouldn’t believe me if I said that the now-undefeated crew, went 0-7 last season.

My journey with the team started during my freshman year, during the pandemic. It all began with a simple click of a “rugby’s biggest hits” video on YouTube. There I was, in the Virginia-Snider common room, completely enamored by the physicality of the game. As a freshman struggling to find a community and a sense of belonging due to social distancing protocols at the time, I wondered if there was a team at SMU. Lo and behold, there was.

COVID was not kind to the team. There is no way to play the sport without any contact, so SMU disallowed the team from practicing. I attended an interest zoom meeting, where they tried to teach new recruits the flow and rules of the game. As you can imagine, there was only so much that the players could do to educate us, many of whom have never played the game. As a niche sport in the US, it was hard for the exec members to sell the recruits on joining the team.

A couple of days after the zoom call, my roommates and I decided to try Mac’s Place for the first time. As we were scarfing down our meals, my eyes darted instantly toward a rugby ball comfortably nestled under a table. I immediately went over to grab it and saw the name “Martin” etched on it. I remembered meeting him over zoom and reaching out to him to tell him I found his ball. He offered to meet me at the Dallas Hall Lawn for some passing practice later that day. I don’t think I’ve ever passed a ball for as long as I did that evening.

Flash forward a couple of months, and there I was, reading a GroupMe text which stated that the Rugby Club was now able to resume practice on the field. Upon reaching the field, I was in awe of the energy of the players, the quality of the equipment, and the presence of a coaching staff. I was ecstatic to begin my journey as a full-fledged SMU Rugby player.

A couple of weeks after, I played in my very first rugby game against the SMU Rugby Alumni.  There was a nervous aurora around the new players. Looking around, I realized that I was undersized and playing against people two times my size. I remember the doubt and fear that immediately plagued my mind. Watching from the sidelines, the coach assured me that the only way to get over that fear was to play. I’ll never forget that first hit and the fear completely disappearing. After the game, we went to Snuffer’s with the Alumni and that was when I discovered that the community was unlike anything I had ever seen. It was a surreal experience, eating and drinking with the team that, I felt, I had just gone to war with. There was an instant connection between all players. It was this feeling of community, brotherhood, and camaraderie that solidified my love for the game.

As the semester progressed, the number of players showing up to practice dwindled. During this time, I had a sinking feeling while watching the rugby community slowly fade away. It was a domino effect, when one would leave, another one would follow shortly after.

One night, I remember asking the 4 players practicing if they wanted to grab dinner after playing. We ended up going to Barley House and having a heart-to-heart conversation. For all of us, the sense of community and feeling of brotherhood that rugby creates was what we wanted to share with potential recruits. That night we discussed that we were going to change the trajectory of the club, stop sulking, and start recruiting.

In the following weeks, we recruited like madmen. We realized it was a numbers game, as we only needed to fill a 15-spot roster. Every day, we would set up a table in front of Hughes-Triggs, pass out our recruitment flyers, and chat with as many individuals as we could.

In the first practice after winter break, we had more than 20

people show up to practice. The energy was back. We scrimmaged and played our first game of 10v10 rugby during practice. At that moment, I knew this was the start of a positive trajectory.

This past summer, we rebuilt the organizational structure of the club. We defined roles within the executive team and planned for the most successful season SMU Rugby has ever seen. There were countless executive team meetings over zoom to ensure a streamlined transfer of power when needed and make sure the team will never experience anything as it did through the pandemic again.

At the Night of the Club event in the fall of 2022, the executive members recruited like madmen once again. We talked to more than 100 people in the span of an hour, made our rugby recruitment pitch, and spurred interest in SMU’s newest faces.

Our team today is now 5-0, with no sign of slowing down. We have a consistent 25-30 people coming to practice, and we have rebuilt the culture of brotherhood and love for the game. Reflecting on our team’s journey, it amazes me how far we’ve come and the power of a vision, and a passionate group of individuals putting in the work to make sure that vision comes to fruition.

-Joshua Widjaja, Rugby Club President

I’d like to thank Anthony Gaitan, Tae Khan, Brian Ye, Raghav Bansal, Michael Habib, Will Fassler, and Jad Talih for their hard work during the reconstruction process.