Into the Scrum

As a Harlequin Olde Girl, Jaime Lange plays for Glendale now, as well as the USA Under 23 team. She recently earned a bachelor's degree in elementary ed, but she's working odd jobs so that she has time for rugby and to get to the World Cup. "I think it's going to make Colorado a rugby powerhouse," she says of the Glendale Initiative. "Bullock's a great coach. He's probably the best in the nation. He has a game plan that if you can execute it correctly, it's money. You will win every game. He's flawless.

"Bullock's a character, though, because he'll be super-intense," she adds.

Mike Gorman

 

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More About

• Glendale
• Mike Dunafon
• Mark Bullock
• Rugby
• Politics

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On a Thursday evening at Mir Park, an area Glendale acquired as part of its effort to create open space, the men's and women's practices weave in and out of each other. A single stadium light, powered by a loud, pungent generator, keeps a ball from being swallowed into darkness as it's passed between slender running shadows with ponytails. "You've got to stick to the play you call or you're going to get the shit kicked out of you," Bullock calls out to a rugger who just second-guessed herself. A few minutes later, he's advising his team to do whatever it takes to steal possession, including twisting fingers back.

When it's time to practice the scrum, eight girls line up: three, then four, then one. They crouch, hugging their arms around each other's shoulders and waists. They'll have to push the weight of all their other teammates, who are piled onto a rolling metal platform called a scrum machine. With their butts in the air, the women grunt in unison as they try to inch forward. Nothing happens.

"Patience," Bullock says. "Get your feet in."

They try again, bending even lower this time, and are able to move a few feet forward.

"Nice job, ladies!" the other women cheer.

"Why did that work?" Bullock asks the red-faced women as they rise to catch their collective breath before he makes them get down again.