About her:
Name:
Talia Fromm
Age:
25
Location:
New York, New York
Occupation:
Physical Education Teacher & Coach/President, Brooklyn Women’s Rugby
As a little girl in Bayside, Queens, Talia Fromm wanted to be a police officer. Her older brother, Daniel, was able to persuade her to pursue a different career path, but even the her mother’s disapproval couldn’t keep her away from the rough-and-tumble game of rugby. As an adult, Talia is a rugby player and team president, heading the Brooklyn Women’s Rugby Team.
At 16, Talia was diagnosed with Juvenile Myoclonic Epilepsy, which plagued her with tiny jerks in her extremities and shoulders. This variety of epilepsy occasionally leads to a seizure, but Talia was lucky enough to only have two seizures prior to being medicated. Fortunately medication has allowed her to manage the symptoms as an adult, but she remembers that the uncontrollable twitches and shakes that she experienced as a teenager in school were scary and humiliating. “The fact that the doctor told me I had to be on medication for the rest of my life didn’t sit very well either,” she remembers. “My mind and body had to get used to it all; going to the hospital regularly, taking medicine twice a day, accepting what was happening, and finding how to balance my love for sports with this new challenge I was facing.” After more than eight years, Talia has proven that Epilepsy has no control over her athletic ability or career.
Handling her Epilepsy has caused Talia to have a different perspective than most people. She cites her biggest influences as athletes who have triumphed in spite of physical disabilities, those who have become active and competitive despite whatever struggles their bodies may endure. “We are all guilty of having lazy days and not wanting to move a muscle, but many of us take advantage of the fact that we are healthy and have a working body to do whatever we would like,” she says. “When I find myself mentally defeated or falling into lazy tendencies, I think about those who aren’t as lucky and don’t get to walk or run whenever they would like. When I see an athlete who has to overcome an obstacle like a physical disability, whether it is temporary or permanent, it pushes me to go harder and not take advantage of what I’ve got.”
Further proof of Talia’s success was her Division I softball career in college. Following graduation, she didn’t want to simply settle into a sedentary lifestyle. Having athletic friends allowed her to be connected to other options, including women’s pro football, which she played for a year. Around the same time, Talia’s friend Emily had started to play for Brooklyn Women’s Rugby. The team was short several players one weekend, and Talia was called upon to help out. It was from that short stint volunteering that Talia became one of the most involved players in the league. “I was hooked,” she says. These days Talia and the team practice two times a week and once every weekend.
Read more at: http://sockittomesocks.com/coolgirl/
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Play with 'em
If you’re an alpha girl
Back in 2006 a group of determined women started what would become Brooklyn Women’s Rugby (brooklynwomensrugby.org, $150, fall, spring and summer seasons), a club independent of any men’s team. In the past three years, the crew has grown in both strength and number. “We welcome any women who have an interest in rugby and a desire to be part of a fun, competitive and exciting team,” president Talia Fromm says.
“Come out to play!”
Time Out New York / Issue 740 : Dec 3–9,
2009 Read more: http://newyork.timeout.com/articles/sex-dating/81075/rugby-singles#ixzz0YXlS1cGD
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Wednesday, May 14, 2008
Brooklyn Women's Rugby An OTBKB reader and rugby player sent this in about Brooklyn Women's Rugby:
Women tackling each other is usually a crowd pleaser, but our team is much more than a gaggle of hyper-aggressive, unfeminine jocks. Though our roster is small and constantly in flux our players represent our borough: locals and transplants, gay and straight, women who wear makeup to every game, and women who are at their most beautiful when they sprint, tackle, and execute plays. We are the only women’s rugby team in Brooklyn , and our players represent many different neighborhoods. We accept players and supporters from all boroughs, but most exemplify the diversity and attitude of Brooklyn : aggressive, yet affable.
Brooklyn Women’s Rugby was formed only 16 months ago by five women. Though two women’s teams exist in Manhattan , our players were looking for a more social league, one that allows its player to have a life. Since February 2007 our numbers have gone from five to roughly 25, and we now have a certified rugby coach, Ms. Jaimee Lynn Nelsen.
In case you’re unfamiliar with rugby, it is a contact sport in which players, sans padding, advance a ball down a football-sized field by kicking or running. The ball can’t be thrown forward, and once a player has the ball, they’re a marked man: only the ball carrier can be tackled, and any obstruction results in a penalty. Penalties, of which there are many, are resolved through the intricate dog-pile known as a scrum, or the line-out, which resembles bloodthirsty cheerleading. There are rucks and mauls as well, methods of regaining possession through coordinated violence. Injuries aren’t really that common, though they do occur; one of our players was recently sidelined after breaking a finger, though she was good enough to finish the game before going to the ER. However, we tend to go through our lives with more bruises, scratches, and concussions than “normal” people.
Practices take place in Prospect Park on Thursdays at 6:30 and typically have games on Saturdays. Please feel free to come to a practice and get a feel for our team. I know Only the Blog Knows is busy, and we’d have no problem reporting the results of our games and general development if you’re unable to get away from the desk. I’ve attached a schedule of our upcoming games, and also invite you to our First Annual Brooklyn Women’s Rugby Pub Crawl: as fundraiser and opportunity to raise community awareness of our team, it will take place in Park Slope during the afternoon of June 7.
May 14, 2008
http://onlytheblogknowsbrooklyn.typepad.com/only_the_blog_knows_brook/2008/05/brooklyn-womens.html
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Female players use rugby to redefine image
By Matthew P. Moll
http://www.nyc24.org/2008/image/rugby/video.html
Michelle Sanders’ preferred weekend activity requires a mouth guard. Rather than taking park strolls she takes down other women and reaps the benefits of banged-up knees and potential concussions.
By Monday, Sanders swivels in her desk chair at a Manhattan publishing house, occasionally donning a short skirt to better display her rugby bruises, or “badges of honor.”
While the rough-and-tumble game can lead to an emergency room visit, many women of the Brooklyn Women Rugby Football Club said the sport has changed their self-image. Rugby has empowered the m, changed their view of femininity and broken the monotonous work grind.
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Photo: Yian Huang/NYC24
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Rugby tr aditionally consists of 30 players on the field at a time with 15 on each side. Teams must “play the ball” so there is no blocking and no tackling other than at the point of the ball. The ball can be advanced only by kicking it forward or by throwing it backwards. The players' only protection from one another are their thick jerseys and rubber mouth pieces.
Christine Pallotta, who has taught ninth grade science in Brooklyn for the last five years, found rugby’s tackling and hitting to be an empowering release of the workweek’s frustration.
Rugby changes Pallotta (Video: 3:25).
At work, Pallotta said, she’s carried herself differently now that her students have acknowledged her rugby prowess and “are a little afraid” of her.
“Overall I am more confident now that I have rugby,” said Pallotta. “You doubt yourself so often as a teacher; you never know how much you are actually making a difference.”
“Rugby is a tangible real way of knowing you are doing something well and that affects other parts of my life.”
Pallotta said rugby has had a positive impact on her personal life, too.
“I used to think rugby was really rough, especially for women,” Pallotta said. “But now when I walk home I think to myself ‘if someone tried to attack me I could tackle them and get away.’”
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Photo: Yian Huang/NYC24
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Her team is one of three in the Metropolitan New York Rugby Union – the governing body for rugby teams in the region – and the first women’s team in Brooklyn.
The Brooklyn women are in their first full season as a certified Division II team. Last February the team placed an ad on Craigslist, and now has a core group of about 15 players and a full schedule of tournaments and matches throughout the summer.
The players on the team view it as a safe place for silliness, camaraderie and language not meant for the prudish. Also, the players find the atmosphere to be a safe place to explore themselves.
Self-proclaimed tomboy Andrea ("Andy") Joseph said rugby helped her to discover another side of herself. She used to dress in her brother’s hand-me-downs and shied away from showing interest in the opposite sex. But after joining her first organized sport – one known for its full contact and lack of pads – Joseph discovered she had a more feminine side.
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Photo: Yian Huang/NYC24
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Joseph, an elementary school drama teacher, said the relaxed environment allowed her to discover her own femininity. While she still doesn’t consider herself a convert to all ways girly, Joseph occasionally exchanges her baggy pants and oversized hooded sweatshirt for red fingernails and high heels.
“I thought people would judge me if I ever changed,” Joseph said. “But with this group of girls I don’t have to worry about that.”
Even rugby veterans have found new ways to use the sport to redefine their self-image.
Sanders, who work in publishing sales, said the structures at work and her repetitive New York social life began to wear on her. When she decided she needed a fresh experience she turned to something she could rely on.
“I’m new at work so I always feel like I don’t know anything,” Sanders said. “On the rugby field I get to feel like an expert and be a teacher.”
Rugby has taken on a new role in Sanders’ life. In college it was something she did socially and was never at the center of her life. Now it is what she brings up at cocktail parties as a point of pride to set her apart.
“People look at me when I tell them I play rugby and say ‘wow you must be tough.’” Sanders said. “I think 'yeah that’s me, I am tough.’ I really identify with it.”http://www.nyc24.org/2008/image/rugby/index.html