St. Thomas Aquinas has returned from their tour of Ireland ready to launch into a run for the second half of the season.
"It was a good tour, good, hard competition," said Head Coach Tim Kluempers. "We got a good run with the boys, got some confidence playing, and it was beautiful weather every day. the funny thing was the guys wanted some mud, they wanted to play in the mud, and we got a muddy day the last year."
Add to that coaching sessions and a good variety of experiences.
"The backs and the forwards were all a new combination this year, so this was a great opportunity to just get better," said Kluempers. "You see that lightbulb go on and you realize maybe you're doing something right!"
"We didn't have our full roster, but that was alright," added player Trever Mogren. "We knew we were going to have to adjust and our reserves were a little different. But the first two games the teams we played assumed we were bad because we were American. Then we beat them. That was a real morale-booster."
The thing about the tour, which was run by Irish Rugby Tours, was that the games can often take a back seat to everything else. Touring a castle or seeing Ireland's Atlantic Coast adds something special to the trip, and the whole thing ends up becoming about the team.
"We all did a very nice job of supporting and working with each other," said STA player Cooper Coates. "I think we all grew as rugby players and as teammates. We were taught by many great coaches and Irish players at the practices. But off the field I would say one of the values was accountability, since it's important to not only make yourself look good, but also the ones you play with. Like Coach Kluempers says: 'one of you act a fool, it makes the team look a fool.' Everyopne did their part in making sure we set the best examples of ourselves that we can."
