Emma Rust is a senior at CMU and has been playing on the Rebels ruby team for four years. Before becoming a freshman at CMU, she wanted to play football on her brother’s football team. However, she could not play on the team, which motivated Rust to find a different sport to play.
Rust was first introduced to rugby by a former player in her residence hall, who always talked about how fun it was to play. Since Rust was always interested in playing a contact sport, she decided to give rugby a try.
The teammates that Rust has are also some of her closest friends. Within the team, players are first paired up with a ‘mom’ who is a player that someone can become close with. Then they are paired up with other players to create a family, which produces close ties and relationships with other teammates.
While playing rugby, Rust also met her girlfriend, Kelly. Both Rust and Kelly lived in the same residence hall and also joined the rugby team during the same season. After creating a friendship, the two began dating and have been togehter ever since.
An important aspect to a ruby team is the nickname each player has. A nickname is given to a player when they do something. Sometimes there is a story behind how the player received their nickname. Rust got the name ‘Rusty’ because of her last name.
Rust wants every woman to know ruby is a sport for every type of body, no matter if you’re in shape or not. “I think it’s a sport that every woman would love if they had the chance to play it or if they just had the chance to go out and try it’ Rust said.