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Go Forward, Support: The Rugby of Life by Rosemary A. Schmidt

What's It About?

The Beantown Rugby Club had what they referred to as a secret strategy — an expression, a cheer, a rallying cry, and what one might interpret as a game plan for life: “Go Forward, Support!”

The saying has a practical message in terms of rugby: Go forward, never run sideways; don’t run away from your supporting players. Support, when the play breaks down, set up for what ensues, and remember that no one goes anywhere alone.

Rosemary A. Schmidt, a former collegiate and club rugby player and now a lifelong rugby devotee, has borrowed the expression as the title of her book, Go Forward, Support: The Rugby of Life, in which she describes the rough and tumble sport in great detail and explains how it teaches many valuable life lessons.

She explains that the motto can be applied to pretty much any human relationship. “Going forward is about facing your problems, making decisions and committing to them. Support is about dealing with the consequences of those actions, reevaluating the situation, making adjustments and gathering strength to continue your forward motion … Don’t run away from your support.”

CARVING OUT SPACE IN RUGBY’S “BOY’S CLUB”

When Schmidt started playing rugby in 1986, it was not quite universally accepted as the consummate women’s sport, like, say, tennis. But Schmidt regarded her discovery as a godsend: “Rugby simply opened my eyes to a passion that I’ve tried to apply to the rest of my life. In many ways, life is a lot like rugby. No timeouts. No protection from the elements. No free substitutions … The rules are always changing. And it’s not always fair.”

The author also notes that she was getting involved in the sport at a time in our society when people had a stereotype of “the overly athletic woman,” a non-ladylike label back then that has evaporated over time.

In fact, she offers a famous 1987 quote from Fred Paoli, captain of the U.S. men’s team (quoted in The Vancouver Sun), at a banquet in Canada about women entering the sport: “I don’t and can’t condone their bastardization of our great game. Men’s rugby is a civilized war for survival and honor, and women can never play as men do. It’s a travesty that my wife could travel 2,000 miles to see this game and not be invited to this banquet — but these women could.”

A GAME OF LIFE AND A FORM OF ART

Schmidt uses the first half of the book getting readers familiar with the sport — its history, nuances, rules and traditions. She spends ample time discussing the unique bonding, notably the after-game parties where, after a couple of hours trying to knock opponents senseless in the mud and cold, they share in drinks and spirited camaraderie.

The author devotes the balance of the book to offering life lessons and explaining how rugby is a microcosm of so many, with so much to understand about everyday life: “when it’s time to suck it up and keep pushing to reach one’s goals, knowing when it’s time to stand one’s ground, knowing when to work toward a reasonable compromise, knowing how to pull people together to strive for a common goal.”

Schmidt provides her own takes on life’s fragility, life’s changing nature, the fact that there are no guarantees in our world, the value of learned experiences, and how to think of the game of rugby as a game of life and a form of art.

Whether the catalyst for Schmidt’s wisdom is rugby, or a paper clip, or a hardware store, or a tree, or some of the other fascinating analogies she offers us in Go Forward, Support!, the message is one and the same.

“There’s always something more to be seen, if we only look for it; more to be learned, more to be written, sung, played or created. The onus is on us to be open to these discoveries. To have our eyes, ears, hearts and minds open to new possibilities.”

Go Forward, Support! The Rugby of Life is available for purchase here.


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Go Forward, Support: The Rugby of Life by Rosemary A. Schmidt
Publish Date: 2003-04
Genre: Nonfiction, Self Help
Author: Rosemary A. Schmidt
ISBN: 9780970852810
Jim Alkon

Jim Alkon is Editorial Director of BookTrib.com. Jim is a veteran of the business-to-business media and marketing worlds, with extensive experience in business development and content. Jim is a writer at heart – whether a book review, blog, white paper, corporate communication, marketing or sales piece, it really doesn’t matter as long as he is having fun and someone is benefitting from it.

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