When Brooke Bergeson arrived at BYU, she didn’t expect rugby to be the thing that shaped her year.
But the challenges, the practices, and the people around her became the foundation of a season that taught her resilience, trust and growth.
Bergeson didn’t expect rugby to change her life, but now, she can’t imagine school without it.
“I can’t go to school and not play rugby,” the 18-year-old freshman said.
It’s a surprising shift from earlier this semester when she kept repeating, “I’m quitting. I’m not doing this again.”
When asked why she tried out, she explained how she brought it up to her mom.
“My mom played rugby at BYU, but she never talked about it. I didn’t know anything about it,” she said. “I hated school, and I missed being on a team.”
When Bergeson walked into her first practice, she immediately felt out of her depth.
“Tryouts were really fun, but I didn’t think I’d make the team. I thought those two days were the first and last time I’d ever touch a rugby ball," she said.
"Then I got an email and I was like, ‘Oh shoot — I made it.’”
With no knowledge of rugby, she went into the first practice feeling very much like a child taking their first steps.
“I didn’t know what any of the words meant,” she said.
After one early passing drill, Bergeson was convinced she had already ruined everything.
“I passed the ball and thought, ‘I need to quit. That was so ugly,” she said. She glanced over at coach Jared (Whippy) and panicked.
“I remember thinking, ‘I’m going to die. He’s going to hate me,’” she said.
Those first few weeks were full of moments like that — small mistakes that felt huge. When she started to feel overwhelmed, she turned to the one person she thought might understand: her mom.
"I asked her about rugby, and she said she didn’t really remember anything,” she said.
Bergeson had asked if her mom could at least practice passing with her, but her mom responded that she never had to do that.
“She told me she was a hooker, and I was like, ‘Mom, you still have to throw the ball,” she said.
Learning rugby was a steep curve, but Bergeson found herself enjoying some parts and struggling with others.
"I was surprised that I actually liked tackling people... Clearing out of a ruck was the hardest thing," she said, "then I finally played in a game and was like, oh, this is why we do this."
It being Bergeson’s first year both in college and rugby, she found herself leaning on her teammates.
“They became my support in everything—even school,” she said.
When she struggled to understand new plays, her teammates would sit with her in the training room for hours before practicing, drawing them out on the whiteboard.
“They never made us feel stupid. They just said, ‘Let’s figure this out together.’... Without them, I wouldn’t be here... Rugby is a sisterhood. Everyone has a role, whether you’re on the field or on the bench.”
How she has grown throughout the season?
“It’s given me confidence that if I don’t understand something, I can figure it out,” Bergeson said.
She shared how rugby allowed her to realize that she can do hard things and learn to fix her mistakes, not just for herself, but for her teammates.
All this hard work came to fruition at the Boise State game.
“I was so nervous I thought I was going to throw up, so I found the nearest trash can," Bergeson said. "Once the game started, I just went for everything. I saw all my hard work pay off. This is why I play rugby — so I can play for my teammates and be a benefit on the field."
Even during Halloween parties, she found herself tossing a rugby ball around. Now, heading into a month-long break, she already misses it.
“We have a month off and I’m like, ‘Aw, man,’” she said.
For Bergeson, rugby isn’t just a sport anymore — it’s where she found confidence, purpose and a place to belong.