View From The Field - Week 6

Before I got to Wake Forest, I played football for Highland High School in Dallas, TX. As most people know, high school football in Texas is a pretty big deal. I was a decent player, but not highly recruited by colleges, so when it came to choosing where I would go to school, football didn't really factor into my decision. When I decided on Wake Forest, I thought pretty hard about walking onto the football team here. Even if I never saw any playing time, I wanted to continue to be a part of high level athletics and it would be cool to say I played ACC football. But then shortly before I was set to arrive at Wake for my freshmen year, I got a letter from Coach Kane telling me about the rugby team. I knew very little about rugby, but the thought of being able to play an intercollegiate sport and actually see the field really appealed to me. So I decided to check out the team.

For the first few practices, I had no idea what was going on. But the coaches and my new teammates did a fantastic job of teaching me the sport, and I started to catch on. As a lineman in football, I never got to carry the ball, so I really liked the fact that in rugby, every player has the opportunity to have the ball in his hands. I was very much looking forward to trucking some defenders while carrying the ball. Unfortunately, I injured my back in our first game and was out for most of the fall season. But I was hooked on the sport and loved being a part of the rugby team, so I worked extremely hard over semester break to get into shape so that I could challenge for a starting spot once we started Carolinas Rugby League play.

This past weekend, I finally got my shot, starting at flanker against Clemson. It was an awesome experience, especially to be part of a forward pack that absolutely dominated the scrums all game. Being able to celebrate that victory with my teammates was great. The bond between the guys on this team is different than anything I ever experienced in high school football. Unfortunately, our celebration was short-lived because on Sunday we got completely annihilated by North Carolina. I didn't start, but came in midway through the first half when Christian Jewett wrecked his ankle. It was a weird game, because it didn't seem like Carolina was that much better than us, but everytime we made even the slightest mistake they turned it into an immediate try. Coach told us after the game that we needed to just forget about what happened on Sunday and move on. I don't think I'll ever be able to forget how much it sucked to get beat that bad, but I'm using it as motivation and focusing on NC State this weekend. With Jewett injured, I think I'm probably going to get alot of playing time, so I need to step up my game to try to fill his shoes. I'm hoping that if I put in a good performance, he might introduce me to some of those girls he's always hanging out with. Stay tuned.

-Ty Pierce, '13

Ty Pierce is a freshman prop/lock/flanker who is in his first year of playing rugby.