The Women of Atlantis Will Play in Vientiane, Laos
Princeton University Women Stars Dot Mittow and Lauren Rhode join Princeton coaches Chris Ryan and Emil Signes on a trip to the other side of the world to meet up with Princeton '06 grad Maggie Dillon. Maggie is in charge of women’s rugby in Laos as head of the Lao Rugby Federation.
The trip will be the 31st country visited by Atlantis Women since their inception. Atlantis Emperor Emil Signes presently coaches the Princeton Women’s Rugby Club, but is well known for his coaching expertise all along the East coast as well as stints as both the men's and the women's USA Rugby national coach.
Atlantis will play in a tournament on January 26-27 in Laotian capital Vientiane. They will spend the next week conducting outreach activities in conjunction with Lao Rugby's sport for development projects in H'mong and Khmu villages in one of the poorest districts in all of Laos. These villages are located along the Ho Chi Minh Trail, and as such are still heavily contaminated with unexploded ordnance from the Vietnam War.
Tour Party Players
Karen Backenstose, Keystone
Brittany Budner, NOVA
Sara Edwards, Glendale
Casey Gallagher, Singapore Bucks
Tracy Gola, Glendale
Dot Mittow, Princeton
Misha Renda, At Large
Lauren Rhode, Princeton
Heather van der Hoop, Vancouver Meralomas
Josie Ziluca, NOVA
Tour Party Administrators
Manager Sarah Sall, Coaches Emil Signes, Chris Ryan and Ray Cornbill, and Aileen Killen and Hannah Cavallin will accompany the team.
Atlantis Rugby
Besides entering domestic tournaments and the toughest international tourneys to which it is invited, Atlantis tries to go to countries not known for their rugby, countries to which its players would be unlikely to go were it not for the rugby. Thus the 30 countries to which Atlantis has traveled to date have included not only rugby powers like New Zealand, Australia and England, but also Bulgaria, Malaysia, Cuba, and several other places where rugby is a decidedly minority sport. We would not make these trips if it was not for the rugby, and it’s the rugby that binds us together as a team and also to our hosts. In the end, however, we learn about not only the opposing rugby players but also their countries and culture and this makes Atlanteans more aware of the wider world in which we reside.
Atlantis was founded in 1986 originally as a men’s invitational team from the Atlantic coast of the US. Since then it has been expanded to include women and players from the entire USA, occasionally with guests from other countries.