“We were traveling like a varsity team [at that point],” said former team president Marlee Morris ’12. “It was hard when we were at a club level and competitive and winning tournaments and doing well and [sometimes] we didn’t have the balls and the uniforms would go missing.”

A core group of players began to meet with members of the Athletic Department—including Assistant Athletic Director Tim Wheaton and Athletic Director Robert L. “Bob” Scalise.

In the discussions, administrators emphasized the many changes that come with a varsity transition. The team would work under a new coach selected by the Athletic Department and the expected time commitment to the sport would be ramped up.

From the perspective of the Athletic Department, there were more than just a few factors going into a complex decision.

“We wanted to know what this would mean for us,” Wheaton said. “We have a certain amount of fields and teams that need to use [them]. Can we make it work with the teams that we have, or are they at capacity? Same with the athletic room and the training room and sports information. You are going to those people and telling them you have one more thing to do.”

Indeed, both members of the Athletic Department and players on the rugby team methodically weighed different factors in the talks. Discussions proceeded slowly, and from time to time, players involved with discussions were not sure as to where they stood.

“There was almost a transition where they gave us a bit more of what we wanted from varsity status, like a trainer and fields,” Lambert said. “But we still felt going varsity was what we wanted even with those additions to our club privileges. And I think they really realized how serious we were about it after some of those things.”

Discussions became tense in October 2011, when then-captain Megan Verlage ’13 told the Crimson that the possibility of the team being promoted to varsity status was ruled out. According to the captain, the administration told the officers of the rugby club in the spring of 2011 that financial constraints prohibited the department from funding another varsity team.

“During the Athletic Department meeting they said, ‘No, you are not going varsity, and don’t spread rumors that you are,’” Verlage told the Crimson at the time. She continued, “I will [say] right now we have no intention of going varsity.”

There was never a timeline laid out in the discussions—no specific plan existed, at least to the knowledge of the team, concerning if or when the team would achieve varsity status. Eventually, the department and the team restarted talks and, on Aug. 9, 2012, the department announced that in 2013, the Crimson would become the Ivy League’s first varsity rugby team—the school’s 21st female varsity sport and 42nd overall.

Among the many to receive the e-mail alert was Sue Parker, the head coach of Navy at the time, who knew immediately what she wanted her future to hold.

“At that point, I knew I wanted to coach this team,” Parker said. “I wanted to coach these kids and be at the head of this program.”

Parker, who Wheaton said “lives and breathes rugby,” was hired by the team in May to replace then-coach Brian Hamlin. By that time, the team had access to the Murr Center training room and had added weight lifting sessions into its weekly schedule.

After moving up to Division I in the fall of 2012, Radcliffe Rugby finished its final club season ranked 23rd, third in the Ivy League.

The hiring of Parker was the final step. The move to varsity was complete. For the team, the process of examining the significance of the change came next.