While many Stone Ridge students utilize the holiday break to spend time with family and friends and relax before coming back to school, Stone Ridge senior Lauren Ferridge ‘19 had a unique experience that involved very little relaxation. A member of the SR Field Hockey and Swimming programs, Lauren is also an accomplished rugby player outside of Stone Ridge. Over the winter break, Lauren was invited to San Diego’s Chula Vista Elite Athlete Training Center to participate in the USA Rugby Girls High School All-American Winter Camp. To gain an invitation to the camp, players were scouted at Regional Cup tournaments throughout 2018.
The All-American camp took place over five days made up of intense training and an intra-squad match. The camp also served as an identification and development camp for future national team rosters. Lauren was one of three Maryland players and sixty girls from across the country in the under-18 division.
Although not her first national camp, Lauren reflected on being nervous to compete on such a high-level this time around, stating, “I was definitely nervous but learned new skills and became more confident competing in a high pressure environment. It was a valuable and exciting experience in which I was able to learn a lot, become more confident competing in highly competitive situations, and meet a bunch of new ruggers from all over the country, which is always fun.”
SR Athletics is so proud to see Lauren excel on the national level and we can’t wait to follow her success next year as she continues to play rugby at Dartmouth College.
