I was always going to go to Ole Miss. My mother got her bachelors degree here and my sister graduated from the Ole Miss School of Law. I’ve been watching the Rebels play on Saturday’s all my life and I only seriously visited one campus.

When I decided I wanted to cover sports and saw that the Meek School for Journalism and New Media at Ole Miss is among the best programs in the nation, it was icing on the cake.

I wanted to do sports journalism simply because I love sports and felt I was good at sports because enjoy looking at the nuances of any given competition on the field and off. I was an All-District Middle linebacker because I probably put in more time watching films than studying for Botany 101.

During my senior year, I thought about everything I wanted to do in college and wondered what I was going to do to stay active physically. I could have played intramural flag football or basketball for four or five weeks a semester. Being bored just thinking about that I knew I needed a challenge, something new.

As I was preparing to go to freshman orientation, I was watching the Rio 2016 Summer Olympics and the seven-a-side rugby event was on. This was the first time rugby was played as an Olympic event since 1924. The gold medal match was between Fiji and England.

Fiji routed England 43-7 to cement their names in the history books. Their performance was inspired and determined and it was evident even before kickoff when the national anthems were played. There wasn’t one Fijian eye that was dry as “God Bless Fiji” blared off the speakers in Deodoro Stadium.

That’s the kind of stuff sports writers live for. It was the emotion and pageantry that made me want to follow it, but it was the beauty of the action on the field that made me want to play.

I immediately started looking to find the Ole Miss Rugby Club on social media. The last post was from two years prior, which looking back is exactly what I should've expected for a collegiate rugby team, but it stated the practice times and that there was "no experience needed" so I had a green light.

Since I first picked up a rugby ball about a year and a half ago, I've had the opportunity to travel all across the southeast to play teams like Florida, Georgia, Vanderbilt, Alabama, and EKU. I have been able to compete with players from Australia, France, and Germany and play against guys from England, Ireland, and the Caribbean.

The very nature of rugby is unorganized and chaotic and the story of origin is mythical. It is said that in 1823, while a group of schoolboys was playing football (soccer) at the Rugby School in Warwickshire, England, William Web Ellis “with the fine disregard for the rules of football”, picked up the ball and started to run with it towards the goal.

There’s not much that backs up this origin story other than the spoken word passed down through the generations, but that doesn’t stop the winner of the Rugby World Cup from hoisting the Webb Ellis Cup every four years.

Since that day 1823, anyone who has participated in the organized brawl that is a rugby match abides by the same ethics of elegant violence: stomp your opponent and win at all cost, and do it with class.

There is no talking to the referee and fighting should be refrained from but kept civil if necessary.

This understanding is universal, so much so that Winston Churchill perfectly explained that rugby is a “hooligan’s game played by gentlemen”.

Rugby is truly an international fraternity and it is never more apparent than right after the final whistle sounds and all conflicts are buried and the teams meet to eat, drink and sing traditional rugby songs. Or when rugby comes up randomly in conversation and an instant friendship is made with a fellow rugger.

The common bond between rugby players of all generations is the reason why men in their sixties travel back to their clubs to play in the annual Old Boys match during alumni weekend.

I am part of a new wave of talent in America that was exposed to rugby with the return of the Olympic event and will only grow as the Rugby World Cup Sevens tournament takes place in San Francisco this summer. ESPN and CBS have also picked up the inaugural season of Major League Rugby, the first professional rugby league in the USA.

Rugby, especially women’s rugby, is among the fastest growing collegiate sports in the nation.

In my second year of playing, I have been selected as co-captain for the Ole Miss Rugby Club and I am starting to believe that this is the best true team sport to ever be played. I’m in love with everything about this sport and hope to play for a long time.