Photo By EJ Hersom | U.S. Army Sgt. Autumn Czaplicki scores during the 2024 Armed Forces Women’s Rugby...... read more read more
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FORT INDIANTOWN GAP, Pa. – The term “warrior” became synonymous with the U.S. Women's Olympic Rugby Sevens team as they showcased their grit and determination at the Paris Olympics this summer. On July 30, 2024, Team USA earned its first-ever Olympic medal in rugby, defeating powerhouse Australia and earning bronze.
For Sgt. Autumn Czaplicki, a Pennsylvania National Guard Soldier, “warrior” isn’t just a metaphor as she sets her sights on joining the Olympic team in 2028. Balancing the demands of elite athletics with actual warrior duties, Sgt. Autumn Czaplicki has shown she has the necessary grit and determination.
Just ask Tony DeRemer, the head coach of West Chester University’s women’s rugby team.
“I knew Autumn was special from one of the first days I saw her play,” DeRemer said. “When I was recruiting her, she had never played rugby before, but she had been a four-sport athlete, including a state wrestling championship. So, I had really no idea how she would perform on the rugby field.”
In 2018, during Czaplicki’s freshman season, she and the WCU Golden Rams traveled to play the Army West Point Black Knights, who are typically one of the strongest teams in the country. A freshman who had not played rugby before college, and with only a few hours of rugby in her career, Czaplicki was not intimidated.
In one of DeRemer’s favorite memories of her, Czaplicki got the ball and hurdled an Army player, something he had never seen in a live rugby game in all his years of coaching.
DeRemer turned to one of his assistant coaches and said, “This is going to be a fun four years.”
A year later, the Rams defeated Brown University in the National Intercollegiate Rugby Association Division II National Championship, with Czaplicki scoring the game-winning try. And although they did indeed turn out to be a fun four years, her rugby career was only beginning.
Czaplicki is assigned to Alpha Company, 128th Brigade Support Battalion, 2nd Infantry Brigade Combat Team, 28th Infantry Division, but was recently selected to join and serve with the U.S. Army’s World Class Athlete Program. WCAP enables top-tier Soldier-athletes like Czaplicki to compete internationally while fulfilling their military obligations.
The program’s ultimate mission is to prepare Soldiers to represent Team USA at the Olympics or Paralympics.
“There is not a word to describe what it means to represent the U.S. and the Pennsylvania National Guard in this unique way,” Czaplicki said. “I am just so thankful that the Pennsylvania National Guard is willing to allow me to do this and pursue my dreams to become an Olympian.”
Though WCAP is based at Fort Carson, Colorado, she works with the national rugby team in Chula Vista, California, training throughout the week. Her training schedule includes speed drills, weightlifting, skill sessions and team practices, all in preparation for international competitions like the HSBC SVNS in Perth, Australia this January showcasing the best rugby teams in the world. But according to Czaplicki, as a member of WCAP your Army career must come first.
“For example, this is a big year for me, but I will be missing two international competitions for the Basic Leader Course,” she said. “Our obligations as Soldiers will always come first before our sport. As remote Soldiers not training at Fort Carson, we have online work to do regularly, like Army correspondence courses, quarterly trainings and I am always doing some kind of paperwork.”
Although her commitment as a Soldier has taken her away from the game from time to time, she says that the military has been the “backbone” of her rugby journey.
Her rugby and military careers began around the same time.
“I knew I wanted to play sports in college, but I hated soccer, was not good enough in basketball and too slow in track,” Czaplicki said. “Naturally, I am athletically gifted but never really found a sport that I was passionate about enough to work at.”
She tried rugby in high school, since her parents played collegiate rugby, but was discouraged because she didn’t know how to pass the ball correctly. Before she set off for college, her mother reached out to DeRemer. Although she had little experience with rugby, DeRemer saw enough in her athletic ability and was willing to give her a scholarship.
“At the same time, I wanted to serve in the Pennsylvania National Guard,” Czaplicki said.
Though originally planning on doing ROTC at West Chester, her schedule which already included rugby, work and 18 credits proved to be too much. She knew something had to give.
“I realized I could enlist and already be a part of the Pennsylvania Army National Guard,” she said. “Right after the semester was over, that's what I did. I was lucky enough to be able to do split-option, so that I would not miss any rugby or school and still graduate on time.”
She credits the military with giving her the discipline, courage and work ethic to train at such a high level. After enlisting, she started giving everything her full effort. Grades improved from Cs and Ds to straight As, she worked more hours, made no excuses and never accepted defeat. She then started breaking school records and currently holds the record for most tries scored in Rugby 7’s and most tries scored in a game in Rugby 15’s. She earned All-American honors in 2019 and 2021.
It was also in 2021, when rugby no longer became just a college hobby for Czaplicki.
“I was watching the 2021 Olympics. It was USA vs. China and Kristi Kirshe scored the first try. The first thought that came to mind was ‘I want to do that too,’” Czaplicki said. “After that, it was like something switched in my brain and rugby went from being something fun to do with friends to being an obsession.”
After graduating college, that obsession would take her to Washington, D.C. three times a week, as well as Canada just to play club rugby.
“I was completely invested into this dream,” she said. “I was so poor from all the flights and gas money to give myself exposure. I was training rain or shine, even in a foot of snow.”
Even though she was clinging on to a dream that was becoming rather expensive and tiring, she kept pushing through simply because she did not think she had even earned anything to give up.
“The women who came and played before me had it even harder than I did. I knew that the challenges I faced, and still face to this day, would only make my moment so much more special,” Czaplicki said. “Something I learned through this journey is that it is not always what you accomplish, but who you become in the process.”
After doing that for a year, Team USA called.
Czaplicki went out to Chula Vista, joined the team, applied to WCAP and had her first cap, or international game, against Spain in March 2023.
She now looks forward to playing against teams and athletes she has looked up to, including the New Zealand Black Ferns. The Black Ferns are full of women she has always loved watching and who, up until two years ago, she would have asked for autographs from.
“I already played against them in 15's, and that was a full circle moment for me. My father turned on a rugby match when I was a kid and it was NZ, they were doing the haka and my dad was explaining what a haka is and why they do it before matches,” Czaplicki said. “So, standing in front of the last world cup champions and watching their haka was just an incredible moment and a remarkable part of my journey so far.”
With a chance at competing in the Olympics, she is living the dream for most athletes. But she keeps herself grounded by remembering her athletic career before rugby, and hopes her story reaches young girls who are “always getting carded in soccer and fouled out in basketball.” Sports can change a person’s life and she also hopes other Soldier-athletes look into club rugby local to them or the All-Army Sports program.
It has not been an easy road for Czaplicki. But the support of her fellow Soldiers and leadership back in Pennsylvania has helped her stay focused and given her something to fight for.
“I would never want to let them down after all the extra work they have also put in for me to be here,” Czaplicki said. “My fellow Soldiers do follow my journey and have always been extremely supportive.
“I represent the PA Guard every single practice and competition.”
| Date Taken: | 12.06.2024 |
| Date Posted: | 12.08.2024 14:28 |
| Story ID: | 486872 |
| Location: | FORT INDIANTOWN GAP, PENNSYLVANIA, US |
| Web Views: | 73 |
| Downloads: | 0 |
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