Rosalind Chou became the head coach of Life University Varsity Women’s Rugby team in January 2014. She was chosen based on her 20 years as a top-tier player at the collegiate and club level, as well as her management and operations expertise as the former president of the Atlanta Harlequins Women’s Rugby Club, winners of the 2012 National Club Championship. In January of 2017 she was honored at the USA Rugby National Development Summit as the 2016 Female Coach of the Year.
Chou immersed herself in building the program from the ground up, focusing on character development as well as rugby skills development. Says Chou, “Any time you are building a new program, it starts with the basics. My goals are to have these young women learn something new every day and strive for continuous improvement.”
She did not have to wait long for those good habits to take effect, as the first-ever Life U varsity women’s rugby team finished with a 10-1 record and made it all the way to the USA Rugby Spring Final Four, eventually finishing third. In 2016, the team built on its success, making it to the D1 Elite semi-final before falling to eventual champions, Penn State. The team earned their first USA Rugby National 7s Rugby Championship and followed that up with the university’s first Collegiate Rugby Championship 7s title. The 7s team finished the season with a 18-0 record. In 2017, the 15s A-side squad made its third Final Four appearance in a row. The 7s squad continued its success as USA Rugby National 7s Championship runner-up, and back-to-back champions taking the 2017 Collegiate Rugby Championship crown. In 2018, the 15s A-side defeated 12-time national champion (winning the past 6 in a row) Penn State University for their first trip to the USA Rugby D1 Elite National Championship match, finishing as runners-up. The squad made back-to-back return trips to the 15s D1 Elite National Championship in 2019 and 2021(No championship in 2020 due to COVID-19). Most recently, the squad returned to the Collegiate Rugby Championship final in May of 2021, falling just short, 10-7, in a tightly contested championship match.
Through Chou’s initiative, the Women’s Rugby program has adopted the USA Rugby model of individual development through intense training and strength and conditioning. Through the new identification process, forty-five Life U players have been invited to National All-Star Competitions and Age-grade Camps. Several players have represented the US at various levels; such as the Junior All-Americans and Collegiate All-Americans. Additionally, Life U has had thirty players named Collegiate All-American by USA Rugby, and four Running Eagles have been selected for the US National team in 15s, one being named the 2019 Women’s Premier League MVP, and one of these four was also named to the USA 7s National Team. Two are currently contracted full-time for Team USA for the USA 7s team. In addition to Coach Chou joining the 2018 Collegiate All-American coaching staff, an unprecedented 9 of the 42 women at the CAA camp were Life U student-athletes.
Shortly after, Coach Chou was added to the Project S.O.A.R., a USA Rugby coach development program. She was also named Southeast regional coach for the Women’s 15s National Team where national pool members trained at Life University as part of their annual programming. She also served as Women’s Premier League All-Star head coach for the East All-Stars in 2018 and 2019, a position to coach the top women’s premier players in the country to be identified for the national team.
Chou embarks on her eighth season with another impressive recruiting class to complement the core group returning. Her vision is not only for the success of the Life U Women’s Rugby program, but also for women’s rugby development as a whole. With it being classified as an “emerging sport” by the NCAA and exponential growth of varsity programs in the NAIA, Chou considers herself in the best place to help grow the sport, saying, “Life U Rugby is an outstanding program with great facilities and a fantastic rugby culture. I couldn't ask for a better place to be.”
