SVEN ALSKOG
Staff Writer
While the majority of Idaho State University students will be heading home for the winter break, rugby player Sam Tenifa will be taking part in the USA Rugby Men’s Junior All Americans (MJAA) camp.
The camp is a pivotal stage in the selection process for the team that will compete in the International Rugby Board (IRB) Junior World Championship next year in New Zealand.
Competitive on an annual basis, the ISU rugby team competes in the Utah Collegiate Conference. Tenifa is the only member of that conference to be invited to the tryout camp this month. Even more impressive for him is that this season is only his first of collegiate level rugby.
“The chance to try out for the USA team is still a little hard to believe,” said Tenifa. “I’m still learning to play the sport and if I don’t make it through the tryouts, I’ll still be satisfied with the experience.”
However, don’t expect him to be content with being invited to the camp, as the lone representative of the Utah Collegiate Conference is looking to show well and make the final roster.
His eagerness to learn should help him continue to progress leading up to the tryouts.
“One of his best characteristics is he is coachable, and that is very important,” said recently retired ISU rugby coach Ram Eddings. “It is about attitude and not feeling you know it all, but [being] willing to try new things and learn.”
Originally hailing from Texas, Tenifa attended Highland High School in Salt Lake City, one of the top programs in the country that has won 20 national championships since their origination in 1976, according to Eddings.
During high school, he played just one season on the rugby team, leading to no offers from collegiate programs. However, thanks to good timing, he was able to find a spot with ISU rugby.
“I wanted to keep playing after high school, but I had no offers anywhere,” he explained. “But a family friend said she knew where I could go to school and contacted coach Ram.”
As has been the case with hundreds of student athletes over the years at ISU, Eddings helped to get Tenifa involved both on and off the field.
“He helped me to sign up for classes and pushed me to get work done,” Tenifa said. “He currently is training me to get ready for the trials.”
At ISU, the consistency within the rugby team has a lot to do with their motto of Honor, Heart, Team. Living by that motto, each player bought into the approach that Eddings went with over his years as the head man, making sure his student athletes were top notch in and out of the classroom. His replacement will have big shoes to fill, but the platform is already set for a successful future.
As for Tenifa, the experience at ISU has taught him how to be successful within the sport of rugby.
“During practice we worked on keeping a clear head and staying focused,” he said.
When it comes to mindsets, the success of both a team and the individuals on that team is heavily dependent on having the right mindset. For ISU, it can be said in more ways than one that this is a strong area for the team yearly.
“We always had a good start to a game, but we wanted to finish the game strong too, so we worked on playing for a full 80 minutes non-stop,” said Tenifa. “Although we won games, it wasn’t the win we were looking for. We didn’t want anyone to score on us. Looking to keep all of these objectives in mind, we usually did well in our games.”
That mindset has prepared him for what will be one of the more exciting opportunities of his life so far with the USA tryouts.
Following the tryouts, Tenifa will be relied upon to help continue the success of the program at ISU.
“I feel very strongly that in the next four years Sam will grow into one of the best players ISU has had,” said Eddings. “He has a good attitude, is committed to playing the best he can and is willing to work hard to achieve the next level.”
The next step for Tenifa is to represent ISU at the USA rugby tryouts which will take place from Dec. 26 to Dec. 31 in Tempe, Ariz.
