Rugby got this African-American girl into college — and is inspiring others to follow

It’s easy to get JaVonnii Merritt to gush over playing rugby.

“I fell in love with this game before I even played,” said Merritt, 18, who said she spent a lot of time watching the boys’ team at Soulsville Charter School. “I played volleyball for about seven years, I played lacrosse for a while, and I played softball and basketball, but none of them are quite like rugby…I enjoyed rugby the most.”

It’s hard, though, to get her to talk about what she did to a teacher — even though Sanam Cotton, the girls’ coach, tried.

“Tell her what you did you did to Mr. Upchurch (the teacher) ,” Cotton urged, jokingly.

“Well, it was really a respect thing,” Merritt said, still not divulging what happened. “All I can say is that I didn’t want anyone to tell me anything. I got suspended a lot…I got put out of class a lot.”

Yet the fact that Merritt is embarrassed about her past incorrigibility is a testament to the transformative power of a sport like rugby; a sport that has not only elevated her in character, but to become the first African-American girl in Memphis to win a rugby scholarship.

“But with rugby, there’s a specific way to do everything. Even when you’re being tackled there’s a procedure you take so that you fall in a way so that you don’t get hurt, and football doesn’t have that. I think rugby is more aggressive, but there’s a way to do everything.”

Merritt learned those ways well enough to win a Division 1 rugby scholarship to Life University in Marietta, Ga. She plans on studying psychology and business — and to use what she learns to reach youths who, like her, need to see a brighter path.

“But with rugby, there’s a specific way to do everything. Even when you’re being tackled there’s a procedure you take so that you fall in a way so that you don’t get hurt, and football doesn’t have that. I think rugby is more aggressive, but there’s a way to do everything.”

Merritt learned those ways well enough to win a Division 1 rugby scholarship to Life University in Marietta, Ga. She plans on studying psychology and business — and to use what she learns to reach youths who, like her, need to see a brighter path.

One of those kids, she said, is a friend of hers who was an outstanding athlete, especially in football, but the neighborhood got to him before dreams of college did. He got entangled in the drug trade, and wound up killing someone, Merritt said.

“If he had the right person guiding him, he would be in college right now,” she said. “Countless times, I’ve seen people in my neighborhood, children, completely throw their lives away when they had so much talent. I want these people who grew up like me to know that they can be somebody.”

A group of youths were finding that guidance recently — through a grueling round of …

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