The Brains Behind the Braun

It’s an early June evening and the temperature’s 95 with a heat index pushing 100. Fourteen people, ranging in age from 20 to 45 and older, stand on a steamy, paved road, preparing for a 40-meter sprint. They take turns dashing between two green cones that electronically transmit data to the coach’s handheld timer. Members of the Little Rock Rugby Club, they are taking the first of a two-part fitness test administered by Dr. Julie McCoy, a North Little Rock neurologist. McCoy also is one of the coaches of the club, which has a 33-acre complex off 145^th Street, near Little Rock’s southern edge, and sponsors teams for men, women, and youths under 19. As McCoy walks to the nearby rugby field (or pitch, in rugby parlance) for the second part of the test, she tells a visitor, “This is brutal.” The players line up, and on McCoy’s “Go!” they sprint the pitch’s 100-meter length. They have 18 seconds to run those 100 meters, then 42 seconds to jog back to the starting line, and do it again. Each round trip is called a shuttle and is worth 1 point. Each player’s goal is to score 10 points. Some drop out after two shuttles. More shuttles, more casualties. Only three still have the gas to make the 10th shuttle. Brutal. After the test, McCoy talks with the players about conditioning, about the need for hitting the weight room. Running isn’t enough — one won’t get faster just by sprinting, one has to get stronger, too. “Those with 2s and 3s are going to have to really bust it,” McCoy said. Then she talks about setting achievable goals. She’d like most of the players to be able to run at least seven shuttles. The next fitness test will be in a month  — in the July heat. Brutal.

A bit about rugby: the more-traditional form of rugby features 15 players on each side, playing two, 40-minute halves. A variation is rugby sevens, featuring seven players on a side, playing two, seven-minute halves. In sevens, there’s no let-up — lots of running, tackling and scoring on a field roughly a third larger than a standard football field. McCoy says only three substitutions are allowed in sevens, meaning four players must play all 14 minutes. That can be really brutal when you play six games in one day in 102-degree heat — making a player feel like he’s in a convection oven — which is what some of these players did the next Saturday in Dallas. The team, known as the Thundercats, finished second in a field of 24 teams.

If one thinks it’s incongruous for a female neurologist to successfully coach a bunch of manly men, think again. McCoy has the credentials. An only child growing up in Jonesboro, she learned to throw a football from her father. As an undergraduate at Hendrix College, she was named female intramural athlete of the year three years in a row. After graduating from the University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences in 1989, she did her residency at Tulane University in New Orleans, where, looking for ways to spend her free time, she saw a flyer for a women’s rugby team. She gave the sport a try and found a passion, first as a player, then as a coach. Eventually, in 2004, she became assistant coach of the USA Women’s National Sevens Rugby team. Then, from 2005 to 2009, she was head coach, taking the team to the semifinal round of the 2009 Rugby World Cup Sevens championship in Dubai, United Arab Emirates. McCoy realized, however, that she was spreading herself too thin. Besides being a doctor and a coach, McCoy is a mother; her daughter, Hannah, is now 14. Coaching on the national level required being gone six weeks a year. “That’s a pretty long time to be away.” So, now McCoy focuses on coaching closer to home.

Besides coaching strategy and strength, she works to help players build character. The team has three core values — honor, courage and commitment — and has crafted an agreement setting 10 goals, ranging from going to the USA Rugby South Championships to creating a culture of brotherhood and mutual respect. “The thing that binds them together is feeling part of a community,” McCoy said. Recalling the Thundercats’ performance in Dallas, McCoy beams. “The thing I’m most proud of … they were voted by the tournament as the most honorable team. … Chosen by their peers as the team they most admired.”