December Alumnus of the Month: Aaron Bennett

Aaron Bennett is our December Alumnus of the Month!

When did you play?

I played for Michigan Rugby from 1996-2001, then for the Ann Arbor Men’s Team from 2001-2004, then for a couple other clubs over the next couple decades: 1997, 2005-2006 – Traverse City Blues, 2005-2011 – Tampa Bay Krewe, 2011-2012 – Glendale Raptors, 2012-2017 – Denver Harlequins, and 2017-present Champaign County Flatlanders (Crashlanders).

What position did you play?

At Michigan, I mostly played hooker, wing, and fullback, although I have played practically every position on the field. I started at wing/fullback, and gradually worked my way in elsewhere. I was also in the administration almost my entire time at Michigan: president of the club for the last two and a half years.

What got you started?

I wanted the action of American football, but was too small to play for Michigan. I tried rugby and was immediately hooked (and realized it is far better than football). I loved the aggressive nature of the game, loved pitting myself against an opponent, and loved the camaraderie. When I didn’t make the team for the Nagano Olympics (Alpine skiing, slalom), I transferred my attentions wholly to rugby.

What honors/awards did you receive?

When playing at Michigan, I did not receive any awards of note. However, after my time at Michigan, I was selected Harlequin of the Year in 2013, 2015, and 2017, selected to the Florida Select Side (played Brazil’s national side) in 2011, and was a member of the following teams: DIII Eastern Rockies Rugby Union Champions (Denver Harlequins) – 2013, DI National Championship Runner-up (Glendale Raptors) – 2012, DII National Championship Runner-up (Tampa Krewe) – 2011, DII National Champions (Tampa Krewe) – 2010, Florida Cup Champions (Tampa Krewe) – 2008, 2009, 2010, 2011, South DII Champions (Tampa Krewe) – 2009, Midwest DII Quarterfinals (Michigan RFC) – 2001, 2002, 2003, and Michigan Cup Champions (U. of Michigan)                                              1997, 1999, 2000.

What are your favorite memories/teammates?

My time at Michigan set the stage for my opinion of how to be successful on the field. Much of that comes from recognizing your teammates strengths and weaknesses. We knew Scotty would shank the kick, but he’d kick the hell out of it. So, we knew where to run. We knew Zev wasn’t going to pass, but was going to juke three guys before he went down. So, you’d just follow right behind him to ruck over as soon as he went down. Learning to play with the team you have on the field, not some ideal like the All Blacks, has served me very well. Our pack was undersized, but Masso wouldn’t let us leave the practice pitch until we hit the scrum sled 50 times. That taught me how much skill and experience can overcome size and brute strength. 

A good example of playing to our strengths was a sevens tournament we played in Toronto. The Clydsdale side scored a try off an 80 meter maul in a match against a Jamaican developmental national side (which the ref remarked after the match that he’d never seen before in a 7s match). We knew we outweighed them by about 100 pounds a man, and that none of them were really pack players. If one of our guys got tired on a run, he’d just throw the ball forward. They’d get the scrum, but we knew I’d steal their put-in (they’ve since changed that law). Kevin Zimmer scored a try in that same match with seven guys hanging off him. We kept the ball in tight, using our size, strength, and experience to our advantage. If they ran to the outside, we didn’t bother expending energy chasing them. I don’t remember what the score was, but I remember we beat them quite badly (and crushed some hopes those guys had of the Jamaican national side making the World Cup, from what their coach told us after the tournament).

The other aspect of the game Michigan taught me was the importance of camaraderie. The friendships I made at Michigan made my college experience far more enjoyable. Living at a house with a number of my teammates, despite its downsides, was a great experience. The friendships formed also led to better performance on the field, as you didn’t want to let your mate down. It also helps the team with their commitment, as coming to practice and working out on the off-days will let your teammates down too. That aspect of the game is something I took with me to my other teams, and something which helped those teams find success on and off the pitch.

What did you do after Michigan Rugby?

I continued to play rugby for two decades after Michigan. I found myself in the administration of every team I joined, as I realized from my tenure at Michigan how important the off the field stuff is in a successful club. Before Covid, I was player/coach, and then just coach (when my knee blew out) of the Champaign County Flatlanders (a D4 side). Using what I learned at Michigan, we were able to win our league, despite our average age being about 15 years older than our opponents and our numbers being so slight that we had to steal guys in every match. 

I have been teaching for most of the two decades since. I started teaching high school English, was an adjunct at the community college when I lived in Florida, then taught at the university full-time when I moved to Denver. When I moved to Illinois, I earned my special education certificate and have been teaching special ed for the last few years (as well as adjuncting a class or two a semester at the local college at night). I’ve had a few books/short stories published. This started at Bob Dewey, where short story sales paid for a few months rent (mostly Horror, which probably isn’t surprising to most of you). Married and divorced twice. I now live in Champaign-Urbana, Illinois. 

Congratulations to Aaron as our Alumnus of the Month for December 2021!