Tennis and rugby don’t exactly have a whole lot in common.

Tennis is mainly an individual sport. Rugby is team oriented. Tennis is about finesse, agility and quickness. Rugby is about power and toughness. About the only thing the two have in common is the need for great conditioning and athleticism.

Nonetheless, senior Becky Carlson has had the ability to do both in her career at Eastern, sometimes doing both in the same season.

Carlson is one of the leaders of the rugby team this year and was a big part of the tennis team’s success last season as a No. 3 singles and No. 2 doubles player.

A native of Gambrills, Md., Carlson grew up playing all kinds of sports but eventually committed to tennis, accepting a scholarship to play for West Virginia.

“I played for a semester and decided I wanted to do something else,” Carlson said.

That something else was rugby. Carlson saw a few rugby games while at West Virginia and fell in love with a sport she knew very little about.

“I watched them play and thought it was really cool,” Carlson said. “I did a lot of different things and just wanted (a sport) that was a little more physical.”

She began looking into rugby programs and saw Eastern had the only NCAA recognized team in the nation so she gave Eastern coach Frank Graziano a call to tell him about herself.

Carlson was surprised Graziano was even willing to to talk to her when she called.

“I don’t know how many Division I coaches would just accept a phone call like that,” she said.

But Carslon’s athletic background was more than enough to get Graziano interested in the team’s young history at the NCAA level.

“I was just unbelievably impressed,” Graziano said. “At that time, we were right in the infancy stage of creating all this stuff. We were a little stunned initially, but obviously quite excited.”

Carlson’s decision was made to come play rugby at Eastern, but she was still under scholarship at West Virginia for tennis.

At the time, Michael Hunt was the tennis coach at Eastern and got a tape of Carlson. He offered her a spot on the team and Carlson was on her way to Charleston.

Because of her commitment to the tennis program, she could not get her rugby career going right away, taking the first semester off.

Brian Holzgrafe took over the tennis teams when Carlson arrived and the two didn’t immediately hit it off.

Carlson’s fiery personality clashed with Holzgrafe as the two got in a verbal altercation the first week of practice.

Holzgrafe knew he had a player he was going to grow to like. He has so much respect for his former player who he now considers a friend and is even his neighbor.

“A bunch of us are fake in this world and she’s real,” Holzgrafe said. “She’s just a great girl.”

The next season came and it was time for Carlson to begin juggling both tennis and rugby at the same time. There were times where she would finish a tennis practice and then hurry over to the rugby field to make sure she didn’t miss anything.

“She would just finish an intense practice and sprint across the pond and come over there,” Graziano said. “Sometimes I would say, ‘Becky you can take a breath and get a drink of water,’ but she wanted to get everything.”

Holzgrafe said that is what makes Carlson such a good player to coach.

“She is the best athlete I have ever seen here,” Holzgrafe said. “She can outlift some of my males, and for her to go out there and have that athleticism is amazing. She rules both worlds.”

Though she was able to keep up with the demands of handling two collegiate sports and classes on most days, Carlson did have her rough moments. She said when she was worn out, her teammates and coaches were right there to pick her back up.

“A lot of times I don’t think I could have done it without the players,” Carlson said. “Your players are always there to pick you up.”

She also got motivation from Graziano who was always willing to work with her.

“When I was just completely worn out, he worked with me so I could do it,” Carlson said. “Rugby was something I really wanted to do so I just did it.”

Other than the two sports being difficult on her physically, she said it wasn’t a tough transition mentally preparing for each sport, which are completely different in nature.

“I didn’t really have to switch any gears,” she said. “I went from hitting serves to hitting people.”

Carlson’s tennis eligibility ended last Spring, but she needed to finish a few more classes in her journalism major so she decided to come back for another season of rugby this year and Graziano couldn’t be any more pleased.

Sure enough she wandered into the office at the beginning of the season and said she wanted to finish her rugby career,” Graziano said. “there was no problem finding her a spot. Just by the nature of her being around is great for us.”

Carlson is among the best in tries (7), assists (9), points (40) and tackles (25). Her past soccer experience has also put her in the position of making conversions.

Carlson has just two more games left in a Panther uniform and said this just might be hr last time playing rugby.

“There are club teams all over the place, but this might just be it,” she said.

As for what other think, they know she will do just fine wherever she ends up.

“It hurts me when I see players go,” Holzgrafe said. “I know wherever she goes and whatever she does, she will be successful.”