For the coach of the only Division I women’s rugby program in the nation, head coach Frank Graziano sees recruiting as one of the most challenging aspects of his job.

Jessica Gross’ signing of a National Letter of Intent to play at Eastern is the first for the Panthers and is the first in the nation, which typifies Graziano’s dedication and commitment to recruiting dedicated student athletes to one of the nation’s premier women’s rugby programs.

Gross will become the fourth player to join the Panthers after departing from Zion-Benton High School and will join former player and assistant coach Michelle Reed and current players Jackie Jaworek and Robyn Harris as Zion-Benton alumni who currently compete at Eastern.

While at Zion-Benton Gross participated in basketball as the team captain and was the Drill Team Commandor in the ROTC program

In addition to receiving the Presidential Physical Fitness Award, Teacher’s Choice Award, and the 2002 Academic Award, Gross attended the Great Lakes Naval Base Leadership Academy and won their Leadership Academy Award twice.

Gross fits the prototypical player Graziano looks for during the course of his yearlong recruiting program and he is excited about the contributions he feels Gross will make to his team.

“I look for enthusiastic, competitive individuals and Jessica fits all those characteristics,” Graziano said.

“According to (Jessica’s) ROTC Commander there is no challenge Jessica can’t meet. I think that she is going to do quite well here.”

Gross’ signing is just the beginning of the annual recruiting process, which comprises the majority of Graziano’s work as head coach.

“During the course of the season, I would say I spend at least one-third of my week recruiting, but at the end of our season 60 percent of my time is spent on recruiting,” he said. “There are a lot of evenings during this time of the year that I don’t get out of the office until nine o’clock at night.”

In addition to spending long hours in the office on the telephone, or formulating questionnaires for prospective women’s rugby student athletes, Graziano regularly attends high school girls sporting events around the state.

“I attend the state high school track meet and watch the women run and compete,” he said. “I look for the second and third tier athletes that will not compete in track at the college level and judge their competitive spirit to see whether they can compete in rugby. It comes down to a name, a look and a competitive spirit.”

During last year’s state meet Graziano said he was able to come up with forty athletes he attempted to contact with his standard women’s rugby recruiting letter and questionnaire that is filled out by the prospective student athlete and returned to him.

Graziano said he received four of the forty questionnaires sent out, which indicates the difficulty of recruiting student athletes to play a sport at the college level, but is not played as a competitive sport by females at the high school level.

“It’s tough to sell the sport of rugby to parents who have not seen the sport before,” he said. “We show them a video and they think it is great but often times say, ‘we can’t do it.’ (Rugby) is not as cut and dry as the other high school sports, it’s very challenging.

“I try to make it a win-win situation for both the players and the parents, Graziano said. “I want them to feel comfortable with the opportunity at Eastern.”

The notoriety of the Panther women’s rugby team as the only Division I women’s program in the nation and the team’s success has also been a factor in helping Graziano recruit players from around the country.

“Sometimes players find me,” Graziano said. “We are really the only team that pops up on the Internet when looking for the NCAA women’s rugby page.”

Graziano said many of the women athletes at the high school level who contact him comment on Eastern’s program and how successful it looks.

With Graziano recruiting from a pool of women athletes who have little experience in rugby at the high school level, he said most of the athletes he has seen and recruited have had a background in softball and basketball, but other athletes he has seen in his recruiting process have come from soccer, track and even water sports, such as swimming and water polo.

“There are a lot of skills on the rugby field that can be taken from other sports,” he said.

The success of Graziano’s recruiting can be seen by the student athletes he recruits and their performance on the field.

“We are very fortunate to have the quality of student athletes we have on our team,” he said. “We are really pioneering a women’s sport here at Eastern.”