Back in the game International rugby player and Trinity PhD candidate, Kathryn Dane , makes a triumphant return to rugby after overcoming a life-threatening brain haemorrhage T he journey to international rugby for many female players is often anything but conventional, and Kathryn Dane’s path is no exception. Dane first picked up a rugby ball at the age of eight at Enniskillen Rugby Club in County Fermanagh. Competing with the boys until the under-12 level, a common reality for young girls in rugby, Dane’s determination was evident from the start. ‘I was very small and about half the size of the boys, and the coaches were apprehensive about me joining in, but my parents were quite stubborn, so they had no choice but to let me muck in,’ she recalls. As options to play rugby dwindled during her teenage years, Dane transitioned to soccer, becoming an underage Northern Ireland soccer player, while also pursuing hockey. Despite the challenges, she made the most of a tag rugby team at Enniskillen Royal Grammar School, helping to transform them into Ulster U-18 champions at full contact, 15-a-side rugby. ‘It was really quite funny because we didn’t expect to do well at all, but it just shows that if you have a solid core of players who’ve built chemistry through tag rugby, anything is possible,’ she says. Dane’s talent didn’t go unnoticed, and she soon found herself playing alongside seasoned players like Grace Davitt and Larissa Muldoon at Ulster. A move to Dublin to study Physiotherapy at Trinity led her to Old Belvedere Rugby Club, where she joined forces with former Grand Slam champions Sophie Spence and Nora Stapleton. ‘I fell in love with the family atmosphere at Old Belvedere. Through playing with them and winning an All-Ireland final that year, I earned a spot as scrumhalf for the Irish women’s rugby team at the age of 18, while still in my first year at Trinity.’ After completing her undergraduate degree, Dane was encouraged by Professor Fiona Wilson at Trinity to continue her research in physiotherapy, particularly focusing on athlete performance and safety. Securing an Irish Research Council grant, she embarked on a PhD at Trinity that focused on safety and optimal tackle outcomes in women’s rugby. Her research delved into best practices, player perspectives, coaching expertise, and video analysis. The findings highlighted a lack of direct research to guide coaching practices and safety policies in women’s rugby, while also revealing the barriers faced by female players, including fear of injury, late starts in the sport, and underdeveloped performance pathways. Dane’s work offers a crucial blueprint for future practice, policy, and research. Ironically, despite her extensive research on player safety, Dane faced her own major health challenge in November 2022, which had nothing to do with rugby. An undiagnosed arteriovenous malformation (AVM), an abnormal tangle of blood vessels, triggered a potentially life-threatening brain haemorrhage. Fortunately, Ed Slattery, the IRFU’s Head of Athletic Performance for the Women’s Pathway and National Team, was on hand when it occurred and managed to get her to Connolly Hospital within 15 minutes.
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