Swampscott woman in scrum for U.S. team

Katherine Gorham has her plans in place for Valentine?s Day weekend in Las Vegas.?I?ll be doing what I love,” said Gorham. “Playing rugby.”Gorham, 24, is an Olympic hopeful from Swampscott, recently home from a tournament in Tobago – the smaller of the two main islands that make up the Republic of Trinidad and Tobago in the southern Caribbean – and looking forward to showcasing her talents at the Las Vegas Rugby Sevens Invitational tournament.A 2008 graduate of Swampscott High School who was introduced to rugby when her grandfather took her to a game at Harvard University, she got her first taste on the pitch in a game during her senior year of high school. Since then, the sport – and the training that it requires – has become her passion.?Rugby has become my lifestyle,” she said. “I study the game in books and through watching footage. No matter how exhausted I am – how much I?d rather be sitting at home eating junk food or playing video games – I continually drag myself to practices, crossfit workouts or run by the ocean.”Although Gorham?s recent success is by design, her exposure to national coaches came quite by chance.Attending Canisius College in Buffalo, N.Y., she gave up softball after seeing the rugby club in action. After graduating with her communication degree, she was working 60 hours a week in Chicago, forcing her to put rugby on the back burner. Then, on a return visit to upstate New York, the South Buffalo Sinners women?s rugby club was short a player for a tournament in Syracuse.Playing in borrowed cleats, Gorham made a positive impression and was invited to play for the elite level USA Stars in Las Vegas. In January 2014, the Stars hosted national teams from Japan, Mexico and Canada. In December, they traveled to Tobago and Gorham was selected to the travel squad based in part on video footage, her mile times and weightlifting numbers.Now she has loftier aspirations, especially with 7-on-7 rugby becoming an Olympic sport in 2016. Gorham has yet to receive a national team invite, but is hopeful that highlights from her recent trip to Tobago and a strong performance in Las Vegas might change that.?Anything?s possible,” said Tara Roberts, coach of the North Shore Monsoons women?s rugby club, Gorham?s hometown team which practices at GE Field in Lynn. “If selection to a team were based solely on commitment and the work put in, of course she gets there.?Katherine is really passionate about the sport. We?ve had her playing fullback and she did a really good job there. She does well under pressure, is good at fielding high kicks and making open-field tackles and she never looks fatigued. She?s actually quite fast. We?ve played some teams with standout players because of their speed and Katherine always catches up.”Gorham credits her fitness to working out five or six days a week and crossfit training advice from Mike Dudevoir and Paddy Boscoe, her coaches at The Swamp, her local gym. On a typical day, she?ll also run to Nahant and back, putting in four or five miles on the street and along the beach.?The biggest thing with Katherine is that she is highly committed,” Dudevoir said. “She?s so athletic that I think she surprises herself. Our training program isn?t sport-specific, but a lot of what we do is geared toward explosiveness which gives her a lot of strength and power through her hips. I?m sure that helps in rugby – to be able to operate at a very high level of intensity for short spurts.”?I?m thankful for all the help from my coaches and my hometown rugby team to helping me get to where I am now,” said Gorham. “I?ve learned something new from every person I?ve been fortunate enough to play with – and the only way to become better is to keep on learning.”At 5 feet 4 inches tall and 155 pounds, Gorham believes that conditioning, versatility and resiliency are among her chief assets.?I?m not the fastest, not the strongest player on the field, but I?m the kind of player who always gets back up when I?m knocked do