Airman rises to the top in rugby

  • Published
  • By Gary Rogers
  • 100th Air Refueling Wing, Public Affairs
RAF MILDENHALL, England --  Tech. Sgt. Jammey Tipper-Booth's rise to the highest level of Air Force rugby in 2 1/2 years is a fantastic achievement. Sergeant Tipper-Booth, 33, has just returned from Fort Benning, Ga., representing the Air Force at the 2010 Armed Forces Rugby Championship. He was U.S. Air Force in Europe's only representative.
 
Sergeant Tipper-Booth's English wife, Samantha, is the one who actually got him playing the sport. Her father played, and she tried to get her husband to play for a club outside of Patrick Air Force Base Fla., when they were stationed there, but he never gave it a try.

It wasn't until he moved here that he responded to a base-wide notification that Mildenhall Rugby Union Football Club was looking for players. So the 100th Civil Engineer Squadron sergeant showed up, and at the end of his first training session was hooked.

Before the Armed Forces championships, Sergeant Tipper-Booth had to make it through the Air Force trials which are held each year in Savannah, Ga.

He prepared for the tournament doing the same as he always does - three squadron physical training sessions, five resistance training sessions and five hours of rugby training with the club each week.

Sergeant Tipper-Booth was surprised to find out when he reported to training camp at Fort Benning, of the 30 players selected to attend the tournament, only 25 would make the roster. So for the new guys like himself, the pressure was on from day one.

The players barely had a chance to unpack their bags and that afternoon were put through their paces at the first training session. The team trained twice daily from then on.

Sergeant Tipper-Booth made the cut and was selected for the roster playing in the position as flanker. The players who didn't make the squad became support for the tournament.

The standard of rugby was high, especially on the Air Force side. It was an awesome experience playing with athletes of that caliber, said Sergeant Tipper-Booth.

As for the tournament itself, the Air Force had four straight wins in the round robin matches, defeating the Army 22-0, Navy 40-10, Marine Corps 30-10 and the Coast Guard 50-3.

In the championship game, the Air Force continued their winning ways, defeating the Coast Guard 56-8 to be crowned 2010 Armed Forces Rugby Champions. The team has now won seven straight Armed Forces Championships.

Even though he showed up fit and ready to play, sergeant Tipper-Booth said there is always room for improvement. He now has an idea of what to expect next year and has already put a training plan in place.

Sergeant Tipper-Booth is hoping to pass on his experience to his Mildenhall teammates, telling them that if they train hard, make the extra effort and study the game they can be as good as they want to be.

Sergeant Tipper-booth said, when he started out he didn't even know which way to run with the ball. Now some 2 1/2 years later, he has played for the Air Force rugby team - some achievement.