Goshen College student trades England for USA rugby team
GOSHEN, Ind. – Few college-bound students
would be likely to pass up the opportunity to enter a university in
England for free. When presented with the option, however, Conrad
Bontrager, a Goshen College first-year student from Mishawaka,
Ind., didn’t find it to be a hard choice.
As a junior at Penn High School, Bontrager began playing for the
rugby team. He participated in the aggressive and fast-paced sport
for two years, and as his senior year came to an end, Bontrager and
three teammates were approached by their coach about the potential
option to play for Hartpury College in England.
The recruiters for Hartpury College, which is associated with
the University of Western England, believed Bontrager and the
others had what it took to be competitive with European
teams. According to Bontrager, “They said we would have
everything paid for, except our plane
tickets.”
But when the college turned out to be an agricultural and
equestrian school, Bontrager, who is interested in pre-med,
realized that the only credits from the English college that would
transfer should he decide to come back to the United States would
be electives. “I didn’t think it was right to spend a
year or more over there because it would just postpone everything I
wanted from school. …You’d be 30 before you got your
first job,” he said.
Instead he decided to enroll at Goshen College to focus on
pre-med – in the past 10 years, 82 percent of Goshen students
who have applied to medical school have been accepted – even
though the college doesn’t offer a rugby
program.
Bontrager felt good about his decision – especially as
another opportunity surfaced. The USA Rugby Boys Under-19 National
Team offered him a spot on their 2006 team after grueling try-outs
in July and December, having narrowed the field from 120 to 40
players, including Bontrager.
The Under-19 National Team will play Feb. 18-19 against the
Canadian national team. These matches are likely to be warm-ups for
the 2006 International Rugby Board (IRB) Under-19 World Cup
Championship taking place April 4-21 in Dubai, United Arab
Emirates.
Bontrager – who has broken his nose twice in one season
and seen his fellow teammates stop playing because of torn ACLs,
broken ankles and paralysis – decided that rugby won’t
be a long-term career because he would rather help others off the
field.
As a biology major, Bontrager aspires to follow a pre-med
curriculum in order to eventually become a doctor. While his
interest lies in radiology, Bontrager is currently unsure of where
he will concentrate. He is the son of Warren Bontrager, who is a
doctor, and Linda Bontrager of Mishawaka, Ind.
As for rugby, Bontrager said, “If I had to describe it as
anything it would be a combination of football and soccer, (but)
it’s a game that you more have to see or play to
understand.”
– By Emily Dougherty, for The Goshen College
Record
Editors: For more information about this release, to arrange an
interview or request a photo, contact Goshen College News Bureau
Director Jodi H. Beyeler at (574) 535-7572 or jodihb@goshen.edu.
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Goshen College, established in 1894, is a four-year residential
Christian liberal arts college rooted in the Anabaptist-Mennonite
tradition. The college’s Christ-centered core values –
passionate learning, global citizenship, compassionate peacemaking
and servant-leadership – prepare students as leaders for the
church and world. Recognized for its unique Study-Service Term
program, Goshen has earned citations of excellence in Barron’s Best Buys in Education, “Colleges of
Distinction,” “Making a Difference College Guide” and U.S.News & World Report’s
“America’s Best Colleges” edition, which named
Goshen a “least debt college.” Visit www.goshen.edu/.
