By CHARLIE HENNING
For Penn senior Patrick Conery, rugby did not start as a lifelong passion. It began with a simple invitation from a friend, and that moment ended up shaping his high school years more than he ever expected.
Now in his second season with the Penn Rugby team, Conery has earned his place as a starting lock, holding down the forward pack with strength and a growing sense of purpose. Conery’s path to the sport was not the usual one. He joined the team later than most, stepping onto the field as a junior with only interest and curiosity. What kept him coming back, he says, was not the physical contact or the game plan, but the people around him.
“It was the friendships,” he often tells his teammates. “The guys made it feel like home right away.”
That feeling of belonging soon turned into real commitment.
Conery pushed himself in training and learned the tough and often unnoticed jobs that come with playing lock. He focused on winning lineouts, securing rucks, and doing the hard work that does not always get attention but always earns respect. Coaches praise his steady effort, teammates trust his presence, and younger players see him as proof that it is never too late to find your place.
Teammate Cavan Kovach said that Conery plays a major role in Penn’s Rugby success.
“Pat has been a huge impact for our team, and it was very impressive how fast he picked up the sport,” Kovach said. “Even stepping on the field for the first time last year, he looked like he belonged, and has only been improving since then.”
As he gets ready for graduation, Conery looks back on rugby not as a sport he simply joined, but as a community that welcomed him. “I came for my friends,” he says, “but I stayed because this team became family.”
