{"id":282474,"date":"2025-11-13T20:28:08","date_gmt":"2025-11-13T20:28:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/282474\/"},"modified":"2025-11-13T20:28:08","modified_gmt":"2025-11-13T20:28:08","slug":"i-kind-of-had-this-whole-new-identity-as-a-rugby-player","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/282474\/","title":{"rendered":"‘I kind of had this whole new identity as a rugby player’"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Life happens. That is the phrase that bounces around the head of Kristin Bitter<\/a> when she thinks about her rugby journey.<\/p>\n

Just over a year ago the 24-year-old did not know if her international career was going to continue. Now she is just six weeks removed from her first Women\u2019s Rugby World Cup<\/a> campaign with the USA<\/a> Women\u2019s Eagles and is Leicester Tigers<\/a>\u2019 first choice fly-half in Premiership Women\u2019s Rugby<\/a>.<\/p>\n

From virtually the moment Bitter picked up a rugby ball aged 16 she walked into USA age grade setups. When she played for collegiate rugby powerhouse Dartmouth University, to the best of her memory, she only missed out on a starting place once in four years.<\/p>\n

In March 2023 she made her Test rugby debut against Spain<\/a>, but by her own admission had never fully committed to rugby and, after a 40 minute cameo against Italy<\/a> in WXV 2<\/a>, life got put on pause when her mother was diagnosed with cancer at the end of 2023.<\/p>\n

Bitter had not been playing regular rugby since her graduation in 2023. Combined with the emotional strain of her mother\u2019s illness things came to a head at an Eagles training camp in the UK at the start of 2024.<\/p>\n

It was the newly appointed Eagles head coach Sione Fukofuka\u2019s first training camp in the role and with Bitter\u2019s mind firmly lodged at home in San Diego, she failed to make an impression. The Californian was not invited back to an international training camp for the remainder of the year.<\/p>\n

\u201cI just stayed home in San Diego so I could be with my family while my mom went through treatment,\u201d Bitter told RugbyPass. \u201cI even applied to normal jobs. I went to college. I have a degree.<\/p>\n

\u201cMonths went by and I hadn\u2019t heard back from anything. I was like \u2018dang, now I\u2019m just unemployed and not playing rugby\u2019. So, I started playing touch rugby. Which is important to this story because before I was playing rugby and I hadn\u2019t really fully committed to it.<\/p>\n

\u201cI started playing touch and I really, really liked it. I can\u2019t remember the last time I truly had true joy from playing a sport. So, I played a lot of touch and got super fit from that.<\/p>\n

\u201cAt the beginning of this year I was invited to a talent ID camp. Luckily it was down the road and the past six months of playing touch had made me so much faster and fitter. It also really helped my decision making.<\/p>\n

\u201cI came to this camp, and I felt like I was running circles around people. I had never really felt that before. I kind of had this whole new identity as a rugby player.<\/p>\n

\u201cLuckily Sione was there and he noticed the change in me. My mom had gotten better, so I was feeling good. And I was like, okay the World Cup is this year.\u201d<\/p>\n

In the months that followed Bitter worked hard. She gave herself every opportunity to gain selection for the Women\u2019s Rugby World Cup. Despite not being selected for the Pacific Four Series<\/a>, she was not discouraged, dedicated every waking moment to honing her craft, led the Denver Onyx to the maiden Women\u2019s Elite Rugby crown and finally made a long-awaited return to international rugby against Fiji<\/a> in Washington DC last July.<\/p>\n

Even going into her selection meeting with Fukofuka she was not 100 per cent certain if she would be skipping across the pond with her teammates. Next thing Bitter knew she was on the bench against the Red Roses<\/a> at the Stadium of Light for the tournament opener.<\/p>\n

In her team\u2019s group stage exit the playmaker made another appearance from the replacements against Samoa<\/a>. It lit a fire beneath her.<\/p>\n

\u201cI was sitting on the bench, looking at the likes of Ellie Kildunne<\/a>, Zoe Harrison<\/a>, Emily Scarratt<\/a> was out there \u2013 some world class players,\u201d Bitter recalled \u201cThen I looked at us and I was like, so are we. And so am I, right? I was also wearing that jersey.<\/p>\n

\u201cFor some reason the nerves went away. I think that\u2019s why, when I did go on, I really just stopped paying attention to who was in front of me. I felt like I played freely and just did me.<\/p>\n

\u201cI just had this confidence that I deserved to be there. Going forward, I\u2019m really excited for that the future holds. But one thing is, you can\u2019t have confidence without earning it.<\/p>\n

\u201cThere\u2019s still a lot of work to do. Still a lot of things I want to work on myself. I find it quite exciting. I love going to skills and just doing catch-pass or kicking. Give me my tee and a bag of balls, you\u2019ll make my day.<\/p>\n

\u201cI really have found joy in working on my craft because I know that I can grow so much as a player.\u201d<\/p>\n

The Women\u2019s Rugby World Cup<\/a> could well be the start for Bitter. Her motivation to win a Test jersey again has never been higher.<\/p>\n

She has plenty more things still to achieve. The fly-half has never started a game for her country. The tournament is coming to US soil in 2033.<\/p>\n

To continue the development of her skills, Bitter joined Leicester as part of wholesale changes at Mattioli Woods Welford Road.<\/p>\n

Put in contact with the East Midlanders by her Eagles teammate Tess Feury<\/a>, it is the perfect place to push the boundaries of her game further and realise a long-held ambition to play elite domestic rugby away from home.<\/p>\n

To date she is yet to taste victory in a Tigers jersey. Her side opened up their season with a loss to Sale Sharks<\/a> and experienced the same fate a week later against Bristol Bears<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Since her return to the Eagles set-up at the start of 2025, Bitter has already seen a significant change in the way that she plays the game. Her speed and fitness has renewed her confidence to carry the ball more and be a more unpredictable property in the No.10 jersey.<\/p>\n

So far as Bitter\u2019s development is concerned PWR<\/a> is the perfect place to sharpen her tools against some of the best players in the world on an almost weekly basis.<\/p>\n

\u201cI knew they were looking for a 10 and I\u2019m a 10,\u201d Bitter smiled. \u201cBut I still feel like I have to fight for selection. When they send out the team sheet I do not expect my name to be on it.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt is a good opportunity to work on my skills in a full-time programme. It is important and something that I struggle to find back home. Just having posts to kick at, in the US you don\u2019t really find that.<\/p>\n

\u201cBeing able to take the reins and just go out there and something I need, to do that against the other starting 10s in PWR. One of my goals I say to myself every time I walk off the field; I want to be the best 10 on the field that day.\u201d<\/p>\n

Bitter jokes that the main thing she is getting used to in England<\/a> is the weather. Born and raised in Southern California, she is not overly accustomed to wet weather or British winters. Calling on her time at Dartmouth and the New Hampshire weather to remind herself that she will be able to persevere.<\/p>\n

It is no secret that Leicester have embraced an underdog mentality. They are the only PWR team without a Red Rose, but even so boast a number of senior internationals among their ranks.<\/p>\n

She may have even walked into the toughest job in the league. With Meg Jones<\/a> and Francesca McGhie<\/a> having left for Trailfinders<\/a> Women, Amy Cokayne<\/a> and Charlotte Fray<\/a> for Sale, the club recruited a number of squad players from other PWR teams and the cream of the amateur game.<\/p>\n

Led by new head coach Ross Bundy, it is a club with plenty of room for growth. Growth that could make the team\u2019s opening two losses seem like a distant memory by the season\u2019s end.<\/p>\n

A heavy 74-0 loss to Bristol before their first bye week of the season has left Bitter and her teammates with plenty to ponder. For Round 4 things will not get much easier.<\/p>\n

On Sunday, Tigers travel to a Saracens<\/a> team that have won two games in a row and sit second in the table. A far cry from their opening weekend loss to Gloucester Hartpury several weeks ago.<\/p>\n

\u201cAfter the Bristol game we were super disappointed and that was felt across our entire team,\u201d Bitter said. \u201cWe all agreed that wasn\u2019t us. We weren\u2019t even close to hitting the standards we know we can hit.<\/p>\n

\u201cYou have to acknowledge the loss. You can\u2019t just ignore it. But at the same time, you can\u2019t dwell on it. You learn, you make your adjustments and you set new goals. At the end of the say every single game starts at 0-0. It\u2019s basically what you can do in those 80 minutes.<\/p>\n

\u201cThere\u2019s a quote I really love; the most dangerous man in the room is the one who has nothing to lose. That\u2019s the mentality that we need to have when we come to Saracens<\/a> or when we\u2019re at home.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe have that grit that you need as a team at the bottom of the table and then having the character and determination to climb your way up it.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Life happens. That is the phrase that bounces around the head of Kristin Bitter when she thinks about…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":282475,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[567],"tags":[64,63,760,85],"class_list":{"0":"post-282474","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-rugby","8":"tag-au","9":"tag-australia","10":"tag-rugby","11":"tag-sports"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/282474","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=282474"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/282474\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/282475"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=282474"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=282474"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=282474"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}