Journey to the Top

Photo by Hayden Tharp

Eugene athlete Calie McVicker only knows one thing: sports. And she won’t stop until she reaches the heights she has set for herself.

At a training facility in Springfield, Oregon, Calie McVicker stands next to three brawny young men -- “It’s time for the real athletes to come out,” one of the men says as he stretches out his legs.

The four athletes are waiting for their trainer, Devan Filipe, to arrive and start their bi-weekly training session. With “Welcome to the Jungle” by Guns N’ Roses blaring over the loudspeakers, and the words “SUCCESS IS EARNED” prominently placed on the wall, it’s clear this is not going to be a light workout.

What follows is an intense, hour and a half training session that included quick reaction workouts, broad jump exercises, and power squats with not only weight plates, but also large chain links added to each end of the bar.

McVicker, who is used to the routine, goes blow for blow with the men – trading turns with her partner as she uses her toned, muscular legs, to squat the nearly 250-pound bar.

“He calls us the dream chasers,” says McVicker as she walks towards Filipe, standing on the other side of the room in an all-black outfit.

But what dream is McVicker chasing?

Calie McVicker, a 32-year-old Eugene Native, has been an athlete her whole life, spending hours upon hours training and playing sports. She wants to be the best at everything she does and doesn’t want to spend her time doing anything else.

Currently, McVicker is training for her up-coming rugby season with the Oregon Sports Union women’s rugby club, which plays in the Women’s Premier League, the highest competitive rugby league in the United States. “I guess the goal has always been to be the best,” she said.

But the road to success hasn’t always been a steady one for McVicker, with many of ups and downs on the way to her goals, it hasn’t always been easy for her. But, having made it to where she is now, she wouldn’t have it any other way.

From an early age, McVicker felt she was a better athlete than most of the people around her. Growing up attending Adams Elementary School in the early 1990s, she often hung out with the boys because the girls couldn’t keep up with her. “I knew I was good at sports because I always played with the boys -- I didn’t want to be a girly-girl” she said.

McVicker knew she had one thing that she was better at than others, even the boys: her speed. Again, wanting to prove that she could compete, she signed up for an all-boys flag football league.

Although she was the only girl in the league, it was clear from the beginning that she belonged, as she helped lead her team to a championship game in Autzen Stadium. Word quickly spread around the community and led to The Register Guard writing a piece about her accomplishments; the seed of McVicker’s impressive athletic ability had been planted.

As McVicker got older, she expected basketball to be the sport to fulfill her athletic dreams. She played well enough at South Eugene High School to earn a scholarship to play basketball at Lane Community College.

After two years at LCC that produced two Northwest Athletic Conference championships, McVicker stayed in Eugene to play basketball, soccer, and run track at Northwest Christian University for her final two collegiate seasons.

But McVicker’s time at NCU did not end up working out how she wanted. After losing just four games the season before with LCC, McVicker’s NCU team won just four games all season. “Lane was fun,” said McVicker, “but NCU, that was a totally different story.”

After two frustrating years playing for the Beacons, McVicker’s dream of playing basketball professionally overseas, was quickly fading away. “I had a moment where I thought to myself, ‘I’m never playing this game again!’” said McVicker.

Stacy Danae, a former NCU basketball player and soccer teammate of McVicker’s saw that McVicker was having a hard time, but knew she couldn’t let someone with the athletic ability of McVicker give up sports for good. “It’s hard when you’re in a situation that is not fun for you anymore -- so I just tried to get her back in a place where she loved playing basketball,” said Danae.

Danae signed herself -- and McVicker up for three-on-three basketball tournaments and be like, “Hey, let’s play.” Danae was ultimately successful in keeping McVicker interested and around sports, but now, she was stuck in limbo. “I had played basketball and track all the way through college and it was like ‘Now what?’” said McVicker.

After years of picking up athletic hobbies like powerlifting and coaching basketball and track at Pleasant Hill High School, McVicker wasn’t satisfied with herself. “It wasn’t feeding the need,” she said. The competitive needs that she was used to being filled throughout her early life.

Then in 2017, McVicker received a Facebook message from Catherine Whitaker, team captain of the Eugene Reign, a local semi-professional rugby club. She asked McVicker if she wanted to come check out practice. This led to an introduction to a game she had never played before, but she quickly fell in love and knew she had found her next endeavor.

McVicker had to immediately train and learn how to play the game and was thrown into the Reign’s fall 15-on-15 season. With each practice and game, though, she improved and impressed her coaches.

At the end of the season, McVicker had gotten much better at rugby and had a lot more experience under her belt. She was fully committed, and started training routinely for the 7-on-7 season happening that Spring.

It was after a 7-on-7 game in the spring of 2018 that McVicker finally realized she could actually make it somewhere in this sport. After seeing McVicker play in the game, Kelsi Stockert, a member of the Women’s National Rugby team came over to swap jerseys. She complimented McVicker on her footwork and agility and told her that if she kept working hard, she would go far. “So, then I was like ‘Woah, okay, maybe I have something going on with this,’” said McVicker.

McVicker started getting more serious about the sport, eventually starting her bi-weekly training sessions and joining the ORSU rugby club.

Her first full 15-on-15 season with ORSU in the fall of 2018 was definitely a wake-up call according to McVicker. The players in her new league were bigger – and faster – and had been playing the sport for much longer than her. “I was definitely just a rookie, definitely trying to figure it out,” she said.

She started getting in her own head. “I felt like I was playing scared, and that was making me mad,” she said.

Then, one day, as part of a team-bonding exercise, ORSU players exchanged notes anonymously, with words of encouragement on them. When McVicker read her note, her mindset began to change. “You’re doing great, you belong here,” the note said. “All the sudden I felt really good about myself,” said McVicker. “I took that note to the fields with me and I ended up having two really good games.”

McVicker finished the season strong. She said she, “stopped thinking and started playing.” It gave her all the more confidence to keep working to get better and prepare for her upcoming 7-on-7 season with ORSU in the Spring.

Filipe, her trainer, has been impressed with McVicker’s athletic ability and commitment -- despite her age starting to become a factor in her life. “Usually people that are a little older kinda just say ‘Oh, well, I’m done, I’m just gonna go work at a regular job,’ but she continues to come in every day,” said Filipe.

Commitment has never been an issue with McVicker, as she has worked her entire life to reach as far as she can athletically. But now, on what looks to be her final hoorah, McVicker is working every day to get to the places she wants to go.

For now, that place would be an invite to the National Women’s Rugby team. “I’m always looking to get to that place that gives me the recognition that I feel I should have,” said McVicker. “I guess that’s what I’m chasing.”