Rugby skills took Black Hawk pilot to new heights

CHULA VISTA, Calif. - Kaity Schwarting put all of herself into the game of rugby for four years at the U.S. Military Academy.

On a clear spring night in 2022, her collegiate career ended in pain.

Early in the second half of a national quarterfinal game vs. Dartmouth in Kennesaw, Georgia, Schwarting waited behind a defensive line of six to counter a Dartmouth attack.

She saw a Dartmouth player cut through the formation. Schwarting lunged for the tackle, but the Big Green player ran through the contact, her knee colliding into Schwarting's left side.

Schwarting felt her shoulder separate. Instantly she knew.

After the collision, another Dartmouth player took the ball and scored to take a 14-5 lead.

Schwarting watched from the sidelines as Dartmouth held on 14-10 ending the Black Knights' season.

Doctors would later confirm that she suffered a torn labrum. A week later, Schwarting graduated from West Point.

Recovery put Schwarting in a deepening funk as the injury and recovery shattered her future plans. Before she hurt her shoulder, rugby had dominated Schwarting's life since age 12. An intense competitor, she took every loss and every failed try to heart, nearly suffering from burnout, she said.

Schwarting eventually underwent surgery and endured the nine months of therapy and recovery that followed. But she to be put on medical hold at West Point during her recovery. And now she had to watch her classmates move on to flight school and the operational Army.

"I really struggled with it," she said.

But she remained active during her recovery. She took a role as special assistant to the West Point commandant and rejoined the Black Knights' rugby 15s team as a coaching assistant. She finally began flight school in January 2023, where she started training to become a Blackhawk pilot.

As she learned the intricacies of hovering and flying through different weather conditions, she took a three-year break from the rugby pitch.

Now a 25-year-old first lieutenant, Schwarting competed in her first Armed Forces rugby tournament in Chula Vista, California in September. All-Army coach Kaitlyn Kelly trusts Schwarting to play scrum half, a playmaking position. The Soldier also leads the team on kickoffs.

Schwarting now approaches the game differently. As the team's offensive distributor, she takes the controls of Army's offensive attack. She assisted Army winger Annie Lee on a pivotal goal in the Armed Forces Rugby Championship game, helping Army win its fifth Armed Forces title over Air Force.

As a Black Hawk pilot she's flown on missions for U.S. Southern Command while stationed at Soto Cano Air Base, Honduras. Like on the rugby pitch, her decisions affect her teammates and crew, but at much greater stakes.

"When you're in that high-pressure environment up in the helicopter, everyone's relying on you to do the right thing when you're on the controls," All-Army coach Kaitlyn Kelly said. "I think it's the same thing with kickoffs. Everyone's relying on you … like the people in the cockpit are trusting you."

Schwarting said a more relaxed temperament helped her not to panic when the team fell behind in matches against Navy, Coast Guard and Air Force. In each of those contests, Army (5-0 in the tourney) rallied for the victory.

Competing at the Armed Forces Championship helped Schwarting rediscover the sport that enamored her as a child. In the competitive field of collegiate rugby, she said she sometimes lost sight of that.

"In college I used to think that I would live or die by rugby," Schwarting said. "It held so much weight and importance in my life."

"But at the end of the day, rugby is just a game, and the All-Army [team] is an incredible experience to play a fun game with super incredible women," she added.

Unlike many American rugby players, Schwarting began competing in the sport at a young age. While other kids at her high school spent time with friends or going to the beach, Schwarting played rugby hundreds of miles away.

A worthwhile trip

Every weekend, Schwarting took her backpack, her gym shoes, and her team uniform and boarded an Amtrak train six hours north. She passed through vast expanses of pine and oak in the Virginia countryside to the bustle of the DC suburbs. She'd finish her homework while listening to music on the train.

She left behind her family, friends and her life along the state's southern coast because it meant she could play rugby, a game that allowed her to be aggressive, yet disciplined. On the rugby field any frustration or stress in her life subsided with each successful scrum or scoring try. The adrenaline rush from the sport made the long commute worth it.

Kellam High School, minutes from the Virginia Beach shoreline, didn't have an official rugby team. So Schwarting joined rugby clubs North Bay Rugby and Atlantis, both based in the DC metro region, but attended high school in Virginia Beach. "It's cool just to be in a sport where being aggressive is a good thing," Schwarting said.

While visiting Bel Air, Maryland, she learned the game from her mother, Jaymie Hoffman, a former rugby player and Army veteran.

From age 12, she fell in love with the sport; the teamwork and the close bonds players form. In competitive rugby, building trust among teammates can be the difference between winning and losing.

Rugby would be more than just a game for Schwarting. It would be the catalyst that eventually led her to the Army and flying one of the military's most lethal air frames.

Although Schwarting grew up in a military family, both of her parents served in the Army, she said she never considered joining armed forces as a teen. Her plans changed when West Point's rugby coach recruited her for the Army women's rugby team.

Schwarting didn't know then, but her abilities on the rugby field would help her as a pilot.

Piloting the Blackhawk

After completing the primary phase of flight school, in January 2024 she learned her assignment would be flying the renowned Black Hawk Helicopter, giving her the opportunity to pilot one of the world's most versatile, powerful air frames.

Learning one of the world's most physical sports at only 5-feet-4-inches aided her decision making in the cockpit, she said.

On the rugby pitch, Schwarting spent countless hours studying angles and spacing, how to create scoring tries for teammates and herself. She likened her role as a playmaker to being at the controls of a helicopter.

"Being small on the field, I think, has always made my brain work harder," she said. "And, figuring out all the nuances and the IQ of the sport has always kind of been what I've leaned on."

"Doing that similar stuff on the rugby field has allowed the pilot side of me to get that understanding of just being able to manage a lot of things at once."

The Army assigned her as executive officer of A Company 1228 Aviation Regiment at Soto Cano.

Like she did on the rugby field, Schwarting had to learn to multitask as a pilot. Blackhawk pilots perform missions that vary from reconnaissance, navigation and command and control. They must master an array of controls to effectively maneuver the aircraft.

But she had one void to fulfill in her life: returning to the rugby field. Through messages and texts, she remained in touch with Kelly, a West Point assistant who took the head coaching role of the All-Army team as an Army Reservist.

Schwarting had to wait two years to return to the rugby pitch while completing various stages of Flight School and earning her pilot certification.

"I don't think I could ever be too far from the sport," said Schwarting who plans to continue competing for the team, depending on mission requirements. "I think it means too much to me and my family as a whole that I think I would always continue to play."

On the same campus where USA Olympians train, Schwarting and her Army teammates repeated as champions in a dramatic finish in the come-from-behind 15-14 victory.

"I see that fire that she's had," Kelly said. "She's gotten more and more confident as camp went on and as the game's been going on."

Rugby helped Schwarting join the Army. The Army helped Schwarting rediscover her love for the sport.

"In college [rugby] definitely felt like a job," Schwarting said. "I loved doing it, but it definitely strained on you a lot. I think [competing in the Armed Forces Rugby Championship] is just falling in love with the sport again."

RELATED LINKS:

Army outlasts Air Force in Armed Forces Women's Rugby Championship

Army News Service

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