Janie Kluempers has spent her entire life loving rugby and is taking a short stint away from her day job as the assistant athletic trainer at Park University to have that same role for the United States Women’s Eagles’ National Team at the Rugby World Cup in New Zealand.
Kluempers has been with Park University for the last six years, but her passion for rugby goes back more than two decades. She grew up watching her father, Tim Kluempers, be a professional rugby player with the Kansas City Blues, which led her down a path that eventually reached another continent on the largest stage.
Janie Kluempers has spent her entire career trying to get into the Rugby World Cup, which has finally came true with the United States Women’s Eagles’ National Team.
“This is literally everything I’ve ever worked for, from the moment I knew I wasn’t going to be a professional dancer and kind of did that pivot into the medical world,” Janie Kluempers said. “Knowing that I loved rugby so much, from that moment on I said my goal is to be an athletic trainer at a World Cup and to say it out loud; I’m getting teary eyed right now because it’s everything I’ve ever wanted, dreamed of and worked for because this is the highest level of rugby.”
Kluempers’ journey to the 2021 World Cup has been years in the making, not only starting with a dream when her dance career ended but also with a four-year internship with the men’s national rugby team. She interned in the summer while attending college, beginning in 2012 – which was right after the 2011 World Cup – which started between her junior and senior years.
“Once I reached out to the national team to see if I could have an internship, I started having people know that I was rugby specific on the medical side because rugby is so intricate and if you’re known as a rugby specific athletic trainer, then your name is out there. It has no timeouts at the national level, there are no subs, you run out on the field when the player is still going and it’s very specific on taping and rehab,” Kluempers said.
Rugby isn’t an NCAA sport, so Kluempers was assigned to other sports during her tenure as a student at K-State, but she volunteered with the men’s rugby team at K-State just as a manager and stayed in the rugby world. The K-State alum took advantage of her opportunities when she was young to help her climb her way up the ladder in her career.
“As I grew in my major, I reached out to USA Rugby just for an internship, was granted one and shadowed the Men’s National Team in 2012, then it just kind of sparked from there. Once I graduated from K-State, sat for my boards and got certified, then I started back down at the bottom and worked U-15 rugby on the national level academy side and just worked my way up,” Kluempers said.
Park University’s assistant athletic trainer Janie Kluempers poses for a picture in the World Rugby Pacific Four Series this summer in New Zealand ahead of the 2021 Rugby World Cup where she will also be an assistant athletic trainer.
After Kluempers graduated from K-State with a degree in athletic training, she became a basketball and baseball assistant athletic trainer at Park University during the school year, then in the summer would volunteer her time as an athletic trainer for Academy Sides and US National Sides to build up her resume. Kluempers earned her way up to the lead trainer of the men’s junior national team and then was given the opportunity on the senior side this past summer with the women’s national team for the Pacific Four Series – a small tournament to give the teams a competitive game before they come back for the actual World Cup – in June at New Zealand.
“The Pacific Four Series kind of led to a selection for the World Cup, which was supposed to be in 2021 but with COVID, New Zealand pushed it back a year, so it’s labeled as the Rugby World Cup 2021. I got selected as the assistant athletic trainer for the women’s national team as we go to New Zealand to compete for a world title,” Kluempers said.
Kluempers will have a lot of responsibilities at the World Cup, with the most basic one being her taping up the athletes before training sessions and games. She will also be using her skills and knowledge to help the athletes rehab their bodies and get back on the field if there are any injuries.
“If you played the violin, you wouldn’t give it to someone who’s never been trained or has any experience with cleaning or repairing a violin because that’s your means to make a living. These athletes are trusting me to help tune up and fix their instrument, which is their body, so they can play rugby at the best level they can,” Kluempers said.
While she loves the game, Kluempers never played rugby when she grew up but that was because she never had the opportunity. She’s gained respect from the Eagles’ athletes who, for the most part, had no experience in rugby until recent years.
“These women are crossover athletes; a lot of them played softball, soccer and basketball then after college, they discovered rugby and decided to go all in and make themselves the best they can be to make the national team. I wish there were more opportunities for women when I was younger and now my dad has started a youth rugby team in the Kansas City area,” Kluempers said.
Janie Kluempers has been the assistant athletic trainer for Park University’s basketball and baseball teams in the recent years.
The athletic trainer and her dad even helped her alma mater, St. Thomas Aquinas, bring in a rugby team when she was a sophomore there in 2007. Her father has coached every season and the Saints have won a state championship for the last 14 seasons.
“It’s a huge testament to St. Thomas Aquinas for supporting us and to the community that they know that rugby is a special sport and they put everything into it. We have more kids each year going to college on scholarships to play rugby from Kansas City because of it, and that’s what we want,” Kluempers said.
The World Cup worker left the Kansas City area on Sept. 22 to meet in Los Angeles, where the rest of the team and staff met up for a launch party. The Eagles then took a flight to Auckland, New Zealand, where they have been preparing for the games.
“I just want to make sure that everyone knows that I’m so proud to be from Kansas City and grateful for Park University to let me take this space for this opportunity. The AD (athletic director) has been gracious to let that happen and to let me know that I have a job when I get back,” Kluempers said.
The Rugby World Cup will be streamed on CNBC and Peacock with the Eagles taking on Italy on Oct. 9, Japan on Oct. 15 and Canada on Oct. 22 in the Pool B Schedule. The matchups for the rest of the World Cup will depend on the results in pool play with the third place and championship games taking place on Nov. 12.
“This is the highest level of my athletic training career and to do it in the red, white and blue is hard to describe; it feels like I’m in a movie or in a dream. Representing your country, putting your hand on your heart while the national anthem plays knowing you’re on foreign soil and representing so many people who helped you get there is a weight on my shoulders that I will gladly take because I know that there’s so many people who’ve helped me get there but I also know that I have worked so hard to get to this kind of pinnacle moment,” Kluempers said.