BERKELEY – Set to earn his degree from the University at the end of 2014-15 with a major in Interdisciplinary Studies and a focus on International Business, senior Jake Anderson has evolved into an inspirational co-captain as a member of the Golden Bears rugby program.
Born in Marin County to Australian parents John and Amanda, Jake and his older brother, Adam, relocated twice during childhood, to Toronto for two years and to Singapore for the following nine, following their father’s career at Levi Strauss, where John served as CEO before his retirement. The Anderson family returned to the Bay, settled again in Tiburon and Jake enrolled as a sophomore at Redwood High School.
Having played gridiron football at the Singapore American School, Jake was accustomed to playing offense, defense and special teams, and after waiting patiently through his first varsity season as a 10th Grader, he virtually never left the field for the Giants the next two seasons, playing quarterback and safety, punting and kicking, returning punts and kicks; leading his team in receiving yards as a junior and leading it again in rushing, passing and tackles as a senior, when he was a captain and the team’s touchdown leader. He ended his high-school football career as a two-time all-league honoree.
Anderson embarked on his rugby career only as a high-school junior, later, perhaps, than one might expect for a child of Australian parents who had grown up in faraway, rugby-savvy parts of the world, but it wasn’t until he joined the Marin Highlanders that he found himself switching post-football-season loyalties from basketball to rugby, and once he saw brother Adam transfer to Cal and join its rugby program, Jake decided he wanted to pursue a similar path.
Almost five years after beginning his journey as an undergraduate in Berkeley, Jake Anderson now stands as co-captain of the 2015 Golden Bears. He has helped the team earn two PAC Rugby Conference crowns in 15s, three conference titles in 7s, one national collegiate championship in 15s and two national 7s titles at the Collegiate Rugby Championship.
Anderson has been recognized as an All-American by USA Rugby on four occasions, earning the honor twice as a 7s player, as a sophomore and junior, and twice for 15s as honorable mentions in 2012 and ‘14. His contributions to the Bears’ Olympic 7s program, which has evolved during his Cal career, include tangibles from highlights (search “Jake the Hurdle” for his try-scoring run vs. UCLA at the 2013 CRC) to stats (No. 2 all-time in Cal 7s for in tries, appearances and conversions). Just as tangibly, beyond the box scores and video clips, he’s grown into the kind of leader upon which the Rugby Bears can rely.
During those periods of success on the field, from his selection as a freshman reserve on the 2011 team that defeated BYU for the national collegiate title – “throughout my years since, that’s the bar for what we’re trying to accomplish” – through the Bears’ most recent national and conference titles in Olympic 7s, Anderson has matured through the team’s highs and lows, and done so with the help of strong character imparted by his coaches and teammates.
His freshman year marked the beginning of two full years of away-only competition as Witter Rugby Field was made unavailable in support of the stadium renovation next door. “Knowing that we’re playing only on the road for the first two years, it wasn’t something we could control, but we handled it well,” said Anderson. “Of all the programs that could be faced with such a challenge, I think we are one of the teams that could endure it. And we certainly proved it that year.”
Following the direction of team leaders like co-captain and future national team and professional player Blaine Scully, the team focused on what they could control. “There wasn’t a huge discussion about it,” Anderson explained. “We put it on our shoulders and did what we had to do.”
That autumn of 2010, the team was earmarked for relegation out of Intercollegiate Athletics in a move that was ultimately prevented by rugby stakeholders who not only preserved rugby’s IA status, but also ensured the retention of two women’s sports, lacrosse and gymnastics, that had been slated for elimination.
Not allowing themselves to get lost in the weeds of those weighty times, the student-athletes took care of the things that were under their control, namely performing to their potential on the field and in the classroom, and trusting head coach Jack Clark to handle the threats coming from off the field. What emerged in Anderson and his teammates was a sharper mindset and heightened abilities to perform and persevere under pressure.
Anderson said that Scully, in particular, “embodied everything we were trying to accomplish as a team. He was a big part of my development.”
Scully, who features as a winger in the U.K. Premiership for the Leicester Tigers in addition to his success on the national team, called Anderson “skilled, well rounded and mature. You could tell pretty quickly he was going to be a special player. He is a very good athlete with a cool disposition and great way about him. I have followed his career since I have left and he has gone from strength to strength.”
That freshman season, in the spring of 2011, Anderson witnessed some clutch place-kicking by flyhalf James Bailes, who passed along the responsibility to Alex Aronson. Aronson was also clutch, kicking a game-winning conversion against UBC on the same field in 2012 where Bailes had given the Bears a go-ahead penalty kick in 2011 against the Thunderbirds.
But Aronson also struggled with a nagging knee injury in 2011-12, and when he did, it was Anderson who often took over the kicking. So when the team went back to Rio Tinto Stadium that March to play the Utah Utes and Aronson’s knee failed him, Jake found himself as a sophomore with a gamewinner of his own, a kick which he slotted from 40 meters out, near the left touchline, with no time left to give the Bears a 23-22 victory.
Since then, Anderson has been the Bears’ primary placekicker. In the midst of his final collegiate season, Anderson continues to use the same kicking tee that was handmade by Bailes in 2011 and passed along to Aronson. It’s a practice cone that Bailes cut himself to create an angle for better distance, and the results have been unparalleled compared to any other kicking tee Anderson has found.
“I’ve tried other things that are easier to travel with,” Anderson said, “but for some reason, this tee is the one for me.”
Bailes said that when Anderson was a freshman, “We used to call Jake ‘The Iceman’ as he was so cool, calm and collected under pressure. Ice in his veins but fire in his heart – those are needed traits for sportsmen who make it right to the top.”
Starting his sophomore year, Anderson apprenticed under Seamus Kelly, who graduated in 2014 after helming the team as captain for an unprecedented three years starting in 2012. During periods when Kelly was called up to the U.S. National Team, Anderson functioned as the team’s captain on the scene.
Kelly, Anderson said, “has been the biggest part of my development and the best player I’ve ever been on the field with. Being Seamus’ right-hand man during his three-year captaincy has been extremely helpful as I try to handle the role now. I can and do still talk to him about anything and everything.”
Kelly said he admires Anderson’s work ethic, calling him “all business as a teammate. His first priority is to put himself and others in the best position possible to achieve success. He understands the responsibility that comes with being captain and is constantly looking for ways to ‘make those around him better and more productive,’ which is the team’s internal definition of leadership. As a friend, he’s never hesitated to help.”
This spring, Anderson shares the captains’ responsibilities with teammate Alec Gletzer, another Golden Bear bound for a national team career.
“He is a really committed teammate,” said Gletzer of Anderson. “Jake’s extra work ethic on and off the field is unmatched. He’s on the field early and leaves late to get extra skill work and fitness, and he is doing these things to help the team build toward our goals to win big games and championships.”
“Alec’s such a quality player,” Anderson offered. “His standard of effort on the field is so high, he has a moment and you realize, ‘I need to be doing more.’”
Last but not least, Anderson lauds Cal coaches Jack Clark and Tom Billups for the lessons they’ve taught him.
“It’s not strictly a rugby perspective,” Anderson explained. “I respect the way coach Clark has turned boys into men and taught them how to be respectful people in this world. He always says it’s not just about the things you do here, it’s about the things you go on to do later in life. There’s no parallel to what he has built.”
Clark said, “Jake is beyond a buttoned up young man and teammate. He is terrific and no doubt destined for more athletic success and a lifetime of professional achievement. I’m so proud he is ours.”
Anderson added that coach Billups “is one of the most impressive individuals I’ve ever come across. He embodies everything as a player and a man that you’d want to accomplish.”
“Jake’s generally known for his outstanding ball skills and tactical rugby knowledge,” said Billups, “but what many outside of our team tent wouldn’t fully appreciate is his toughness.”
With members of the American rugby media pegging him for a rosy future on the national team, Anderson refuses to look beyond the next challenge: “My ambitions are solely focused on this season and this team. The only chance I will have to do anything afterwards is if I’m getting better every single day for this team and pushing it as far as it can go. I’m going to focus on what’s in front of me and bring along as many people as I can with me.”
It’s a heady call to action, with opportunities for Cal to compete for national championships in the forms of the sport that are soon to be contested on the world stage at both the 2015 Rugby World Cup and 2016 Summer Olympics. Under Anderson’s leadership, it’s one that every student-athlete who plays rugby at the University of California is eager to answer.
