Former Wirt County running back Nelson finds passion in new sport in Germany
ELIZABETH, W.Va. (BVM) — Five years ago, former Parkersburg resident Cam Nelson made a name for himself on the gridiron. As the lead back for the Tigers in 2015, Nelson helped lead the team with his powerful running style, racking up 1,456 rushing yards, including a 7.1 yard average per attempt, and 16 rushing touchdowns. Nelson also added two receiving touchdowns for good measure. His statistics were good enough to earn the senior Class A all-state special honorable mention, a perfect cap to Nelson’s final season with the Tigers.
“[My senior year] was great,” Nelson said. “We didn’t win a lot of the games that we wanted to and it was a pretty tough season…but I really wouldn’t trade it for anything. … It was crazy to get [all-state special honorable mention] because a lot of people don’t get that from Wirt High School being a smal,l single A school. It felt great to be honored with that.”
While his play at the high school level was over, Nelson still had a passion for the game. As a freshman, Nelson attempted to walk-on to the Marshall University football team, but was unsuccessful. Nelson still had a passion for the physicality of football and felt that he needed to find some other way to continue competing in something that matched the intensity of the sport.
Enter rugby.
“My great uncle had played rugby and I never watched it, but my grandpa told me growing up ‘I wish we had rugby because you’d love it,’” Nelson said. “I already had in my mind I needed to do something violent because you know that’s just how it is. I needed to, so I joined the rugby club there and it was great.”
During that first fall semester, Nelson joined the Thundering Herd’s club rugby team. Once he started in the sport, he couldn’t stop. He not only played in the traditional rugby season, where teams of 15 members play for 80 minutes, but also what is known as sevens, where teams of seven compete in a condensed 14 minutes of play.
“I used the motivation of not making it on the football team when I was training for rugby and I got in the best shape I’ve probably ever been in while I was there using that motivation,” Nelson said. “I loved the team there. They were who taught me everything I know about rugby now and really laid the foundation for the sport for me.”
Nelson would end up competing for the Marshall club team for two years before he ended up leaving the school and taking some time away from education. While he was trying to figure out what he was going to do in terms of education, Nelson found his passion for football rising back within him. The passion went as far as Nelson enrolling at Glenville State College in Glenville, W.Va. in an attempt to resurrect his gridiron career, but wasn’t able to due to financial complications.
“I had always had football in the back of my mind,” Nelson said. “Like, ‘Man, I really think I could’ve made it in college if I had just gone and tried somewhere else.’ That was always lingering in the back of my mind. … They gave me a walk-on opportunity and I got there for summer camp, it just wasn’t working out financially to stay there. I had also lost a little bit of interest playing football. Playing football wasn’t what it used to be because it becomes a job in college.”
Instead, Nelson would attend West Virginia University where he continued his play on the rugby team. While the team was not particularly successful, Nelson was an individual force. He finished the season with 12 tries, the rugby equivalent to a touchdown in football, in eight matches. His 12 tries led the league in scoring that season, solidifying his strong play in the sport.
“It was such a relief to be back playing rugby with people who know what rugby was,” Nelson said. “Getting back on the pitch with some of those guys was great. … I learned even more there than I had at Marshall. I had a great time with them.”
When Nelson’s wife, Bre, a member of the United States Air Force, was stationed in Germany this year, Cam followed. Upon arriving in the European country, he had his mind set on joining a local rugby club, as the sport is among the most popular in Europe. Cam quickly found HoneyBadger Rugby Football Club based in Kaiserslautern, Germany and it has been a marriage made in heaven.
In a sport that requires one to play a litany of different positions based on size and speed, Cam’s history as a running back has paid dividends. Given his size, and his ability to run well with the ball, Cam was tagged as the team’s eight man, a position that requires the strength of a forward in the scrum but also the speed and running ability of a back. While Nelson used the skills he acquired on the football field, he quickly learned that rugby is a completely different game, both physically and mentally.
“It really was a lot different [than football],” Nelson said. “I remember playing football after a play you go back to the huddle and you get a break. In those breaks I would always think what could I have done better? Or I should’ve done this. I’d get down on myself. But in rugby, you don’t have time for that. You’re constantly going and it’s constant violence. It really just tested me physically in a way football never did and probably never could’ve. I just loved that. I loved how much more violent and physically demanding it was.”
Although he plays other positions such as flanker, Nelson is at his best when he’s at eight at the back of the scrum. In his first match with HoneyBadger, Nelson proved that he not only belonged, but was among the best on the field scoring three tries.
“I got Man of the Match and we ended up destroying Triar,” Nelson said. “We had a great game, everybody did all around.”
The HoneyBadger team is composed of mostly English-speaking military members, to the benefit of Nelson, but there are also a number of Germans and foreign players on the team as well.
“We knew there were going to be Americans on the team so there wouldn’t be that language barrier there,” Nelson said. “I wanted to play with other Americans. … The guys here are very accommodating. They’re from all different walks of life. We have Germans on the team, a few guys from Guam, Islanders, Fijian. It’s so cool to hear the different cultures where they’re from.”
Unfortunately for Nelson, COVID-19 hit shortly after that first match, ending his first season with the club. During his time away from the team, Nelson has been working towards a degree in physical education with a minor in strength and conditioning and also works as a Child Youth Program Assistant. His goal is to one day become a football coach.
While the path to German rugby may have surprised a younger Nelson, he doesn’t imagine being anywhere else.
“I don’t know what he’d think,” Nelson said about his younger self. “He probably had the ambition to play college football somewhere because that’s all he was thinking about at the time, getting better at football and being the best. He also didn’t think he’d leave West Virginia, but here we are. He’d probably be perplexed.”
With a new rugby season on the horizon, Nelson will continue to do what he has always done best: run the ball and score. While he may not be carrying a football or running into the endzone for a touchdown, Nelson is just fine mimicking the experience with rugby balls and tries.
