Rugby: Confidence on and off the field

I was always a bit aggressive as an adolescent growing up, I played a lot of sports but was always searching for something new and exciting. In my sophomore year of high school I was researching colleges and came across the sport of rugby. I had always planned on joining a team in college but by my junior year of high school I was determined to join a team right then and there. My mother and I started looking for teams in the area but anything that had once existed was now deteriorated. Sure, there were teams, but none within a 30 mile radius of my school. I did, however, find a boys team for high schools within 2 miles of my house. I contacted the coach but he said it was only for boy and that the girls team had gone under. I was talking to my assistant band director who played rugby in high school and he thought we should just start a team here. I thought it was far-fetched (we both did) but was also very jazzed at the thought of it all coming together. I started recruiting and advertising immediately: hanging up fliers in 8 schools, asking all of my friends to join (along with their friends), I even asked people I had never met before and contacting athletic directors in very high school that was within 20 miles of mine. I went to my high school's athletic director with a list of 35 girls that wanted to play and a coach, but he said the school could not help out. So I contacted the nearby boy's team coach again, he thought it might be a good idea to establish a girl's team to partner them. He registered us and found us another coach (rugby teams field up to 23 people so multiple coaches are typical). We held a meeting and got 35 girls and their parents to attend! With t he help of my mom, the boy's team coach and my band director, we got a practice field, a parent board, 3 coaches, 25 players, and equipment. I was so amazed that I even made a team to begin with! But what was to come would be more amazing.

None of us knew a thing about rugby beforehand, funny how I did all this work but didn't even bother to question whether I would enjoy the sport or not. When we played our first game we were running around clueless like a bunch of chickens with our heads cut off, but by some miracle we managed to win. Throughout the season we had some wins and some losses and ended up ranked 5th entering the playoffs, meaning we would be playing as the underdogs for a place at state. We won our playoff game, then had to beat a division one which dropped down (since we were new we entered the season as a division two team). We managed to win the first game of the state tournament which meant we were now in the final. The weather was terrible: windy, cold, and rainy, and not to mention there was scheduling confusion and we had zero time to warm up. But amazingly we pulled through with a win. Our team was ecstatic with disbelief. I was so proud that we came from nothing to champions.

Other than the rugby win, throughout the season I noticed girls gain confidence in life outside of rugby. The sport of rugby has a way of empowering you, when you learn to make a good tackle and bring someone down you then walk off feeling unstoppable. These great girls that barely knew each other in the beginning worked together for a state championship, they became very close and some of them are my best friends to this day. I have continued with rugby and it has brought much success and many people into my life. Rugby is a community and a window for opportunities, which has shaped who I am today. It gives you confidence, yet it humbles you because you are always learning the rules. Rugby can be a stress reliever but also an adrenaline rush beyond anything you can imagine. Needless to say, the sport, community and lifestyle of rugby has made me a responsible, hard working person and given me role models to follow.