Heather Graves
Correspondent
GREEN BAY – Rugby.
Some may have seen the game – the oval-shaped ball, the tackling, the lack of pads, the scrums and the toughness – but one thing that doesn’t always come to mind when thinking of the sport is girls.
The Green Bay Banshees hope to change that.
Green Bay Youth Rugby announced this month the launch of a high school girls’ tackle rugby team.
Club manager Matt Goetsch said the club started the girls’ high school team to give players who played tackle in middle school a chance to continuing playing in the program.
“We have seen growth over the last few years of the percentage of girls in our flag program and a big jump this year in our middle school girls’ tackle program,” Goetsch said. “This high school team is the logical next step.”
Rugby is an action-packed game where all players must work together as a team to be successful.
It’s best explained as a combination of football and soccer – it has the continuous, wide-open play of soccer but the scoring and tacking of football.
“While I am biased, I believe rugby is one of the best team sports and is very inclusive,” said Goetsch. “There is a position for every size and shape person. It is important for the girls we have introduced to the sport to be able to continue to play in high school.”
Goetsch said the girls learn many life skills from playing rugby.
“Fitness, confidence, teamwork, leadership and the ability to work through adversity are just a few of the benefits,” he said.
Player Olive Srubas from Green Bay has been on the team since they launched the girls’ middle school tackle program in 2018.
“I love Green Bay rugby because all of the coaches are great, and it’s a ton of fun,” Srubas said. “I love playing rugby because it’s the first sport I found I really enjoy to play – and it taught me that I love tackling.”
For the girls, the year will be split into two seasons.
In the fall, they will play 15s, which means 15 players play at a time and games are longer, but only one game is played per day.
In the spring, teams will play 7s – the games are shorter and played more in a tournament format with several games played a day.
“A solid 15s team should have at least 23 players and a 7s team needs at least 12,” Goetsch said. “We have a solid 15 girls that are moving up from eighth grade to high school, so we need another 10 to 15 girls for fall.”
Goetsch said there are two main challenges with launching a new rugby club.
“One is just getting the word out about rugby and how great a sport it is,” he said. “The second is convincing girls to try a new sport and getting them to believe they can excel in a contact sport. We have the strength of our youth flag and middle school programs to help spread the word. And our girls feel comfortable moving on to play high school rugby.”
The fall high school season is typically played in September and October.
The girls’ high school league consists of teams from throughout the state, with the majority in the Milwaukee area.
“Each year there are more teams from northeast Wisconsin,” Goetsch said.
There is currently a program in Pulaski, but organizers feel the area can without a doubt, support at least two girls’ clubs.
“We also want to keep our girls playing with our coaching staff and club,” Goetsch said.
Goetsch said practices will start in August.
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