Arizona Building More HS Momentum

When Julie Dunlop tracks her route to the Rugby Arizona Girls’ High School Commissioner post, she begins by describing herself as a hard-headed parent looking out for her daughters’ opportunities to play rugby. She is stubborn, enthusiastic and, especially after the previous two years, inspired to build sustainable momentum for girls’ high school rugby in Arizona.

The Dunlop kids (two daughters, one son) come from a rugby family. Step-dad Jeremy Parenteau has played for 20 years and has been coaching high school for about a decade. The kids started playing co-ed touch and then tackle, but then there was no outlet for the girls in high school.

“It was frustrating. The girls started at the junior youth level and then had nowhere to go,” Dunlop said. “It’s not right to just let them blow off like leaves in the wind.”

Four years ago, Dunlop convinced Parenteau to start asking other high school boys’ coaches if they had girls coming to practice or knew of interest brewing, and they worked to put something in motion. Beginnings were hit and miss, and in 2016, just eight players participated in Saturday practices and 4 v 4 games in the Phoenix region. The numbers doubled in 2017, and the addition of a girls’ state all-star team, the Bobcats, stoked more interest. Then-Girls Representative Stacy Huntington led the program and took the team to four tournaments.

“I had the fortune of being the driver to take these girls on all these crazy trips. Watching them grow at every tournament was outstanding,” Dunlop said. “We just wanted to give them the experience and exposure, and help them see they weren’t the only girls playing rugby. That there’s this amazing sisterhood out there.”

The Bobcats debuted at the 2017 LVI 7s and competed in the U16 division. In their first team outing, they faced excellent competition from the U.S., Canada and Australia., growing in each game.

“In Vegas, we lost every single game and they had the best time of their lives. They went from this rag-tag group of girls into a rugby team,” Dunlop said. “And there was such a high level of sportsmanship. There wasn’t a single team we played that had any disparaging remarks, only encouragement and compliments. ‘You did this well and if you work out these couple of things, you’ll do so well.’”

2017 LVI 7s team

Dunlop then dug in as girls’ commissioner, familiarizing herself with the nuances of things like recruitment in her own state and communicating with other State Rugby Organizations and coaches for insight into growing the girls’ game.

“It’s different in every state, and in some states, it’s different in every region,” Dunlop said of recruitment. “Certain schools let you put out information [for a local rugby club] and others don’t. Other schools have open houses where you can set up a table or public events where you can disseminate information and have players out there tossing a ball to draw attention. So, we rely on a lot of word of mouth.

Bobcats at the 2017 Cal State Games / Photo: Jay Coulter

Today, on any given Saturday, there are 30 players assembling in the Phoenix region for the spring 7s season. There’s a stand-alone team in Tucson and a second one starting to bud. Scottsdale continues to build and there’s movement in Chandler/Gilbert and Flagstaff. And although the league isn’t holding a championship per se, Dunlop is optimistic that if Arizona can double its participation numbers once again, there will be proper support for playoffs and a final in spring 2019.

And there’s still an entire Bobcats season to enjoy. Coach Angel Bishop held tryouts in January, and the squad for the LVI 7s has been named (see below). The state all-star team will then compete at the Celtic 7s (Albuquerque, N.M.) in May, Feed the Bear (Greeley, Colo.) in June, NAI 7s (Salt Lake City) in August, and Pink 7s (Salt Lake City) in October. Rugby Arizona will also hold its second Roadrunner 7s the second weekend in December.

Dunlop and staff encourage players to take advantage of next-level playing opportunities and has seen players like daughter McKenna, Ava Crowther and Jadyn Collins attend Atavus resident camps. Maddie Rose was selected to the Youth Olympic Games player pool and will also compete in Las Vegas this March. The lure of these experiences trickle down through the Arizona player pool and place the sport in different light.

“I’ve been sending out player bio questionnaires to the Bobcat girls, and one question asks about future rugby goals,” Dunlop said. “They overwhelming say they want to do this in college, or would love to play rugby in the Olympics, or on an elite team to travel and experience this on an international level.”

Dunlop and collaborators have done well to get girls’ high school rugby moving again in Arizona, and it will take consistent time and effort to keep this product growing and attracting new and more athletes. Fortunately, Arizona has some advocates to make sure their daughters have places to continue playing.

ARIZONA BOBCATS – LVI
Emily Aker
Alexandra Chanley
Jadyn Collins
Ava Crowther
McKenna Dunlop
Maya John
Alexis Kuna
Angel Lucero
Hepisipa Otutoa
Samantha Salakai
Kalani Siale
McKenzie Wright

Non-traveling Alternates
Allison Parra
Leilana Pye
Angele Veloso

Head Coach: Angel Bishop
Manager: Julie Dunlop

RugbyArizona ArizonaBobcats