Ft. Lauderdale Ruckus at Tropical 7s
By 2016, there was little girls’ high school rugby to speak of in Florida. Teams had disbanded and the only remaining, healthy program – Sebastian River High School – was forced to travel across state lines for games. It was a low point, and a counterweight to the surging interest from female students at St. Thomas Aquinas High School, located in Ft. Lauderdale, two hours south of Sebastian. Those two forces, among many others, soon joined together to get Florida high schoolers playing meaningful games in the hopes of resurrecting a viable league.
Matt Wells has been assistant coach of the St. Thomas boys’ club team since its inception three years ago. During those first two season, the female student population lobbied the coach for a team, and at the height of interest, boasted contact information for 50 girls. But adding a sports team, even a club (i.e., non-varsity) team, wasn’t as easy as student and coach support.
“The boys were a new entity and they wanted to see them succeed first,” Wells said of the St. Thomas athletic department and its inaction regarding girls’ rugby. “But they’re afraid. They don’t know rugby, and girls’ rugby – that’s even more scary for them, as well as anyone new to rugby for girls.”
The school didn’t support the prospect, so Wells formed the Fort Lauderdale Ruckus Rugby Club and committed to the head coaching role.
“St. Thomas is a name and a brand, and it has a huge system of alumni and booster clubs. It’s a great academic school but it’s known for its sports,” Wells reflected on spring 2016. “Lots of kids want to join a St. Thomas sports team, so some of the girls dropped off [when we formed a club team] and we ended up with 15 girls sticking with it.”
The first Ruckus team
Nonetheless, it was a start, one that evolved a little too late to help the ailing high school league that same season. But the Ruckus players returned in fall 2016 and practiced alongside the St. Thomas boys, who don’t train or play on school grounds, or rely on receiving any financial support from the school, but have their admin run through the high school.
Wells looked to grow his own club and reached out to every resource he could find – whether it was local coaches at Sebastian River, Wellington Wizards or Jupiter Sharks, or Facebook groups attempting the same type of growth. Like-minded individuals then set upon a competition for spring 2017 and settled on festival-like 7s tournaments that would rotate locations. There were pockets of girls’ rugby in areas like Jupiter, Wellington, Cape and Orlando, and squads could combine in order to take the field and play. At day’s end, squads would combine once again for a 15s match.
“It was a pretty fun, productive season for us, and the coaches and refs focused on those teaching moments,” Wells said. “We didn’t have a lot of expenditures, either. Everyone was at one place and so we could consolidate everything. It was a great opportunity for the coaches, too, to come together and talk about what’s working and what’s not working.”
The Tropical Rugby International Youth 7s highlighted the spring. Wells had been working with executive director John Siner, who is based in Orlando and tied to the International Olympic Committee. Wells planned to assemble an all-star team with players like Morgan Freeman, who grew up playing in England and is in the USA age-grade pool; the two Wantlin sisters, Nicole and Alexandra, who relocated from California and were in the Atavus pipeline; and graduating seniors Sam Olinick (heading to University of Florida) and Samantha Sanfilippo (heading to Florida State), who had helped the St. Thomas soccer team to a state championship. Playing under the Ruckus banner, the team had its entry fee waived and secured a kit sponsorship from Mark Andrade’s International Try Zone apparel company.
But then Wells reflected on the spring 7s circuit and the bigger picture of growing rugby in the region.
“We had a great time combining,” Wells reflected on the festival vibe. “Our girls got really invested with the Jupiter, Wellington and Sebastian River girls. They’re a big family and are having such a good time together. I thought: It’s going to suck to only take half the girls from Ruckus up to Orlando [for Tropical 7s].”
Ruckus in the lineout against Indian River at Tropical 7s
So Wells entered a second side so that 24 players from five different Florida teams could travel and play. The tournament occurred at the world-class Omni ChampionsGate Resort facility, and the squads embraced the trip as an opportunity to bond and grow. Ruckus’ first side finished third behind the Canada U18s and USA/Atavus teams, and defeated Kingwood (Texas) and Indian River (Sebastian River’s team) twice. The B side finished sixth. Both sides were effusive in their desire to return in 2018 – a good sign for the near future.
Wells knows that stability will be the hard part. He gets help from assistant coaches Lauren Mager and Sarah (Melius) Schmida during practices and games, but everything else is on him – the fundraising, logistics, refs, admin. It’s exhausting – Wells still assists the St. Thomas boys – but he isn’t ready to diffuse responsibility just yet. He wants to build something sustainable and is taking as many cues as possible – like attending Wellington board meetings, connecting through social media, corresponding with coaches – to set the foundation first. Ideally, he’d like to emulate the Okapi Wanderers’ set-up.
“I’ve been talking to them since the beginning of St. Thomas and they’ve been very helpful,” the coach said. “In their model, parents and ex-players are involved; the kids have a pathway that begins with a boys U8 through old boys; they have 25 coaches and staff. And it’s very family oriented.”
Five teams contributed players to the Ruckus team in Orlando.
That’s part of the reason why Wells hesitates to further explore the St. Thomas connection for the girls’ team. Aligning with the sports school could certainly help that age group, but there are limitations.
“I can be Ruckus Rugby 24/7. I’m always networking and marketing and selling the team. We can practice when we want and play summer 7s, go on tour,” Wells contrasted those freedoms with the restrictions of being a St. Thomas coach. When the high school season is over, the program goes dormant and cannot operate as a St. Thomas entity in the off-season.
“Some of our lawyer parents said we could sue St. Thomas to start a girls’ team, but I wouldn’t coach that team,” the coach continued. “If you have to force a school with a lawsuit, the first time something goes wrong, they’ll shut it down because you forced them in the first place. I want it to happen because there’s a demand from parents and students, and it’s viewed as a safe sport that gives scholarships.”
Moreover, Wells wants to connect the girls’ rugby team with the rest of the community – the youth rugby that must precede it and the collegiate and adult rugby that follows. That intention plays out in Wells’ collaborations – whether it’s co-hosting last weekend’s 7s clinic (which starred Canadian sensation Magali Harvey) with Eyal Hakim’s Phoenix 7s women’s team, or liaising with New Zealander Dean Wharekura, whose Baltimore-based company RugbyGold works with John Smith of Under Armour Front Office to donate a massive amount of cleats to underprivileged rugby teams.
It’s all about collaboration, and the hope is to bring some permanence to the girls’ high school scene in Florida.
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