When Rugby Washington (Rugby WA) was cleared to play rugby, three high school girls’ programs were able to commit teams to a weekly 7s circuit. Kent, Liberty and Rainier started meeting on May 1 and the series, which is not culminating in a title or championship, will end June 12. Rugby WA vice chair Lauren Barber has attended every single game day and swaps the administrator hat with Loggers’ head coach whistle and Eagle Eye Scouting Network clipboard.
“It’s going really well,” Barber surveyed the girls’ high school spring season. “The competition is probably the best I’ve seen out of Rugby Washington at this level, which is really cool, especially coming off a year where no one has played rugby.”
Barber supposed the uptick in play is partially related to the joy of returning to the pitch with friends – a “you don’t know what you’ve got ’til it’s gone” situation. But there are other factors, too.
“We’ve had crossover athletes coming in, particularly with wrestling, which makes the contact area pretty technical,” Barber said. “There are girls in their first season who look like they’ve been working on rugby stuff for a couple of years now, simply because they’re wrestlers and they know about getting low and levers and those things. It’s forced everyone to up their game on offense and defense.”
Washington delayed the wrestling season because, like rugby, it was a high-risk sport in terms of Covid-19 transmission. But wrestling had the added barrier of being contested indoors.
“I knew some coaches who asked, ‘Well, if we wrestle outside, does that change anything,’” Barber said of Return-to-Play fever. “So a lot of sports [re]started at the same time and kids have been tripling up since we went live. We have seen a lot of injuries – knees, rolled ankles – but I don’t know if it’s over-training or the fact that no one has done a sidestep [in a game] in a year. That’s our only struggle, but it’s an issue from the professional level to the youth level. We’ve seen it in the MLR, too, because the guys haven’t been playing at that level.”
Player recruitment has continued throughout the season, so while rosters started to dip with injuries, they were replenished with newcomers. With only three teams competing, they’re all heading to the same location every weekend, and that has allowed Barber to see, on average, 60 players every game day.
“It’s interesting here. Teams that couldn’t field a squad are a bit farther away [from the Seattle area] and I don’t know that many have come over,” Barber said of individuals from idle team joining active teams. “Those teams were struggling before Covid, so this sealed the deal for them. They didn’t have committed coaching staff or anything to keep it alive. It’s definitely unfortunate but we’re working on it.”
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In addition to attending game days, Barber also guest-coached at teams’ practices. She presented as the Loggers head coach, and that interaction built familiarity and trust with players, and negated the need for separate Loggers sessions. The players are excited about, not intimidated by, the prospect of select side gatherings, so Barber intends to continue this practice. The coach is also a high school scout for USA Rugby, and so getting well rounded exposure to players has also helped recommendations for the next level.
As for the summer, Rugby WA is finalizing a three-tournament 7s circuit, and if the girls’ side commits teams, then Barber would love to run a Loggers side in addition. Oregon has been playing touch and the Canadian border is still closed, so at present, the competition would likely be in-state. But there are also plans for summer U14s – an age grade in which Barber has invested this year.
“Rugby WA has typically been co-ed at the U14 level. Last season, they played one all-girls U14 match, but there was nothing prior to that,” Barber lent background. “So I’ve really been focusing on getting the U14 girls a competition, in any form, of their own.”
So far this spring, there have been two weekends where an all-girls U14 match has occurred, and there are plans for at least one more this spring and more in the summer. Liberty has the largest girls’ U14 contingent and Rainier is a close second. A couple of Eastside Lions players have also jumped into a motley side.
“The cool thing about that is we’ll do an all-girls U14 game where they play 2-3 [periods], and then they can rejoin their co-ed teams and play with all of their club teammates,” Barber said. “There are girls who aren’t comfortable playing co-ed, and now they have something special. But there’s still the opportunity to play with the boys if you want that. I’m excited about the momentum there – for more development and recruitment wise.”
In between the on-field gigs, Barber manages the Rugby WA website and is working to build the online presence of the organization. Barber works well with Rugby WA Chair Aaron Lee, and wants the larger rugby community to see the good work that’s happening in The Evergreen State (sign up for its newsletter via the RugbyWA.org homepage.)