When you hear the word ‘rugby,’ what usually comes to mind? Huge, muscular boys tackling each other and breaking bones while simultaneously getting concussions? Well, the women of Land Park have teamed together to change the stigma surrounding rugby. The Land Park Harlequins rugby team consists of women from McClatchy High School and around the greater Land Park community.
Most of the girls on the team said they joined the Harlequins because they wanted to try something new, and it seemed like a fun sport to play.Yesenia Garcia (‘17) says her favorite thing about playing rugby is how fast-paced it is. She says, “It’s the constant action that makes playing really fun.” Claire Fetros (‘17) also says that the aggressiveness of rugby is what appealed to her the most. Lily Milholm (‘16) calls it a “women empowering” sport making girls feel “bad a**” because they can physically tackle someone to the ground and get up and continue playing and still be fine.
As we all know, rugby is a very physical sport, and injuries are inevitable. In the Harlequins’ first pre-season scrimmage, Alexa Selby (‘16) broke her arm. However, she says when she is able to play again, she will not hesitant to tackle because if she plays scared, then there is a higher chance of getting injured again. Alexa adds that her favorite part about rugby is that, despite being a contact sport, the girls from the other teams are friendly, making it feel like one big rugby family.
New to the sport, Tymeri Asada (‘16), says both getting tackled and tackling someone else is scary to her and she is still getting used to it. But her favorite part about playing is seeing the improvement in herself and her team with each practice. Playing a sport that is mostly affiliated with boys makes her feel proud. She says, “It helps show people that girls can do whatever boys do.”