I won’t bore you with my background with Rugby, or even with the steps I had to get enough girls out to practice to learn the game. Rather I want to share my experiences with teaching a game that no one knew how to play.

Think about it, you have in depth knowledge of something, you want others to enjoy what you’ve enjoyed, but every time you explain something you find you’re using words they’ve never heard of (lol, it sounds like my classroom). Wrapping in the tackle is extremely important, as is protecting the ball in the ruck, but these words become meaningless without an understanding of the game. So we began with some fundamental basics and built upon it.

Our first practice we had one football (Rugby not Gridiron) and we were practicing catching and passing. It was funny because the girls didn’t want to pass the ball backwards (everyone want to pass forward like in American Football) and more balls were dropped than caught. Fast forward one month and you’ll see a team of young ladies and one or two dropped balls a practice. It has become quite amazing. And so we conquered a skill that is imperative to the game, and we moved forward.

Rugby is a contact sport and so tackling is something that has to be taught. Imagining that tackling is a natural skill is foolish. It can be dangerous to not position your body correctly, so again we started with basics. Now we are at the point where we are playing games against each other and they are doing really well. These skills are important, ordering jerseys is exciting, but the biggest victory is seeing that the girls are seeing growth in the game.

After the first practice we brought the team in to a circle to give a team cry (the cheering kind) on 3. Instead of the usual, “Cougars on 3”, one of the players came up with something different that has become somewhat thematic. She called out “Potentials on 3”. I thought this was cute. They realized they didn’t know how to play the game, but they saw potential in each other. Two practices ago this changed. I expected the potentials on three again (sort of like our unofficial name), but our team captain thought differently. She recognized that the team was actually playing the game, not just having the potential to. So the new cry became, “Skills on 3”.

These labels might seem small, but this shows what the girls know. and their growth. They’ve taken ownership of the team, which is the goal. I’m there to facilitate, but I’m not the one playing, they are. They’ve done what I can’t. They’ve made themselves a team and they’re proud of the progress that they’re making.

I’m excited for our first official game to see what these girls can do, but regardless I’m proud of the small family that they’re creating. I also excited for what comes after “skills”.