Once-Club Women's Rugby Team Plays Second Official-Status Season

By Best of Mason Director Nicole Ocran

While the earliest forms of the sport can be traced back to ancient Greece, women’s rugby dates back to 1972 in the U.S. Rugby may be the oldest club sport in George Mason University’s history, but the women’s rugby team is just now gaining their footing, gaining official team status last season. 

Just one look at these women, and their dedication is obvious. Even after losing their coach at the beginning of the semester and having to coach themselves until they found a replacement, their camaraderie is remarkable.

Photo Courtesy of GMU Women's Rugby

When asked what their goals for the season are, a resounding “scoring!” echoed across the pitch. Club President Kirsten Balaban added, “Definitely keeping our numbers up, and keeping the club established. It’s hard because we’re going to have people graduating, and people will come and go, so we really want to keep the team together and make sure it lasts after everybody’s gone.”

Balaban and Match Secretary, Annalisa Culbert, are two of the founding members of the club. Culbert started playing with the men’s rugby team her first year at Mason.

“I knew the coach of the guys team, so I started coming out to practices with the guys,” said Culbert, “And then the next year we had a couple more girls, but we could never get more than, like, seven girls to come out at a time. We never really had a team until Kirsten came along, and then she and I put the team together with recruiting and everything.”

A lot of their recruiting strategy involves kiosking. “I would say, like, 75 percent [of the girls] look at you and will be like, ‘Oh no, I can’t play that,’” said Social Chair Christina Neiduski, “I feel like a lot of girls think rugby [equates to] ‘Oh, I’m gonna die.’ And it’s not like that at all.”

The team reinforces the fact that women of all shapes and sizes are welcome to join in.  “We have tiny girls, we have big girls… . . . any body type, we have a spot for you,” said Neiduski, “And without the pads, you play smarter. You’re not going to make stupid tackles.”

Getting into rugby is no easy feat. Sprints, interval running, pushups, sit-ups, squats, star jumps, and weights are among the laundry list of exercises the team does to train. As the saying goes, rugby is seen as the grace of soccer, the speed of track, and the power of football. ‘Athletically inclined’ is an understatement for these women.

With all of that hard training, however, a woman rugby player does come with some stereotyping—intentional or not.

Foreign languages major Silvana Oderisi recalled talking to someone about her involvement with the sport.  “I was talking to [a guy] and I was like, ‘Yeah, I play rugby,’ and he was like, ‘They have women’s rugby?’ and I was like, ‘Yes. They do.’”

Culbert added, “I was telling some guy—I was at work, I work at a restaurant—and I was telling him, ‘Yeah, I play rugby,’ we happened to be just talking about it, and he was like, ‘You know, the guys don’t like that if you get too buff.’”

So what exactly are the differences between men’s and women’s rugby?

“It is exactly the same as men’s rugby, except that we’re female,” said Balaban,. “Exact same game, same amount of rules, same amount of contact.”

It’s more than just a game for these women, and their spirit and enthusiasm bodes well for their upcoming season. “We have a lot of respect for the sport itself, and we work really hard at what we do,” said Neiduski. “[We] have a lot of respect for the culture, the history of it. You have to really want it . . . but once you get into it, it’s addicting.”

Their next game is at home, 6:30 p.m. on Wednesday, Oct. 21, against George Washington University.

For more information on women’s rugby, visit: http://gmuwomensrugby.sports.officelive.com/default.aspx