“Rugby is a family.” These are the words of Colorado College women’s rugby team captain Naya Herman. For Herman and her 24 teammates the game of rugby has created bonds that extend beyond the painted lines of Stewart Field. Herman and her co-captain and fellow senior Rachel Gonchar describe the team as an all-around support system, a network of empowered and passionate athletes.
The fall 2015 campaign for the CC women’s rugby team has gotten off to a blistering start. The team has disposed of their Colorado competition with ease. In the opening three games of the season the Tigers beat UCCS, Wyoming, and Western State by a combined tally of 197-0. The team surrendered their first points of the season last weekend against Colorado School of Mines in a 33-15 victory.
This year’s hot start begins from a backdrop of uncertainty and leadership change. Leading into the 2015-16 school year the entire existence of the women’s rugby program at CC was in question. The women’s team’s long-time coach had left the program and the team was without a coach, a requirement to compete in the DII club league that the Tigers compete in.
Seniors Madi Howard and Rachel Gonchar stepped up and took an eight-hour coach certification course in order to save the Tigers’ season. Gonchar and Herman both credited a strong core of senior leadership in the formation of this year’s season to date. Herman and Gonchar say that the team is basically run by a “board of captains.” In addition to Herman and Gonchar, seniors Emilia Whitmer, Emilia Troyano, and Hannah Tilden are all integral parts of the Tiger’s leadership.
Coming into the season this fall, Gonchar said, “Naya and I were the only ones who had a lot of knowledge of the game and were teaching the game to a whole bunch of new players.” Due to a flurry of recruitment on NSO trips, at the activity fairs, and around campus, the team was able to pull in almost 15 freshmen to the squad. Up until this point in the season, the team has been playing without an official coach, making their 4-0 start all the more impressive. Recently, the team acquired a full-time head coach named Mike Windell. Windell, alongside his wife Amanda, has helped bolster the senior leadership on the team.
Rachel Gonchar spoke to the difficulty of teaching rugby at CC. “Rugby is especially hard because so few women have played rugby before getting here,” she said. “Not only are you forming a new team but you are teaching a whole sport every year.”
Gonchar, Herman and their fellow seniors have three years of playing experience under their belts but as Herman admitted, they are all very much students of the game. Both senior captains spoke highly of the freshmen class, a group who is tackling an entirely foreign sport. “New players have been so brave jumping in and filling some really big cleats,” said Herman.
Beyond the technical aspects of learning the game, both Herman and Gonchar see rugby as a tool to empower young women. Both cite the fact that women’s rugby is played with the exact same rules as men’s rugby. Women do not use pads and play the same 80-minute game as their male counterparts. The physical element of the game is as pronounced in women’s rugby and Herman cites the physicality as one of the most “addicting” elements of rugby.
“Women’s rugby is a growing sport and it’s attracting a lot of girls that don’t want to be just another girl,” Gonchar stated. “They want to play with the guys.” At CC especially, young women are flocking to women’s rugby as a source of empowerment and as a place to find a family.
Both Gonchar and Herman acknowledge that there are stereotypes surrounding women’s rugby. But both players agree that by and large CC women’s rugby does not fit the stereotypical women’s rugby mold.
“I think there is a huge stereotype that all women’s rugby players are gay or identify as queer or are manly and we drink a lot and we’re just aggressive girls,” Gonchar said. “That’s just not our team. Yeah, we have gay women on our team. Yeah, we are aggressive on the field but our team is full of beautiful and smart women,” said Gonchar.
Women’s rugby will look to build on their undefeated season in the coming weeks. Next up for the Tigers is the Air Force Academy on Friday, Oct. 9 at Stewart Field. The game against the Falcons will begin at 7:30 p.m. The Air Force Academy will be a tougher task for the Tigers.
Herman commented that the team will find out what they’re made of down the stretch in October and November. “So far we have just blown through our competition and it hasn’t been that challenging,” she said. “I’m interested to see how the team responds when we’re not up by 70 points.”
Another game to look out for is Colorado Mesa University of Oct. 25. Colorado Mesa is a perennial powerhouse in Colorado women’s rugby and provides the Tigers with a tough matchup. Women’s rugby has appeared in the national tournament each of the past two years, and they will look to continue their streak of nationals appearance this coming November.
Herman ended with an open message to CC women. “Come out for a game or come out for a practice,” she said. “We are super inviting and you don’t have to know anything. It’s a really cool space to be empowered in your body.”