By Emily Bell
emily@newsroom.byu.edu
Tuesday night, eight o'clock. The sun is setting on the field at Provo High where a rugby team is hard at work. The coaches yell out drills, the team reacts. But these BYU students fail to fulfill the stereotypical rugby expectations. These twelve players are women.
Women's rugby at BYU began in February when Julia Hobbs, 19, a sophomore from Norman, OK, put up fliers on campus, asking girls interested in playing to call her.
'Over 100 girls called,' Hobbs said. Many have since dropped out or gone home for the summer -- only 12 girls remain.
An estimated more than 6,000 females were members of rugby clubs in 1998, according to USA Rugby, the sports organizing body.
In 1998, 250 college women's rugby teams were officially affiliated with a university -- almost double the number in 1993, said Bill Sexton, USA Rugby Football Union Collegiate Committee Chair.
And now, BYU women want to become part of that statistic. Hobbs is confident that they will have enough players to begin intercollegiate competition this fall.
Shane Seggar and John Hash, members of the BYU men's rugby team, coach the women. They require members to attend practices twice a week and to work with a personal trainer daily.
'Rugby has this horrible stigma -- big brute women,' said Rich Bennion, 23, flanker for the BYU rugby team. 'It is much more of a finesse game ... I think the women will do really well.'
The team will not, however, be able to register through BYU as a club sport, said Michelle Rosalas, Vice President over clubs at BYUSA.
'We can't do anything 'at risk,'' Rosalas said. She indicated that BYU does not want to have liability for participants of these sports. No roller, motor, sky, water or thrill activities are allowed. 'At risk' includes activities that require traveling, have potential for injuries, etc.
Mouth guards and cleats fail to prevent rugby players from suffering a fair amount of injuries.
A broken leg and two sprained ankles among other injuries have occurred thus far this season, said women's team member Melissa Davis.
The team will register with the USA Rugby Football Union and hope to play their first game against the University of Utah this fall, said Hobbs.
'We'll let the girls decide what they want to name the team, because we will not be able to use BYU's name,' Hash said.
Women interested in joining the team should contact John Hash at 374-8048 or Shane Seggar at 798-8320.