The Cambridge Rindge and Latin girls’ rugby team has grown faster than the players ever expected.
Established as a club sport at CRLS four years ago, girls’ rugby has evolved into a full-fledged varsity sport there. The team has over 15 newly registered athletes this spring season, bolstering the team to 35 players.
A full rugby team has 15 people on the field, but when the CRLS club formed, it had only 12 players and, as a result, had to play seven-on-seven, the style played in the Olympics. The team occasionally had to borrow players from opposing schools just to field a full seven. Now, the team can field a full team of 15.
Olivia Benzan-Daniel, the team’s head coach and founder, was surprised to see the sudden surge of sign-ups.
“I thought that we’d hover around the numbers we had, like last year and the year before, so to have about 15 people come out that have never played before is really exciting and was a pleasant surprise,” Benzan-Daniel said.
Sarah Glassman, 17, started playing for the team when she was a freshman. Now a senior, she has been shocked to see how the team has grown.
“I’ve seen it completely switch from a club to a varsity sport, which is really crazy,” Glassman said. “It shows that change is possible. You can really change something in two or three years, if you can get enough movement.”
Niamh Roberts Halloran, 18, gets emotional thinking about how far the team has come. Like Glassman, Niamh has been with the team since the beginning.
“Coming from freshman year, when we had like 12 people on the team, we couldn’t field an entire team. We lost maybe every single game,” Roberts Halloran said. “Four years later, we’re actually able to show up, perform well, have a fun game and really feel satisfied as a team in our performance.
After a 3-4 season last year, CRLS are looking to improve this year. The Falcons are 1-1 so far this season.
Regardless of the outcome on the field, the team is focused on more than winning. The team heavily focuses on building confidence in girls and simply having fun playing the sport they enjoy.
“We don’t get too hung up on the wins and losses and more about how we’re playing and what we’re doing together,” Benzan-Daniel said. “If we’re not having fun, we’re doing something wrong. We’re all here because rugby is fun.”
Benzan-Daniel and the coaches consistently push the message, “Every body is a rugby body.” They want to reinforce that regardless of what the girls may think, this sport is for them and they are welcome.
Rugby has been traditionally seen as a male sport, but women’s rugby is on the rise. While men’s rugby became an Olympic sport in 1900, women’s rugby finally broke through in 2016 at the Rio Olympics.
“This is a community where young women are really encouraged to use their physical strength,” Roberts Halloran said. “It’s super unique in the fact that this is emphasizing women’s strength, and we’re seeing women’s strength in a way that other sports you don’t really see.”
While many of the players who helped found the team will graduate soon, they said the framework is there for the team to continue to succeed.
“I definitely see this continuing to grow,” Glassman said. “We’re blessed to have such enthusiastic and welcoming coaches and players, which gives me hope that the growth isn’t going to dwindle anytime soon.”
This story is part of a partnership between Cambridge Day and the Boston University Department of Journalism.
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