Last year, juniors Shawn Harris and Hayden Barnes began the Lowland boys rugby team. This year, Hannah Babcock, junior, started up the first high school girl’s rugby team in the valley, playing under the same name.
Although they are new on the girl’s rugby scene, they are practicing Tuesdays, Thursdays, and Fridays for two hours to make a big difference this year and let Utah and the rest of the west know, that the girls in the valley aren’t to be messed with.
Babcock had never even thought about playing rugby until an LDS ward party during the summer of 2009. She met a man who played rugby at BYU and carried a rugby ball with him.
Having played soccer, she was intrigued and interested at a chance to play on another team sport, a “true team sport,” which takes a high level of performance and a “sisterhood.” She then started asking around, organizing coaches, players, and practice facilities during the summer.
The hardest part of organizing the team was, “Finding people who were interested and committed to playing for Lowland,” said Babcock “The boys had great success in their first year, so we have a lot to live up to.”
Coach Olive is the woman who coaches these girls through the blood, sweat and tears needed to beat elite international teams. Aside from playing in-state rivals, Davis and Utah County, and a Denver traveling team, the Lowland girl’s rugby team will be playing in a preseason game with a Canadian team in a Las Vegas tournament in February.
Olive has played for Salt Lake City Slugs Women’s Rugby for the last nine years, seven of which have been at Inside/Outside Center in the back line, after spending two at Winger.
Matching up to the success of the boys will take a lot of effort, Coach Olive stated, “Hard work, showing up at practice, working as hard as you can to play together as a team.”
She went on to mention, “The girls will most likely pick up the unique aspects of rugby faster than the boys because they don’t need to switch out of the football mentality.”
Trust and teamwork plays a huge part in rugby.
“A solid rugby player must be able to be a team player. Also, trusting each other and supporting every player on the field for the greater good of the team,” Olive explained.
With Olive training the girls to build traits such as teamwork and trust, there’s no doubt the sisterhood Babcock spoke of will build and evolve through the year.