Monday, November 14, 2011

League Meeting-New Teams

A slow week for WGR, as the emphasis shifts to off-season matters. Our staff field reporters are closing up shop for the winter, and finalizing picture entries for our state-wide contest.

Miscellaneous news bites:

Looking ahead, the All-Wisconsin Girls Rugby league meetings take place December 5th.

With scheduling on the agenda, any new high school girls rugby programs in Wisconsin are asked to attend and apply for membership. Interested girls, coaches, or parents should contact our league offices at wisconsingirlsrugby@gmail.com

It was great to see a lot of WGR alumni continuing their experience with collegiate women's rugby. Alumni girls were all over the fields at last weekend's Midwest Collegiate Chamionships in Cottage Grove, Wisconsin. Midwest D1 Champs, Univ-Northern Iowa had two freshman, Kaisse '11 from Brookfield and Talia '11 from KM respectively, starting on their team. The Midwest D2 champs likewise featured a starting freshman scrumhalf from Vernon and a wing from CMHS. Grand Valley St, third in Midwest D2 also featured a starting scrumhalf from CMHS. We probably missed some, but it was great to see so many young ladies continuing to play!

Thursday, November 10, 2011

Press on the State Championship

Several local papers covered the Wisconsin Girls Rugby State Championships last week. While the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel was poor in its coverage of the event, especially compared to past years, some local papers added some more detailed articles about the big event.


The Fond Du Lac Reporter, provided this article on our northern-most team's particpation.

The Express News, provided perhaps the most detailed article on the match and details about the solid program built in Menomonee Falls.

The Oak Creek Patch added a nice summary of their big game here.

and the Milw. Journel Sentinel provided at least a mention of the results, in addition to the previous week's preview.

The interest in rugby generated around our local communities by having long-standing girls programs continues to grow. Ten years ago, coverage was scare and attendance mediocre. Last week's tournament filled the park and the parking lot, and generated the most notice of any event to this date. In fact, the event has grown so much that moving locations to a facility with greater capacity is being discussed.

Legislative Update for Youth Coaches

State Representative Jason Fields (Milw) is the author of Assembly Bill 259, which would require schools to take student athletes off the field for practices and games if they suspect they have a concussion. The bill was approved by the State Assembly on November 5th, 2011 and is awaiting the next step in the legislative process. One provision of the bill is that student athletes would not be allowed to return to action until a medical professional clears them.

The debate among lawmakers has centered around whether the state should be involved in legislating youth sports directives or whether these issues should be left to youth sports organizations and parents. Some are arguing that the bill rightfully takes the burden of responsibiilty off of coaches, and places it in the hands of parents and medical professionals. Others say, the area is too murky to legislate, since medical professionals seem to treat this issue in a whole variety of ways.

For more information on the Wisconsin initiative to inform and prevent head injuries, check out Play Smart Wisconsin