Wisconsin's Rugby Culture

DSHA's success -- and the news coverage of DSHA's national title run in two articles from the Journal sentinel (one, two) -- really illustrates how far high school women's rugby in Wisconsin has come in the past 11 years. Perhaps one of the more important side-effects of DSHA's success is not the title, but the positive impact on the image of rugby in the community. This positive impact is highlighted by one simple fact, the location of the story in the paper. Both the stories about the DSHA national title run were printed in the sports section with the tag line "rugby." This may seem like a small accomplishment, but the very first press that DSHA received from the Journal Sentinel (and don't get me wrong, we were glad to receive it) was a full, front page story in the STYLE section. Women's high school rugby has clearly moved from a "curiosity" to a legitimate, competitive sport -- with DSHA leading the way for all of us.

The legitimacy of women's high school rugby in Wisconsin as a sport is no small accomplishment. In Kicking Stereotypes into Touch: An Ethnographic Account of Women's Rugby (full cite at end of post), P. David Howe notes that, even in Wales where rugby is an important cultural activity which forms part of the Welsh national identity, negative perceptions of women's rugby impacts the ability of rugby clubs to recruit high school players: "We have real difficulty attracting high school girls to the team. It would be great if we could because by the time they are in there [sic] mid-twenties they could be really accomplished at the game." (Howe, p. 237).

Wisconsin seems to have to overcome some of these negative perceptions associated with women participating in a contact sport -- an accomplishment that is due in no small part to the inclusion of rugby stories in the preps section of the Journal Sentinel. Last weekend, I was in the mall and getting a hair cut. The barber noted that I seemed to have gotten a lot of sun. I responded that I spend a lot of time on the sideline of the rugby field. The barber stated, "oh, I thought that around here only the girls played rugby." I indicated that I coached a girls' high school team and this led to a discussion about how her daughter was a senior at a high school in Wisconsin and how she wished that there was rugby at her school. The significance of DSHA's success (and its coverage by the press) is that the general public -- those with no connection to rugby -- form a positive image of Women's rugby players and see rugby as a legitimate sport for women. (an ironic comment given the fact that there are probably twice as many boys high school teams as there are girls). The positive perception of women's high school rugby creates the opportunity for the growth of women's rugby in the high school (and by extension boys' rugby). There is interest in the growth of women's rugby by female athletes who read these stories; The only thing holding us back is the need to find more coaches and referees!!

So, kudos to DSHA -- not only for winning an impressive 6 National Titles and having the first ever USA Rugby Coach of the year in John "Chin" Klien-- but also for generating headlines that highlight the athletic accomplishment of our women's high school rugby athletes and foster a positive image for rugby.

For those of you who want to follow up on the citation: Howe, P. David (2003), Kicking Stereotypes into Touch: An Ethnographic Account of Women's Rugby, in A. Bline and J. Granskog (eds.) Athletic Intruders: Ethnographic Research on Women, Culture, and Exercise, pp. 227-246.

(p.s. -- it is really nice to have access to a tier 1 research institution's library when exploring your casual interests!!)

Rugby Research...

Over the past 13 years that I've been involved in coaching or refereeing high school girls rugby in Wisconsin, there have always been recurring questions that come to mind. Some of these questions impact how we grow the sport (i.e. why do girls decide to come out and play rugby? How do players and their families perceive rugby as a sport, and how does that perception impact the growth of the sport?); other questions impact our assessment on the value of rugby as an alternative sport for young women in Wisconsin (i.e. what impact does rugby have on players, both during their years as player and beyond? What value do the players and their families see in playing rugby?).

There are intuitive answers to these questions. There is also a body of scholarship to validate and extend thinking around these same questions. Although these studies are not particular to Wisconsin and/or high school girls, they provide a framework for exploring these questions in the high school and local contexts. Over the next few months (since I happen to have a little time on my hand as the spring season wraps up), I will be summarizing some of the current research on Women's rugby to provide a basis for further reflection on the impact of our own league and, just out of curiosity, to see what's out there.

In the article, The Black Ferns: The Experiences of New Zealand’s Elite Women Rugby Players (full citation at end of blog entry), researchers explored the experiences of women playing on New Zealand's national team, the Black Ferns, by interviewing 23 players during the 1999 tri-nations tournament between New Zealand, Canada and the USA. The researchers utilized a nine question, semi-structured interview, which was centered around seven themes: participation motives, reasons for continuation, experiences participating in a male dominated sport, experiences being a Black Fern, the governing body (NZRFU), sport and life plans, and general background information. Interviews were taped and transcribed and then reviewed by the interviewees for participant verification. Transcripts were coded for themes and sub-themes independently by the lead authors to ensure dependability. The researchers then utilized HyperResarch, a qualitative research software, to assist in analysis of the data.

The article focused on three of the seven themes: (a) reasons for starting to play rugby, (b) reasons for continuing to play rugby, and (c) being part of a predominately male game. (My summary focuses on the first of these three themes, and I will summarize the other themes in subsequent posts). In exploring reasons that players started playing rugby, players indicated the following reasons (listed according to the frequency with which they were heard):

• Their friends played and introduced them to the sport;
  
• They cam from a rugby family;
  
• They enjoyed the physical nature of the game and had a desire to change sports, particularly from netball (a basketball like game played predominately by women);
  
• The liked that rugby was an intelligent sport;
  
• They always liked rugby, but never had an opportunity to play until later in life;
  
• rugby provided an opportunity to travel and meet other people.

In summarizing the implications of these reasons for playing, the authors caution that their findings may not be generalizable to elite athletes in other sports or to rugby players in North America, or other regions where rugby does not have the same culturally significant role, as in New Zealand.

However, may of the motives for beginning to play rugby likely carry-over into the experience of high school girls who chose to play rugby in Wisconsin. Based on informal discussions with players, three themes in particular would likely emerge in the high school context: (1) players begin playing rugby because of peer recruitment (i.e. their friends are playing), (2) players want to try a new, and more physical sport, after years of playing other sports, usually soccer, and (3) players enjoy the opportunity to travel and meet new people (i.e. players like that club rugby usually engages in some form of travel).

An open question for players in American high schools is the amount of exposure that high school female athletes have to rugby prior to starting play. Many players join rugby without ever having seen a rugby match. Thus, it is unlikely that rugby players join rugby because of a well-formed appreciation of rugby as presenting a particular type of challenge or physical activity. Rather, their perception of rugby is likely limited to general concepts (i.e. I know players tackle). A participation study would help to clarify what are the pre-conceived ideas that high school athletes have about rugby and how do those perceptions influence their decision to play. Thus, it would be important to replicate the participation study with particular emphasis on exploring young players perceptions of and knowledge about rugby as an added dimension.

In posting these summaries, I hope to solicit feedback from readers to identify important themes for research and, if there is interest, identify potential collaborators for conducting further research.

CITATION: Chu, Michael M. L., Leberman, Sarah I, Howe, Bruec L., and Bachor, Dan G. (2003). The Black Ferns: The Experiences of New Zealand’s Elite Women Rugby Players. Journal of Sport Behavior, Vol. 2 (No. 2): pp. 109-120.

Women's Rugby in 1928

This is a must see. The Letchworth Girls Rugby blog posted a silent film of women playing rugby in 1928. This is well worth taking the time to click through and see the film and additional background on this blog.

Enjoy!

Girls Health In Wisconsin

The Journal Sentinel reported this story on a study by Alverno College on the state of high school girls in Wisconsin, in terms of education and health issues. One particular quote stood out:

Another mystery that emerged from the report relates to girls' health. They watch less television than their male counterparts, but report falling below recommended levels of physical activity.

"They're not exactly couch potatoes, but what is it? Are they texting on their phones?" O'Brien said. "We want interpretation from girls who are living it."

Our community, i.e. rugby in Wisconsin, offers high school girls something unique. It is an opportunity for a girl to become fully involved in a sport, even if she has not been participating and playing it since she was 3 years old. This provides an opportunity for everyone from star athletes who are burnt out on another sport to girls who just never found thier niche. The Wisconsin rugby community should be proud of its efforts and should recognize that what we do is more than just a shot at a winning a sports competition, but an opportunity to help young women thrive.

The full report is available on the Wisconsin Women's Council website.