Week 2 Preview

WGR Conference Matches Week 2

Thursday Sept 19th
Division One
Divine Savior (1-0) v Oak Creek (0-1)  5pm Kickoff  @Dretzka Park

Saturday Sept 21st
Division Two
Muskego (0-1) v Appleton (0-0)  12pm Kickoff  @Bluhm Park

Division One
Catholic Memorial (1-0) v Brookfield (0-0)  4pm Kickoff  @Minooka Park

Sunday Sept 22nd
Division One
Vernon (0-0) v Kettle Moraine (0-1) 1pm Kickoff  @Vernon Town Hall Park

WGR's staff have voted the Vernon - Kettle game as the "game of the week."  Their 3rd Place final match at state last year was one of the league's all-time classic back and forth battles with dramatic big plays, lead changes, and try-line stands.  These two proud programs always play with a lot of passion and feature several standout athletes.  The outcome will give the winner a much better shot at a top-half finish to the conference season.  Keep an eye on Vernon's tall senior Kathryn Harvey in the pack and of course Kettle's junior flyhalf Cassie Schultz.

PeppNation: Helping Kids Learn Rugby

Hello everyone,

For those who are interested and helping to coach flag rugby we have some training coming up this week.  We start coaching with the students October 1st for 8-10 weeks 2-3 days a week from 3:30-6pm at the following locations:

Clement Ave Elementary: 3666 S Clement Avenue
Elm Creative Arts Elementary: 900 W Walnut St, Milwaukee, WI 53205
Hawley Environmental Elementary: 5610 W. Wisconsin Ave

Please bring any friends or someone you know who enjoys working with youth.  our coaches do not have to have played rugby, we will teach anyone how to coach flag rugby!

Training this week will be at:
Hephatha Lutheran Church
1720 W Locust St. 53206  (corner of 18th and locust, park on 18th street)
Plan for about an hour and half each night.

Tuesday and Wednesday at 7pm

Thursdays at 8pm

Please let me know if you will be able to make one or more of those sessions. 
Help keep youth active and inspired to do more and be more, be a coach!

Thank you
Liz Millman

Elizabeth Millman
PeppNation- Sales Representative and Recruiter
Peppnation.org
Kettle Moraine High School Girls Rugby- Head Coach
National Society of Leadership and Success- Member

Great Waters Collegiate Women's D2 Conference

The Great Waters Collegiate Women's Rugby Division 2 Conference has unveiled their website.  Providing some up to date scores and standings, it's an easy way to see how the various Division 2 Wisconsin universities are doing.  With league schedules available it's also a way find a game to check out.  There are a lot of WGR alumni playing collegiately, especially at Wisconsin schools.  Good luck to the young women who have chosen to continue playing.

The two Division One women's collegiate programs are UW-Madison and UW-Milwaukee.  More on them next week ....

Wisconsin Girls Rugby Fall 2013 Scores Week 1

Friday Sept 13th

DSHA 75  Kettle Moraine 0

     Kettle Moraine, despite the scoreline, played well by all accounts and their young team showed character, commitment, and some good decision making all over the pitch for all sixty minutes.  They held Ds scoreless for the first ten minutes, and their strategy of having junior flyhalf Casssie Schultz kick deep to repel DS attacks was effective and a tactic KM teams of the recent past had not employed much.

    DSHA's depth was too overwhelming in this fifteens match though, and that may prove true for the entire conference.  Their team speed may be the strongest they have had in years with most of their pack having been backs at some point.  The story of the match for them may be goalkicking though where they seem to have found something special.  A 12 out of 15 performance from their kicker, Kendyl Braun, which included several side kicks was impressive.  They've always had strong kickers, but their coaching staff is excited about how consistent they were this match and this could prove to be the most consistent goalkicking they've had.

Division Two

Muskego 27. DSHA 42. ( other reports have it at 25 to 27)

All six of DSHA,s  tries were converted, continuing their theme of strong goalkicking.  This was a good matchup of young athletes and Muskego was able to score several tries through some athletic ballcarrying.  They were improved over last week.

Saturday Sept 14th
Division One
Catholic Memorial 58  Oak Creek 0
     In a physical encounter, the Crusaders were able to pull away from a strong Oak Creek side.  Memorial's Rebecca Haight continued her try scoring ways from last spring with four more.  She notched three tries during the national tournament and has tremendous breakaway speed.  Oak Creek finished the match strong and hammered away at the Memorial red zone for the last ten minutes of the match, showing improvement as the match went on and a penchant for not giving up.

CMHS JV 25 Oak Creek 5
Playing Sevens for three halves, or would that be periods?, both teams got a chance for all their freshman to play.  Although there were alot of stoppages inthe first period, both teams quickly learned to adjust, and the final two periods saw both sides go back and forth in some nice, flowing rugby.  memorial freshman Stephanie Gull got Cmh on the board with a long try and added another one fie minutes later.   Oak Creek's fiesty scrumhalf Abby Uljanec (10th) added a try of her own in the middle period to keep things tight.

Sunday Sept 15th
Division One
Vernon v Brookfield (Rainout.  Postponed)

2013 Week 1 Standings
Division One
DSHA (1-0)   5
CMHS (1-0)  5
OCHS  (0-1)  0
BBRC (0-0)   0
VPRC (0-0)   0

Division Two
DSHAjv  (1-0)  5
Muskego (0-1)  1
App/Fond (0-0) 0

 

Parents, players, and even some new coaches can be at a loss to explain the concepts and laws of rugby.  They are often very different from other sports.  In addition, many of the laws of the game have changed dramatically over the past three decades, so veterans of past decades may be unable to interpret certain calls by a referee. Into the early nineties, lifting in lineouts, for instance, was not allowed.  Often on the sidelines this lack of knowledge can lead to frustration. 

We recently came across the image above which captures the concept of "the gate" in rugby.  Basically, players from each team must enter a contact situation through this "gate."  For the Blue team it's the blue lines and the red team, the red lines. Simply put, a team must always enter a breakdown from behind their own ball, not through the sides of the contact area.  This simple rule, if followed and enforced, can clean up a match and help give both sides some space and cleaner rucks.

As we enter our first week of conference play, we at WGR wish to remind new players, parents, and coaches that our sport isn't basketball or football.  We don't yell at referee's for their calls.  The captains interact with the referee on the pitch.  It's a refreshing tradition and so different from what we often see on TV from professional athletes, coaches, and fans.

Girls Rugby Initiative Offers Start-up Grants

USA Rugby has launched a campaign to encourage greater girls rugby participation.  Check out their promotional materials, as their "Try On Rugby" fliers happen to include a photo of some WGR alumns celebrating a try during their participation in the 2012 National Championship.

There are other grant programs outside of USA Rugby to help starts up girls teams.  WGR offers grants to help offset the coast of coaches taking a certification course.  The U.S. Rugby Football Foundation, the USRFF,  also offers grants for start up packages that include balls, tees, mouthgaurds, and field flags.  Check it out.

 

Details on the program include:

Try on Rugby Participation Program - The Try on Rugby Participation Program offers starter kits for anyone looking to introduce the sport of rugby to young girls. Starter kits contain rugby balls, flags, cones, and an extensive curriculum of flag rugby, fitness and nutrition, and life skills for girls under 18. The program is easily implemented and comes complete with everything you need to get started!

Try on Rugby for Adults – Women should have the opportunity to get involved in rugby at any age and Try on Rugby helps support the pathway to coaching, refereeing, and administrating. Offering educational materials and specific courses for women to get involved, Try on Rugby helps to increase the number of females in rugby at all ages.

Try on Rugby Grant Programs - We believe that the growth of rugby starts with the gift of a rugby ball. Try on Rugby offers two major grant programs to help more youth programs expand in the U.S. The first of these programs is for community organizations looking to start a rugby program at their location. The second grant program rewards women’s rugby teams for volunteering their time growing the sport in their community.

Give Her the Game – For those women that are dedicated to growing the game of rugby for young girls, Try on Rugby gives them a great philanthropic opportunity. Try on Rugby provides best practice materials and rewards for high school, collegiate, and adult women’s teams looking to raise funds to support new programs. These teams raise money to donate to the cause, which funds and supports Try on Rugby Starter Kits for schools and community organizations.

Conference Openers

This week sees the beginning of the Fall Conference matches, after some preseason scrimmages last week.  Teams are raring to go and several good matchups kick things off.  It seems to be a tradition in WGR for KM to open with DS and Oak Creek to open with Memorial.   Vernon and Brookfield had a back-and-forth rivalry for several years now and their opener should also prove to be a fierce matchup of two young teams.

Under new head coach Chris Kurth, Oak Creek looks to be gaining some early season momentum.  With a great recruiting class, they look more athletic than they have perhaps ever been. They are perhaps turning a corner and could well contend for a top half finish.  A nice victory Sunday with a lot of tries scored was a good start to the year and showed they belong in Division One.

Friday Sept 13th
DSHA @ Kettle Moraine  Naga-Waukee Park (D1 match)
Muskego @ DSHA JV  545pm (D2 match)

Saturday Sept 14th
Catholic Memorial @ Oak Creek 10am Oak Creek High School (D1 match)

Sunday Sept 15th
Vernon @ Brookfield 2pm Brkfld Christian School (D1 match)
Fond du Lac/Appleton bye week (D2)