Fall Conference Sneak Peak

With August upon us, teams are beginning to look forward to opening weekend of WGR. WGR is proud to provide a sneak peak at the opening round action and to preview a few of the changes leading into a new year. Recent WGR News: #1 Kettle Moraine High School girls rugby is seeking a head coach. Coach Liz Entwhistle has announced her resignation after her one season in charge this past spring. Anyone interested should contact WGR ASAP: wisconsingirlsrugby@gmail.com. #2 Congrats to Coach Chris Kurth at Oak Creek as he enters his first conference season as head coach. #3 This season's action begins with a round of non-conference matches #4 Division One features: DSHA, CMHS, KM, Vernon, Oak Creek, Brookfield #5 Division Two feature: DSHA jv, Fond Du Lac, Muskego, Appleton Opening Week: Saturday Sept 7th, 2013 Non-Conference Pre-Season Matches Catholic Memorial v Menomonee Falls, 9am Nashotah Park DSHA v Brookfield, 930am, Dretzka Park Sunday Sept 8th, 2013 Appleton v Vernon, 1pm, Lions Park, Greenville Fond Du Lac v Kettle Moraine Muskego v Oak Creek

Midwest Selectside Result

Sunday morning the Midwest selectside defeated Manitoba, Cannada's regional selectside 53-0. WGR hopes to find some lineups and some more info soon . .. Stay tuned.

Summer Means Camp Time

Throughout Wisconsin summertime is synonymous with summer camps. Heck, Wisconsin is home to famous summer camps like Camp Whitcomb-Mason, Camp Whitcomb-Mason on Lake Keesus in the Merton/Hartland area, which has been operating since at least 1900. Spread throughout the state are several growing youth kids camps and touch or flag rugby offerings. In a unique way, each of these communities 'runs their own show' for the summer but they all come together a few weekends a year for festivals of youth rugby. These tournaments began at the Lakefront Sevens and continue all summer. The latest of these is next weekend's Madison Youth Rugby Tournament. Held at the Wisconsin Rugby Club's Cottage Grove facility, 22 sides of teams from seven different communities are expected to participate. These programs are spread throughout the state, not just Milwaukee. Several of the coaches have pointed out to WGR that girls particpation is strong in most programs. Waukesha's program estimated that rough;y 30% of it's 50-60 campers are girls. Madison's Bruce Hill is coordinating the upcoming event and could be contacted here for more info: brucehill52@hotmail.com While the Milwaukee Pepp Nation teams won't be particpating, the current list of communities particpating include: Green Bay Wauwatosa Waukesha Fond Du Lac Menomonee Falls Madison Norway

Stars & Stripes and Midwest Green

While the summer is a break for most coaches and players, some of our more driven young athletes continue to play on various selectsides. Julie Else, from CMHS, just wrapped up a week at the Stars and Stripes camp in Colorado. She played the entire match at scrumhalf for the Stars team in a thrilling, try scoring affair that ended 29-39. This week, the camps continue, with the Midwest u19 Selectside camp up at Mankato State in Minnessota. It will culminate with a match against Manitoba, Canada's u19 regional selectside. The team is coached by Bryn Chivers, one of the most experienced coaches on the selectside circuit. A contingent of Wisconsin girls representing five different programs are headed to the camp. Congrats and best of luck to a talented group of WGR athletes: Cassie Schultz - KM Rebecca Haight - CMH Julie Else -CMH Erica Baus - Vernon Anisa Feto – Oak Creek Lindey Wise - DSHA Morgan Harris - DSHA Andrea Mertins - KM Alli Schulz – Muskego

WGR Graduates Commit to Collegiate Programs

DSHA senior Lindey Wise has committed to attend Quinnipiac University out East. As one of the very successful scholarship programs in the country, attending Quinnipiac is an incredible opportunity for the Dasher graduate to pursue a top quality education and continue to play rugby in a varsity sport atmosphere. She is also the first student athlete in a few years from WGR to play at an NCAA Varsity Scholarship Program. Several DSHA graduates, noteably Katie Plant, Alison Urbanski, and Erin Volez had all committed and played at Eastern Illinois University a number of years ago. As the number of varsity scholarship programs have increased noticeably in the past few years, we will be seeing more girls like Wise earn opportunities like this. As a DSHA team captain and one of the most well respected players in the Wisconsin league, Wise exuded class. A dynamic ballcarrier, prop, and number eight; she also played tight head prop on the Wisconsin u19 team this spring. Her play at the National Championship was impressive and for those not familiar with the WGR league, it was a coming out party for her. Another WGR alumn, Catholic Memorial senior Eileen Lieb committed to attending and playing at the University of Northern Iowa. One of the best "fetchers" in the Wisconsin league, many will remember her representing Memorial for the past four years with her intense physicality and fiery red hair. She also raised her game as a senior, and was noticeably stronger in her final season. She was nominated as a player of the match in two of the Crusader's matches at Nationals by opposing players. WGR wishes best of luck to both girls in their academic and athletic pursuits!