Girls Rugby Nationals 2017 as the Dust Settles

Sadly, this year's national high school tournament might be remembered by some more for a semifinal rivalry game that was called early, then for all the great teams and matches this past weekend or for the flexibility teams showed to get both school and club teams at the same location. 

About two years ago, one rugby media source wrote "there’s question as to whether girls high schools can support two separate competitions. Rugby may be the fastest growing sport in the U.S., but how many teams are playing at a level that deserves national recognition? The invitational has always struggled to bring eight top teams into the DI bracket. Additionally, there isn’t countrywide buy-in."

Two years later, supporting two competitions is the real triumph of this event and what should it should be remembered more for.   The girls game is stronger than ever and growing as a result.

In 2015 in Pittsburgh, the final year of the combined championship, there were 14 teams competing.  

In 2017 there were 24 teams competing.  More regions have come in to the schools bracket in particular, showing greater "country-wide buy-in" from as far away as Hawaii, Tennessee, New York, and Oklahoma.

The question isn't whether girls teams deserve national recognition; it's whether girls teams want to challenge themselves to earn national recognition and learn to play at higher levels.  It's not a question as to whether it's already there, it's a question of growing it.  The answer seems to be yes.

Not only were their eight strong competitors in the schools and club brackets, but there were second divisions for each.   Teams in both division two brackets have shown competitive scores against tier one opponents.   West End had beaten Morris at one point this spring, for example. 

Looking at the scores, there were competitive matches all across the board.  Gone are the days when it was an eight team tournament with frequent blowout scores in the first round.   There were tight games in the first round and the school's final was a tight, back and forth match.  We saw newer competitors emerge stronger, ready to fill the room to grow, even as programs like Kent and Danville were absent.  While it was sad not to see them participate; it was eye opening to see others like McMinn and Morris continue to improve and compete at a high level.    

Thank you to the ref crew on site who handled a ton of matches over the course of three days with little to no breaks.  It is a shame there weren't more refs assigned to the event to help the small crew and provide AR's.  To be honest, it's shocking there wasn't more coverage.  Not enough credit is given to these girls teams for the high level of play they achieve and their excellence needs to be matched by administrators and support staff in all aspects of the game.  The girls deserve better.   As the dust settles and the attention fades from the scores and the rankings, let's hope more attention is given to the overall experience and quality of play at this grassroots level.