Fall-ing in love with girls rugby

It has proven to be the birthplace of the W.R. Myers Rebels girls rugby team.

First started back in the fall of 2009 to see if there would be interest in girls rugby period, Andrew Llewelyn-Jones continues that tradition this week to see if girls from Grade 8 to 12 can catch a love of the sport.

“This is an intro to rugby, it’s essentially for girls who may be interested in playing rugby next year in the spring. It’s really Rugby 101,” said Llewelyn-Jones of the fall rugby camp which went Tuesday and continues today at W.R. Myers field. “It’s very, very basic. It’s teaching them the rudiments of the game in ball handling and footwork and a bit of tackling on the second day.”

The fall camp from 2009, which has continued on every year since then, proved to be the springboard to get the W.R. Myers Rebels girls rugby program on its feet and those feet are now running full steam with both junior varsity and varsity teams at Myers.

“It’s basically for Grades 9 to 12, but I have had Grade 8s coming in as well. They can’t play in Grade 8, but they can certainly learn how to play by coming to practice and when they get to Grade 9 they know how to play,” said Llewelyn-Jones.

“From the fall camp, we’ve had some new players every year. Some come out and try it and say ‘that’s not the sport for me’ which is fine. But right now I know the camp has brought in say a sister or a friend of a player where they get the bug and the next year they are playing.”

The second day of the fall camp goes today from 4-6 p.m. at W.R. Myers field. If you are not able to attend the girls camp, but would be interested in playing rugby in the spring, you can call Llewelyn-Jones at 403-223-3317.