Well that day has finally come, just last week the new UT Dallas Women’s Rugby Club was approved by the Recreation Sports Department. A lot of work, time and effort have been put into this, not only are the lasses practicing at the same time as the lads albeit not together. They have been putting in time to recruit new players, working with the coaches Sharpie and I to learn so much of this game in the time they have. And they are really coming together, like the lads last year, every practice I see improvement from them. It’s going to become real exciting in the next couple of weeks.
There are some people who I need to thank, first Alyssa for having the guts and fortitude to move on this as quickly has she has, in respect to putting the documentation together, recruiting and just about everything else concerning
the women. Chris McAlpine who has again proven to be a champion for not only the men’s program but now the women’s program. Coach Sharpie for coming out and working with the lasses, her commitment to the game is
as passionate as mine is. Thanks goes out to Nathan Sohadaseni and Dominic Prestia for helping Alyssa with
documentation and learning the tricks of fund raising for this new club. To Coach Bear, who has taken on a little more of the duties, while I’ve been working with Sharpie and the ladies at practice. But the real thanks goes out to all the ladies who have never played this great game, and want to learn it, just like the lads did in the fall of 2011.
The ladies have their very first game Saturday (2/23) in Huntsville against Sam Houston St. Women's Rugby Club. Kick off is set for 12 noon. Directions to the field will be posted soon.
Then on March 2nd, they will play rugby against UT San Antonio Women's Rugby Club in San Antonio.
This is very important for UT Dallas, because on that same day, the lads will be playing their semi final match against a team to be named shortly. On Saturday, 3/2, at the UT San Antonio field there will be 4 men’s clubs playing 2 semi final matches with the winners of those matches playing on Sunday to determine the Lonestar Conference Champion. The ladies will play one match before the first men’s semi final and then again before the second semi final match.
Currently UT Dallas Men will be the number 1 seed in the upcoming playoff/championship, if and when they win on Saturday. They will play in the championship on Sunday. Directions and times of the matches at UT San Antonio will be posted on the web site soon.
But back to the ladies, with this being their first half season of rugby, because they started out late, not too many matches will be played. I’ve had some success in finding clubs to play against and this will only help strengthen the ladies resolve and bring about more ladies interested in playing come next fall.
The ladies will, like the guys did last year be wearing either Red or Blue jerseys while playing until they can raise the money to order their own set of jerseys. In the mean time if you aren’t doing anything and would like to come out and support this new group of hard core ladies wanting to prove that anything the guys can do, girls can do it also. There will be pictures posted on the web site after our match with Sam Houston and the UTSA match. See stay tuned for all the rugby you can handle.
Just a side note to all that has happened with the men's club, I promised that I would get a Mohawk and do the same with my beard if the lads went undefeated this season and they have 8 wins 0 losses and combined with last years record. They are 15 wins, 0 losses with one championship and working to hopefully repeat and go farther in the NSCRO playoffs. Being true to my word, I did get a Mohawk and I did do something to my beard. I will keep it until after the Lonestar Championship, so if you see me and you want to see what an old man looks like with a Mohawk (besides Mr. T) ask me and I'll remove my hat for you.