By Shrija Krishnan, Business Manager
Senior and girls rugby co-captain Sabrina Look plays in the forward line. As the first line of defense, forwards are typically the bigger and stronger players responsible for mauling, scrummaging and tackling. While Look believes forwards are critical for the team’s defense, she admits to having lied about the position she plays in the past.
“When people would ask me what position I’d play in rugby, sometimes I would lie and tell them I was a back because backs are the more feminine girls. They are the very thin, very fast (girls) and the people who mostly avoid contact,” Look said. “I didn’t want people to assume I was more masculine than I was because of the fact that I actually enjoyed that contact.”
Look explains that girls are reluctant to try the sport when they are older because they are not exposed to rugby from a young age. She believes stereotypes about femininity in sports result in a lack of exposure to rugby during developmental years.
“When people think of enrolling their daughters in sports, they think of cheerleading, they think of dance, they think of soccer even,” Look said. “But no one thinks ‘I’m gonna put my daughter in rugby.’ People think about their sons, ‘Hey, I’m gonna put my son in football.’ But for some reason, there’s almost a stigma about putting your daughters, your girls, into these contact sports.”
Despite difficulties surrounding stereotypes, senior and co-captain Paulina Yang believes that rugby is a unique sport that allows girls from different backgrounds to join a team that fosters acceptance.
“What I really like about rugby is how different it is from other sports. It’s not similar to soccer or softball. I think it’s so cool how there’s just so many different elements that you can’t find from other sports,” Yang said. “No game is exactly the same, and you’re always doing fun things. In rugby, I think what’s really cool is that the team is really nice. I think we have one of the most welcoming teams.”
Yang explains that, unlike other sports teams, the rugby team struggles with recruiting freshmen to replace experienced players that graduate because girls lack exposure to the sport. According to Yang, recruiting challenges force the team to function as one cohesive unit despite disparities in experience levels.
“For the new players, there’s a really big learning curve,” Yang said. “Rugby is a hard game to learn and an even harder game to master. I sucked at rugby for my first two years of playing it, and it only came to my junior year where I got better.”
Although the team has struggled with recruiting in the past, Look believes that the U.S. women’s rugby team’s bronze medal win at the 2024 Summer Olympics has led to more interest in the sport. She notes that the number of rugby teams ’Stoga competes against has doubled and hopes the momentum will continue as more teams start to emerge across the state.
“Before I leave ’Stoga, I want there to be 30 people on that field practicing,” Look said. “If I can get that, I will cry tears of joy. It’s all I can do to host team bonding events, design and print out posters, and spread awareness if it’s towards that goal of wanting to have a great community.”
Shrija Krishnan can be reached at [email protected].
