by: Lauren Smith, member of Greenville Women's Rugby

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Lasting 80 minutes long with no substitutions, no mandated protective gear of any kind besides a mouth guard, 15 players and 11 positions that vary as much by name as they do by responsibilities, and an average of 16 tackles per game per player with an impact of 1,600 lbs. of force, rugby is identified as one of the most physically demanding sports in the world. It also has identical rules for men and women alike, including the ball size, the number of players, and the level of contact, making it the only one of its kind.

Daunting, intimidating, and gruesome, rugby is also a source of empowerment. I began playing rugby when I entered college without the identity of “athlete” for the first time in my life. I had been playing a sport for either a club or school since I had been walking, and without it, I was lost. It was upon stumbling into a practice at SUNY Oneonta that I discovered rugby, and it changed my life.

Rugby displays positive values that embrace and celebrate the members that make up its community. It fosters responsibility, courage, team effort and togetherness, uniting all genders from various demographics, experiences, and backgrounds. A rugby team becomes a family and the pitch, or field, a home. As a result, it has developed into the fastest growing sport in the world! It has even recently returned to the summer Olympics, which hadn’t occurred since 1924.

Sara Davis and myself are just two of the many women who have experienced what rugby had done for athletes across the globe prior to establishing the Greenville Grizzlies in the Upstate, which is creating a sense of unity and acceptance. In the winter of 2018, we set out to establish a senior side and take women’s rugby in the Upstate to the next level after leaving our own undergraduate teams. After playing for so long, it felt wrong to go into retirement when our relationship with rugby had only begun. The end result has been the Greenville Women’s Rugby team, informally known as the Greenville Grizzlies.

I’m 25 years old and a transplant from Upstate New York with over 7 years of experience playing with clubs along the east coast, including both Oneonta and Asheville Women’s Rugby teams, before founding the Greenville team. I’ve mostly played as a Back in the Flyhalf or Inside Center positions. When I’m not playing though, I work as an 8th Grade English Language Arts teacher in the local area of Greenville. I also enjoy going to breweries and attending concerts across the country. I’m an avid cook, reader, and athlete.

Sara, 33, is a Greenville native and 15-year veteran of the sport. She began her rugby career at the College of Charleston and has since had the pleasure playing for several clubs around the Carolinas, including the most recent National Champions: Charlotte Women’s Rugby Club. You can mostly find her in the pack as 8-man or flanker. Outside of rugby, Sara works for Think Up Consulting as a consultant and project manager. In her free time, she loves to indulge in food, wine, books, and travel.

We came together due to our mutual cause, which was to bring a female rugby team to the Upstate. Greenville’s rugby community had already been established as it has a couple of high school teams and an adult male team: The Greenville Griffins. Although previously established, the women’s portion of the club folded in 2011. Therefore, we started by going door-to-door, spreading the word through media outlets, and preaching the three pillars of the Grizzlies: community, camaraderie, and competition.

Over the summer, our new club played its first season, which is known as the 7s style, played mostly during this time of the year. We have since then transitioned into 15s matrix, the traditional form of rugby, for the fall and spring. We plans to compete against college and women’s teams from South Carolina, North Carolina, Tennessee, Kentucky, Georgia, and other surrounding states as our team and Greenville rugby continues to grow and prosper. We have two more matches for this season: Away vs. Savannah on November 10th, and Away vs. Charlotte on November 17th. Follow the club on Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, and our website for updates!