Angie Cordova ’19 and Casey Hodson ’19 are a part of the small group of girls left disappointed after the girls’ rugby team was cancelled. Both of them had signed up to compete on the team last spring, and but learned in August not enough players committed to the team. Even though around 30 girls signed up in the spring, only five girls were available in the fall.

Science teacher Dave Oldham would have coached the team. He started forming the team last year after a few students had asked for a girls’ rugby team. Other schools in the metro have girls’ team such as East, Lincoln, Ankeny Centennial, Indianola and, Valley. Roughly 30 girls had signed up, most of them seniors this year.

The practices were due to start in the late summer and the games would have begun in the fall. “It was a new sport and it’s senior year so, I just wanted to go for it,” Cordova said.

One of the obstacles was conflicts with other fall school-sponsored sports.

Some girls were also committed to club sports as well. “A lot of the girls had fall seasons of their sports going on which took a good chunk of the girls out,” Oldham said. “We also had a few girls who were out because of injuries.”

Hodson was one of the five girls still committed to playing rugby. “I was pretty excited to play rugby,” she said. “I understand that people are busy though.”

Twelve are needed to play. However, due to rugby being a physical contact sport where injuries are common, 15 is the desired number of players for a team.

Cordova was also disappointed. “I still wanted to play and I was upset,” Cordova said. 

The girls were given the option of playing on other metro teams. “Mr. Oldham told us he could get us on other teams like Lincoln or Ankeny, but I didn’t really want to play for other schools and didn’t want to go to the hassle of driving there everyday,” Cordova said. 

Hodson also mentioned the hassle. “I didn’t want to play for a rival team and the commute was too long for me,” she said.