Tackling Girls’ Empowerment

SAM WARWICK didn’t play team sports growing up.

“I tried out for soccer in the seventh grade and didn’t make the team,” she says. “That was enough rejection for me.”

A chance encounter at the University of North Carolina Wilmington’s annual Involvement Carnival – which connects students with on and off campus opportunities – helped Warwick find rugby. “A girl ran up to me and said, ‘Have you ever played rugby?!’ I told her no, and she dragged me to the table to learn more,” she says. Warwick went to a practice the following week and soon found her place. She played rugby throughout college until she graduated in 2017.

In 2021, a college coach and former teammate approached her about starting a girls’ rugby program in Wilmington.

“(She) found this organization called Girls Rugby,” says Warwick (pictured left with volunteer Lauren Baena, pictured right). Affiliated with USA Rugby, Girls Rugby’s mission is to empower participants to reach their potential through sport. “They provided us with resources and training to help us get the program off the ground,” she says.

Girls Rugby Wilmington held its first season in the spring of 2021. “We started out small and it’s been slow to build,” Warwick says. “Right now, we have 10 to 13 second- through eighth-grade girls each season.”

While rugby is generally viewed as a male-dominated or more aggressive sport, Warwick says rugby helps empower girls. “Our curriculum is values- and skills-based,” she says. “We’re teaching girls to be leaders, to empower themselves and the girls next to them.”

Warwick emphasizes they pride themselves on safe play. “We play flag versus tackle rugby, but we do teach all the rugby skills for future play,” she says. Girls Rugby volunteers are required to complete SafeSport and concussion training, as well as CPR certification.

Girls who are interested in playing rugby don’t need prior experience, and soccer is a good crossover. “I walked into college rugby with no experience, so we want to build that foundation. And we want parents and girls to be open to trying something new,” Warwick says. “It can seem intimidating. When I started playing – within my first play – I had an entire team fall on me and it was scary. But the best thing I did was not stay out.” Warwick has seen girls who were shy and quiet at the beginning of the season become more confident and show signs of leading and encouraging other girls by the end of the season. “That teamwork and empowerment is building a community.”

Girls Rugby Wilmington hopes to grow the sport within girls’ team sports. “We’d like to double the numbers of players,” Warwick says. “Since we’re so small and there aren’t other local teams, our game days are scrimmages.” Warwick also hopes to expose the girls to the Wilmington women’s team to build a bigger female rugby community.

Teaching girls’ rugby has taught Warwick to slow down. “With us only having one practice and one game a week, I feel like I’m trying to fit so much in that sometimes I get lost in the weeds,” she says. “The best practices I’ve had is when I focus on a really fun game. It reminds me of everything that I love about rugby.”

To view more of photographer Aris Harding’s work, go to arisharding.com.

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