Saturday's a Rugby Day

18 girls had the chance to step onto a muddy field in the pouring rain and learn how to play some Irish Rugby! We did mainly drills involving the rugby ball in order to get a feel for the ball and how to communicate with your teammates. It felt so nice to be playing a sport again! The rugby practice made me miss soccer like crazy.

Rugby is basically a combination of soccer and American football. The object of the game is to get the ball to the other side of the field and "touch it down." What makes it different from soccer is that you can run while holding the ball, and you MUST pass it backwards. No forward throws are allowed. It differs from football because once a tackle is completed and a player is down, the game does not stop! Another player picks up the ball and continues down the field. This keeps the game moving much quicker.

One of my favorite drills was tackling. We had a few body bags when we ran into while holding the ball and then passed it off to someone else. This created a "ruck." But one small detail, you couldn't throw the ball until you were on the ground! After this drill, we were all practically covered in mud!

I never in a million years thought I would be trying rugby... and liking it so much!