WIGTOWNSHIRE LADIES RUGBY TEAM
Lack of infrastructure, funding and facilities can have an impact on sports teams in smaller towns. But in Stranraer, Scotland, this does not stop The Wigtownshire Ladies Rugby Team from playing. The Wigtownshire Ladies is a diverse group of around thirty women from the ages of seventeen to forty. It is refreshing to see such a supportive group of ladies who motivate and lift each other up. The team has been running for around four years now, it had previously begun around twenty-three years ago but had fell away because of lack of members. But the girls, led by team captain Sophie Mann are doing all they can to attract new players and keep up the momentum, by using social media to reach a wider audience and keep supporters up-
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to-date with the latest training and matches. The group trains twice a week, starting of with a fifteen minute game of touch rugby, accompanied by a warmup and stretches for mobility. Touch rugby involves minimal contact between players than the usual game of rugby and tackling is not allowed. The rugby team may circle back to touch rugby several times during a rugby session in order to stay warm, as the girls often face cold and wet weather conditions. A typical session involves working on skills or areas where the team feels that they may need to
Move Your Body
improve on. Their coaches would make up drills for the players to follow. This helps the women work on the different techniques required in rugby, such as passing, tackling, scrum, mauling and rucking. The players are then split into forwards and backs, with the forwards working on scrums and lines outs, while the backs would work on passing techniques and tricks throughout the line. Afterwards the team would regroup and do a run-through together. At the end, the team may possibly play a full game of rugby.
