Why is it so important to stretch after a workout? Wigtownshire Ladies A town rugby team with a difference

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 upto-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 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.

A couple of months before the rugby season begins, training differs in that there is a bigger emphasis on fitness and strength. This is known as pre-season and the girls will be put through their paces with circuits and flipping or carrying tyres. Mann says that the team is like a family, “no matter what happens we all stick together on the pitch and it is a great way of making new friends.” Mann also says she was sceptical about starting rugby at first. She says she had always been interested in sport and exercise when she was at school but her interest came to a halt for a little while after leaving. She had moved away to college for a year, and it was not until she moved back home again that she wanted to join something like football to keep active. One of her friends kept telling her to go to rugby with her, but Mann had said for ages that she did not have a clue about the sport and did not want to be involved with all the tackling, instead she only wanted to go for fitness reasons. However, around three years later she absolutely loves it and is of course the team captain now. “I think that people should give rugby a go because I was never interested in it at all, until I went to training just to try and keep fit and now I love it. Don’t let tackling and aggression put you off, it’s really not that bad honestly. I’m really happy that I do it, it keeps me fit and I always want to push myself at training and in games. Of course it’s a great feeling when you win and we are still very new to it all, but we are improving with each and every game.” So maybe you too should take the leap and join that sports club you have been hearing all about.

“No matter what happens we all stick together on the pitch and it is a great way of making new friends.”