A few weeks ago in Paris, the U.S. women’s rugby sevens team took home bronze at the Olympics. It was the first medal in rugby Americans have taken home in a century.
It was a major moment for Mia Strickland, who coaches girls rugby for Salem-Keizer high schools.
“The rugby was phenomenal. It was such a different level than what I see on the day-to-day, it was–” she said, and sighed. “It was excellent. And especially Ilona Maher, watching her play, oh my gosh she kills it on the rugby field.”
Rugby is having its moment in the spotlight in the U.S., but in Salem, Strickland is doing everything she can to keep the high school girls team going for another season.
Rugby is a full contact sport with rules reminiscent of football and soccer. Players tackle one another, score a “try” like a touchdown, and kick the ball through goal posts for additional points.
The high school girls team, the Snapping Turtles, recruits players from the Salem-Keizer area. They compete with teams across Oregon and in southwest Washington.
Fall practices start August 26, and as of this week Strickland has four girls committed to playing. Strickland needs to have at least seven girls registered by the first week of September. She’s been frequenting the Salem Saturday Market and casting the net on social media.
“I am very optimistic that that will happen,” Strickland said, and that she’s seen a lot of interest when doing community engagement. “I probably won’t know how many people I really have until that first week of practices.”
Salem Rugby founded the Snapping Turtles in the fall of 2019, right before Covid forced sports practices to shut down.
“It really put a huge damper on the growth of the team,” Strickland said.
She said back in 2019, there were around a dozen high school girls teams in the league, down from a peak of about 20 several years earlier.
Now there’s seven confirmed teams: Salem, McMinnville, Canby, Bend, Vancouver and two Portland teams. A few more are trying to get back up and running again, but she said it’s a slow process.
“Which is why I’m really doing a lot to try and get this team built up. And it happens with time,” Strickland said.
Strickland first discovered rugby at a club fair her freshman year at McMinnville High School. She was thinking of joining cheerleading, but her mom dragged her to the rugby booth, which had a graduating senior who talked about college scholarship opportunities with the sport.
“My mom heard that and was like, ‘Scholarships, you say? You’re playing rugby.’” she said, and laughed. “And I played all four years of high school.”
Strickland didn’t take to it right away. She’d never played a sport before, and she “totally sucked” during her first season.
But instead of teasing her or getting upset, her teammates encouraged her and helped her improve.
She got better, and the sport made her feel like she was a part of something. It also helped her combat an issue many high schoolers face.
“I was super self conscious about my body, how I looked. And in rugby, there isn’t an ideal body type. There’s positions for every size, shape, height, anywhere in that spectrum. I’ve seen girls with one arm play and totally crush it on the field,” she said. “There’s really a spot for everybody, and in high school especially, that was something that I really needed.”
Strickland didn’t end up playing rugby in college, choosing a school that didn’t have a program, but the rugby community has stayed with her. And it’s a wholesome community, she said, in-part because of the sport’s tradition of hosting opposing teams for a meal.
“Even now if I mentioned that I played rugby, someone else who has played or knows someone who played is like ‘Oh my gosh, me too,’” she said.
Any high school girl is welcome to join the Snapping Turtles, Strickland said, and there are no tryouts. The club sport fee is about a $36 insurance charge and typically a $100 registration fee. Strickland won’t know the exact prices until registration opens in the first week of September.
Players need cleats, a mouth guard and she recommends spandex to wear under shorts. Strickland will work with families facing financial barriers, too, and encouraged them to reach out to her at her email, [email protected].
Students can come to practice any time, even the last practice, to try rugby out for free. But they won’t be doing any tackling or contact until they’re registered, she said.
That’s because safety is a huge priority in rugby training, where players tackle without pads or helmets.
“I spend a lot of time with my girls going over: ‘Here’s how to tackle properly, here’s how to fall properly.’ And we do it constantly,” she said. “The injuries that happen happen when someone is not doing something safely.”
The fall season has seven players on the team for seven minute halves. There will be about three games per match day, which are on Saturdays. This year, each team will host one match day on their home field.
Fall practices will be Monday, Tuesday and Thursday starting Aug. 26 through October, with the first season game scheduled for Sept. 14 hosted by Salem. There will be a break before the spring season, which begins with February practices. Those games have more players on the field, and 35-minute halves.
For any questions, email Strickland at [email protected].
Boys and adult rugby in Salem
The Salem-Keizer high school boys team, unable to secure a coach, won’t be playing this year.
But Salem’s rugby community is making an effort to connect with high school players, said Aaron Ricci, who plays with the Salem Spartans men’s team. Players have to be 18 to join the league, but high schoolers can check out the practices and have helped with league fundraisers.
The Spartans, who range from age 18 to Ricci’s 52, have typically gotten a boost from graduates of the high school league, and much of their recruitment comes from word of mouth. Their team is now about 18 players strong, with the help of a recent group of Corban University wrestlers joining when recruitment was low.
Ricci said Salem’s rugby community is mostly new players to the sport. They’re looking for about five to ten more to help them get into more competitive leagues in Portland. Learn more on the Salem Rugby website.
The Spartans work closely with Salem’s adult women’s team, the Salem Attack Owls, to fundraise. They’re also recruiting.
“Rugby culture is pretty cool. It’s one of the best things about the sport. It becomes a big family,” Ricci said.
Contact reporter Abbey McDonald: [email protected] or 503-575-1251.
A MOMENT MORE, PLEASE– If you found this story useful, consider subscribing to Salem Reporter if you don’t already. Work such as this, done by local professionals, depends on community support from subscribers. Please take a moment and sign up now – easy and secure: SUBSCRIBE.
Abbey McDonald joined the Salem Reporter in 2022. She previously worked as the business reporter at The Astorian, where she covered labor issues, health care and social services. A University of Oregon grad, she has also reported for the Malheur Enterprise, The News-Review and Willamette Week.
