A WIRRAL rugby club which started with just five players is aiming to build its girl’s team.
Caldy Girls’ Rugby Club started in 2019 after coach Chris Green started on a journey to get girls' rugby going again at Caldy.
Since starting, the club now has 50 girls who play for the club and is hoping to encourage more to sign up.
Chris told the Globe: “It started because my daughter played rugby at the club when she was at junior school and there wasn’t anywhere for her to go when she reached senior school because they split them into boys and girls.
“So I went to the club and said if like to start up girls' rugby and they approached me at the same time with the same idea so it was a happy coincidence."
Since starting the girls' section, Chris has qualified as a coach and referee.
He said: “I want to make sure I’m teaching the girls the right thing and understand the laws of the game.
“It’s one of the best things I’ve ever done in my life. I love it.
“A lot of the girls turn up for their first time and they’ve not done a sport where they have to bash each other and get bashed themselves and some of them don’t like it but then they get used to it.
“Seeing those girls who have come along for the firs time and thinking I’m not sure if this is for me then going out there and doing big tackles and getting up again and getting on with it is brilliant to see as a coach.
“I think that’s one of the important things about it that it teaches the girls that if they get knocked back down they can get back up again. It gives them that resilience and also mentally as well that they are stronger than they think they are and capable of doing more than they think.”
Currently, at the club there are four age ranges for players to join including under 12s, under 14s, under 16s and under 18s.
Chris said: “Unfortunately we don’t have any under 12s at the moment and under 14s is a bit thin but under 16s we’re just a few players short of a team and under 18s we’ve got 23 so quite a big squad.
“It’s a hard road sometime. We really want to get more girls playing rugby to encourage people to come and give it a try. A lot of parents don’t think it’s a game for their daughters to play. We’ve had a lot of girls say that they would like to play but their mum or dad won’t let them.
“They watch it on TV and see 20 stone men ploughing into each other and the girl's team isn’t like that.
“There’s a lot of stereotypes around rugby players but it’s a game for all shapes and sizes literally. Rugby players are all different.
“So for girls who have reached their teenage years and not found a sport that’s for them. Rugby might be it.
“We really want to get more girls playing rugby. They deserve the same chance as the boys to run out and play together as a team.
“It’s hard to do that with half a team we have to mix with other clubs and they end up playing with girls they don’t know it’s not as much fun for them but when the girls are able to play as a team they enjoy it so much more so it would be nice to give them that opportunity.”
To find out more about Caldy Girl's Rugby Club click here.
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