Slowly but surely, girls high schools are taking 7s more seriously. Fall leagues are popping up around the country, which is a good thing, because unless you live in Wisconsin or Colorado, there isn’t much 15s being played during this time of year. But that’s only one impetus – making rugby year-round for high schoolers – and a host of motivations are driving state youth organizations to set up fall 7s leagues.

The Iowa league had meager beginnings: 2.5 teams in its first year, 3 in its second, and now in its third year six teams and 84 players are involved. For Iowa, this fall 7s league is everything.

“There are no high school 15s for girls,” said Kelsie McDowell, Girls Development Director for the Iowa Youth Rugby Association and coach of league-leading Southeast Polk. “They tried to do 15s a few years ago, but they didn’t have the numbers and ran into a lot of conflicts with spring sports, soccer especially, and travel teams. Since then, I haven’t heard of any movement toward 15s.

“Finding coaches is our big issues,” McDowell added. “We have schools that are interested [in starting rugby teams], but we can’t find the people to coach them.”

McDowell, however, is the perfect fit. The 24-year-old is a graduate of Midwest powerhouse Northern Iowa and has also played for the Iowa All Stars team. Her guidance has helped her team incredibly, as Southeast Polk improved to 4-0 after a 49-14 win over Dowling and 42-0 victory against Southeast Warren during round two. League play spans five weeks, with games occurring every Tuesday, before the top two play for the state championship on Oct. 25.

Southeast Polk has been in the league since its inception, and McDowell indicated that this year’s team is the strongest it’s been in three years. Key players like captain Sarah Niswander and Kassi Schultice, who is heading to McDowell’s alma mater next year, will lead the charge back to the championship.

Three years isn’t a long time, but the league is producing passionate rugby players who are serious about playing in college. For example, two-time league MVP Rachel Ehrecke is currently at DI champion Penn State.  And McDowell sees a world of potential in the current crop, in particular Des Moines East’s Courtney Fudge and Dowling’s Joseline Osman, among others.

Girls rugby in Iowa is still developing (there's an 11-team non-contact league as well), and 7s is an excellent tool for growth. For states like Pennsylvania, participation is already good, and the fall 7s season can serve additional goals.

Rugby PA has been intimately involved with the High School Challenge (HSC) that runs alongside the CRC, which has been held in the Greater Philadelphia area the previous few years. It only made sense that the host state would eventually construct a 7s season of its own.

It made even more sense that Doylestown coach Stacy Mancuso helped get the girls league off the ground last year. Her team has played in two HSC finals inside PPL Park, so 7s is something that resonates within her squad. Mancuso is still intimately involved with organizing the seven-team league, but Rugby PA will host and handle the state championship. Leading up to the Oct. 26 tournament are a series of friendly, round-robin tournaments held every Sunday (the league is currently entering its third tournament weekend). No points accrue during the season, but the Oct. 26 tournament will name the state champion.

The lead-up to the state tournament is a bit more casual than Iowa’s, but that has its advantages, too.

“Since we play on Sundays, players who are involved in other sports can play both,” Mancuso said. “We also practice a little later – 5 or 6 o’clock – so a player could attend both practices during the week, too.”

Numbers are good, but it’s the newcomers who are bolstering the rosters. The entire 15s league has not gotten behind fall 7s yet.

“This has been a great opportunity for finding new players for the spring,” Mancuso said. “Last year, we had 10-15 new players who carried over to the spring, but that was across the board,” meaning the rest of the league enjoyed a similar number of recruits.

“The higher-level clubs, the DI teams, all jumped on board, but the DII girls don’t have the numbers yet in the fall,” Mancuso added. “My hope is to have 20-25 teams join, so we can have divisions, just like 15s. You’ll earn [standings] points throughout the season, with a qualifying round before the championship – we’re moving toward it.”

Right now, North Penn and Downingtown are looking strong. The former has a lot of experience with a host of seniors who have played for the state all-star team. And they’re fast. The latter lost a good amount of seniors, but they’ve got strength in the ranks and have been dominating early on.

“We’ve been looking good,” Mancuso said of her side. “We lost 10 seniors but have some up-and-coming 8^th graders who are very fast and picking up the game extremely well. … In the first two weeks, we didn’t beat the good teams but only lost by a try or two. This week we’ll have our full team and we’ll be strong come Oct. 26. We’re just being patient and building with what we have.”

Keep an eye on Sophie Pyrz, who made waves during the HSC as the top scorer. The senior is a superb athlete with excellent speed.

“She’s the one we look for on the field,” Mancuso said. “People can’t catch up with her.”

Like Pennsylvania, Utah is in close proximity to one of the country’s biggest 7s events: Las Vegas Invitational. 2014 marks the inaugural boys and girls fall 7s leagues.

“There are six girls teams - not as many as we would have liked, but not too bad for the first year out,” said Michael Cressler, Executive Director for Utah Youth Rugby.

Cressler has created a 7s series that mirrors the HSBC 7s international circuit. There are four tournaments, and the pools rotate so all teams play each other twice. There are also primary and consolation rounds at each tournament so teams can accrue points toward the state championship, the winner of which is determined on standings points after the final tournament.

Of the six teams competing, the Vipers are favored to do well. The team competed as the Black Mambas at the LVI and has alumni with some serious credentials. All American star Frieda Fetu’u, who is now playing with the WPL’s Berkeley All Blues, is the most well known, and current player Apaau Mailau, fresh off the Youth Olympic Games, is also very influential. These players return from their international ventures and educate their teammates on the rugby that’s being played around the world.

“There are a lot of opportunities for the boys – traveling and touring – so the girls were very excited to get this going,” Vipers coach David Shelledy said. “It’s been a little bit of a challenge the first year – some soccer and other sports – but the girls are committed.”

In addition to having a handful of players with 7s experience, the Vipers have a strong senior class led by Mailau, Lindsy Larson (who is a defensive wall) and the quick, hard-tackling Lili Toki. If it wasn’t for the fall 7s season, these players might have played in one out-of-state 15s game before starting its season in late March.

But Cressler is taking it a step farther than simply providing more 7s for his constituents. He's looking at the long-term effects at different levels of the game.

“We anticipate that the middle school teams will be geared more toward 7s, which will produce 7s-only teams in the future at smaller schools,” Cressler said. “We are also looking at shifting our spring middle school 15s season into a Spring Middle School 7s season to promote growth and leverage the increased 7s players numbers we see come out of our summer 7s series. What that means is if we make that spring change, 7s will be available years round for Middle School ages.”

Utah, Pennsylvania, Iowa – they’re all carving their own 7s seasons that make the most sense for their states, and in the end, they’re providing more field time for the passionate, young rugby player. And that can only be a good thing.