The 7^th Annual NorCal Girls Rugby Kick-Off Festival was just as much of a success as NorCal Girls Rugby Chairman Karen Chance had hoped for. The same four teams that competed in the first middle school girls’ league will also be playing in the 32^nd annual Kickoff Tournament.

Although there wasn’t a championship game and score wasn’t kept, Chance said the girls from Motherlode, Land Park, Gridley, and Danville had a blast at the Kick-Off Festival.

“I don’t even know the score for my own team, and I don’t care,” Chance said. “It’s the beginning of the season and for many, it’s their first time playing. The girls had fun.”

Each team played with the as many players as the team could afford. Although 7s was played, 8s, 10s, and 12s was as well. This gave the girls the best experience with different levels of play.

The girls who are a part of the NorCal middle school league will play in two tournaments before continuing on to league play. Colorado, Oregon, and Ohio are currently working on their own middle school programs for girls.

The Kick-Off Festival was played at Elk Grove for its all-weather park. Although it was raining, the stands were full to witness the girls play. Chance believes that having a middle school league will make it as easy and smooth as possible for the girls and their parents to try out rugby.

“When people look at rugby, they go, ‘My daughter’s going to play that?’ It’s a contact sport and girls generally don’t play contacts sports,” Chance said.

By creating a middle school league, she believes the players who are normally included in the group of people who don’t want to play with high schoolers or boys will come out to try the sport. The fees for the individual players to compete in the round robin tournament was also waived which allows the program to grow, encourages other teams to join the league, and attracts players to those teams.

Which seems to be a correct assumption because Gridley, which doesn’t have a high school girl’s team, is now playing in the league.

The next tournament the middle school league will be competing in is slated for January 30 and 31 at the Kickoff Tournament.