Fort Collins Hammers Hit the Nail on the Head in Colorado Girls Sevens
Fort Collins Hammers Hit the Nail on the Head in Colorado Girls Sevens
Rugby Colorado's girls 7s league kicked off this past weekend and we're seeing some significant growth in numbers.
Denver East, Lumberjackies, and Fort Collins Hammers went through their games unbeaten.
East beat Highlands Ranch 26-5, tied Lumberjackies, and beat Valor 33-5.
Lumberjackies also won their other two games, beating Regis Jesuit 29-5 and Highlands Ranch 20-5.
The Fort Collins Hammers played three games and won them all: 34-0 over Highlands Ranch, 14-10 over Valor, and 36-0 over Regis Jesuit.
Valor also defeated Regis Jesuit 20-5.
That was in Tier 1. There was a Tier 2, as well, and Fort Collins Gold beat Lumberjackies, Glendale, and Valor, while their White team went 1-2, losing to Glendale and Vipers.
Little known fact, Fort Collins won the first two girls national HS championships in 2000 and 2001. They have rebranded as the Hammers, but it's the same program.
"We rebranded in 2020 as the Hammers Rugby Club because we pull players from all over Northern Colorado, since there aren't any girls teams covering many communities up here," said Coach Jen Schwab. "We've been rebuilding with the rest of the world since COVID, but we've competed well in the smaller Rugby Colorado competitions."
They were able to take 1st winning first in the smaller competitions the last two falls, but this growth in numbers as well as quality is evident. And, yes, Schwab is indeed referring to COVID. As readers will know if you read this site a lot, we've mentioned that different regions have been slower to come out of COVID restrictions than others. Colorado was one of those slower regions. In addition, girls rugby has been slower than boys rugby to come back. So girls rugby in places such as Colorado, Washington, and Minnesota have been slower to come back than, say, Ohio, Wisconsin, and North Carolina.
So, yes, COVID has had a ripple effect into 2024 in Colorado.
But now things are looking a bit stronger, and Fort Collins is taking advantage.
"One of our strengths is team play and support runs," said Schwab. But they also benefit from senior leadership. Cadence Schedlbauer (usually playing wing) and Colleen Pike (scrumhalf) have led the team well, and with growing numbers the on-field leadership by example has been crucial.
Footage from this weekend here:
