The Girls’ Rugby team  will begin their first season as Red Devils this upcoming spring. The team had its first practice on Jan. 18.

Mr. Lance Houia, the rugby coach who helped the boys’ team win state one year ago, is looking for similar success from the girls.

“[The girls] will win state. It’ll be the same thing that we did with our boys last year,” Coach Houia said. “We’ve got the coaching experience. One thing that the girls will learn is that rugby connects players, it is one family. The girls will bond together as a team, there is no star, there is no me, it is an entire team concept.”

For the first practice, the team had large attendance. Around 25 players showed up, which is higher than they expected. For now, the girls will be practicing two days a week, but once they get into the prime of their season, they will find themselves having three practices a week plus games.

“My teammates are super encouraging and always want [me] to succeed,” said Ellie Margason, junior. “We played with the guys, and they were really nice about teaching the girls the different plays and answering questions.”

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Coach Houia treats running the team like a business. He sees himself as the CEO of an organization, and he has 23 open positions for people who want to win championships. The team’s four coaches have around 100 years of coaching experience combined.

“The coaches are really experienced so they’re looking for another state title similar to the boys but that is just dependent on how hard everyone is willing to work, but with the level of experience of coaching, it could be a possibility,” said Sophia Karris, junior and co-captain.

As the schedule is not completely set as of now, the team anticipates that the first game will be around the end of March. Until then, the players will look for productive practices to teach the girls how to play rugby efficiently.