With cleats on their feet and chiffon trailing behind them, the Lord Tweedsmuir girls rugby team traded their jerseys in for prom dresses June 11 in a playful, sun-soaked celebration of a standout season.
The rollicking, light-hearted spectacle, now in its fifth year, is both a send off to the season and the squad’s Grade 12 players.
“It was a lot of fun and a good laugh,” said head coach Jamie Overgaard. He and fellow coaches Marcus Tam and Karly Reum also donned dresses for the game. “We started this about five years ago as a good way to wind everything up.”
He said the game has always been a big hit with the players and their parents. Many of the latter emailed him in advance wondering about the day and time for the match as they wanted to make sure they could get the time off work.
The game was full of laughter and tackles that tore “uniforms” as bits of chiffon floated on the grass.
“They’re a pretty tight group,” noted Overgaard. “Many of them played club rugby and they really came together as a group.”
Scotland, England, France
He explained that a bunch of the girls played for the Langley Rugby Club and they went on tour to Scotland, England, and France over spring break.
Overgaard added that it’s unfortunate Surrey Schools has implemented a “no-billet rule” for students. That means students on school strips must stay in hotels only and cannot billet out. This increases the cost beyond what normal fundraising can garner. Students in Surrey Schools are also not allowed to billet students from out of town.
On the bright side, he said, it may be a boon for club rugby as it’s forcing high school students to join community rugby clubs if they want to go on tour—as was the case with some Tweedy players this year. They joined the Langley Rugby Club and got to go on the tour of a lifetime, hone their skills against top-class competition, and grow as human beings—as countless students have done in years past.
“Many of these girls went out and played for Langley and because of that, we were able to take those ones on tour,” he explained. “So, that was great for that club, for grass-roots rugby, and for us. It really helped us with our season when you can come back from a club season and a tour.”
Taylor Schonewille, one of the two team captains, said her squad had a really good year and it was her favourite year playing rugby. She added the prom dress game was bittersweet for her as it was her last run as a Tweedy Panther.
“I had so many great experiences with this team,” she said. “I love these girls and I’ll miss ‘em a lot.”
Schonewille was one of those who went on tour. She noted the trip was “beautiful” and it made her grow as a rugby player.
“Just seeing how they play so differently over there,” she explained. “The level of athleticism was really different and it was just really, really good for us to go against those top competitors. I think it changed the way we play as a team.”
She said the experience helped the girls learn how to prepare better for matches and taught them how to compete at a higher level.
Italy
Italian exchange students Emma Valeri and Martina Cristoforetti played rugby for the first time this year. They both weren’t sure if they should join the team or not, but they went out anyway and tried it and found they loved it.
“I really like the teamwork and the team in general,” said Valeri. “People are really nice in rugby. I like the game because it’s a little bit messy. It’s a messy game, but it makes sense.”
Cristoforetti said the team is tight knit and a “really good group” of girls.
“I used to be an individual sport player—like running, swimming, tennis player—but being a part of a team at Tweedsmuir was so much fun,” she said. “The teammates made the rugby experience even better. They were a huge part of it.”
They both said playing on a sports team at Tweedsmuir augmented their student exchange program experience.
The pair fly back to Italy at the end of June—Valeri to Milan, Cristoforetti to Rome.
“We are so sad,” said Cristoforetti.
“We are already crying,” added Valeri.
Both have built strong friendships in Cloverdale and plan to come back and visit.
Overgaard noted his girls squad is losing 12 players as they graduate this year, including the two Italians, but the program is still growing and expanding. He said they’ve had a successful program over the past several years now.
“We’ve made provincials four times in a row and that’s really good,” he said. “So, we’d like to build on that. We’d like to continue to crawl up that ladder.”
He said there's a big difference between the top four AAA teams and teams five through eight. Right now, he wants to concentrate on moving up from seventh to fifth and then later work on cracking that top four.
“We could do very well in the future,” Overgaard added. “It all depends on how willing the girls are to commit to (rugby). There's lots of other sports that girls play. We got lots of high-level softball players and soccer players. And all that stuff’s in the spring. So it’s hard to compete against.
“We just try to hook them by keeping their hearts in it. And stuff like prom-dress rugby, that’s how you do it.”
