Winona State University offers many club sports for its students to join and be a part of. One of those many sports is rugby and throughout the years at Winona State, the sport has gained a lot of popularity. Rugby is a full-contact sport almost similar to that of American football and soccer. The common goal among the team is to run the ball into the endzone of the other team.
Taryn Tom is one of the captain’s who represent the women’s rugby team. Tom grew up playing all throughout high school and wanted to continue playing while attending Winona State.
She goes out of her way to make sure everyone on the team has a good experience, even if they are completely brand new to the sport. Outside of rugby, Tom is studying Physical Education and Health as her chosen field of study at Winona State.
“When joining, expect to join an open group of people who are excited to compete and grow all together,” Tom said. “We are all working together for one goal, winning.”
Rugby can be an intensive sport. During games and especially practices, you have to put in all your full effort. It can be said for all sports all across the board. “Everyone is on the team to get better,” Tom said. “We push each other to become better all the time.”
Tom found that everyone has different skill levels because individually, each person joins the team with different backgrounds involving the sport. It could be from having some skill with the sport to none at all. Although while on the field during a game, everyone is needed and is important no matter their athletic ability.
Building connections in sports is always beneficial for the amount of teamwork that is involved, especially in rugby. “My favorite part about this team is how family-like we all are,” Tom said.
“Rugby has totally given me a community that I can depend on,” first year Kora Webster said. “As for Taryn, she is always pushing our team to be our best selves and pushes herself equally as well!”
It goes to show how Tom and the rest of the captains on the team ensure that everyone is connected to one another. With many of the new students at Winona State, joining a sport can bring a whole new support system, especially in a new and unfamiliar environment in which they might not know anyone. “Rugby has totally given me a community that I can depend on,” Webster continued. “I’m glad I know I can always come to anyone with any trouble.”
Currently, the women’s rugby team has already gone against three other universities from Iowa, Minnesota, and Wisconsin. The next game is set to be on Oct. 5th against the Iowa State University women’s rugby team.
With the fall season currently going on, it still isn’t too late to join. “The team is very friendly, and we want everyone to join,” Tom said. “We have two seasons so if this fall season doesn’t work out we have a spring season too.”
