Canterbury benefits from UC Cup
As long as they have got the right attitude and are willing to give it a go, they’ll all be coachable. That’s one of the things we have to work on.
Canterbury’s school girl rugby competition, the UC Cup, is winning plaudits for it’s high standard of competition and successfully bringing through a new generation of women’s rugby players in the province.
Running alongside the boys UC Championship competition, the Cup is on level footing with the championship for the first time in terms of sponsorship and the region’s rugby administrators hope to benefit from the high level of play each week.
The Forward Foundation team (a collection of players from various schools around Canterbury) are at the top of pool A, with Hillmorton High School and Linwood High School level on points in pool B, the only three teams to have not lost a match.
Maddy Surie is heading up the Forward Foundation team and has been impressed by her players, but they do have an advantage as they’re all passionate about the game.
‘‘Absolutely advantage.
‘‘I think it works in a way that because we have all the girls who don’t have a team to play for and they’re the ones who ultimately are desperate to play.
‘‘When they play you get that passion taken onto the field as well.’’
She said having a team that offers girls an opportunity to play, even if they don’t have a school team, was important.
‘‘The drop-out rate of girls in sport is huge in high school. We need to put that link in place to make sure they have competitions in place to play in, to make sure they feel valued and have opportunity.
‘‘It’s all very well us pointing the finger at them, but if we’re not offering it then what can we say about ourselves. It think that’s
it gives us an what is so good about this UC cup competition is that we can offer them a chance to play.’’
John Sherratt, who leads the women’s representative coaching team at Canterbury Rugby, backed the competition and what it brings to the rugby landscape in the region.
He said a big part of the competition was giving girls the oppor- tunity to enjoy and play the game, while learning the technical aspects of a contact sport.
‘‘As long as they have got the right attitude and are willing to give it a go, they’ll all be coachable. That’s one of the things we have to work on too. Making sure we have the right sort of structures around them and ensuring they do get to develop.
‘‘That flows through – they start to play senior club rugby and all being well, Canterbury rugby.’’
Forward Foundation captain and St. Margaret’s College student Islay Fowler said she had noticed increased attention on the competition now that it shares a sponsor with the boy’s competition.
‘‘It’s been great, there’s been more people down to watch than last season, it’s still not heaps. It’s just cool to see more of the organisers down to support it and it’s had a lot more coverage which is awesome.’’
Fowler, who started playing when she was 4 years old, said her team benefited from their players encouraging others to get involved and getting to know girls from all over Canterbury.
‘‘It’s been so cool to see more girls coming back from schools each season. There’s more numbers from my school, more people signing up so obviously they’re having good fun.’’
Sherratt said his organisation was happy to offer resources to schools if they needed it. Canterbury supported the competition as it connects them with younger players through schools and clubs.
‘‘The girls have to have a pathway. If we can have this sort of competition, as well as the senior club competition, that all bodes well from my point of view – and for New Zealand. I know from Canterbury’s point of view, the more teams we have playing in these competitions, it’s just awesome. If the girls want to play rugby, it’s a good place to be.’’