“Wait, We Have A Rugby Team?”

Awareness of the term “scrum” is scarce among Scituate’s student body, but for SHS senior Luke Greene, the “scrum” is more than just a word. Defined as “two sets of forwards massing together around the ball with their heads down, trying to gain possession of said ball,” by the Free Dictionary, the scrum is at the root of what makes rugby such a unique game.

“I love how different rugby is from any other sport,” Greene explains, “That aspect of it brings my team closer together.” The Scituate Stormers are a co-ed club at Scituate High School, of which Greene has been a part of since his freshman year. However, he believes he wouldn’t have known about the team’s existence had his older brother not urged him to join. 

Now a captain, Greene hopes more people will pay attention to the sport he loves, but he knows how hard that will be. “A lot of people don’t even know what rugby is,” Greene hypothesizes, and he has a point.  However, considering the club’s record as 2019 State Champions, it’s hard to imagine why the team is so often overlooked. 

Sophomore Lucy Finkle, a member of the SHS’s gymnastics team, may have an idea as to why some sports get more attention than others. Despite the fact that gymnastics is one of the most elegant and physically demanding sports the high school offers, gymnastics meets often have low attendance, leaving the girls to support each other by taking each other’s photos and executing carefully rehearsed cheers that make the gymnasium feel more alive. 

Additionally, Finkle suspects there may be more lying beneath the surface: “We don’t have a boy’s gymnastics team, so the whole thing might not seem interesting to half of the students at our school,” she infers. Although it is a hard pill to swallow, there may be some truth to the statement. Without a stadium or a booster club to increase their recognition, being an all-girls team may be a reason for their lack of attention. “A lot of what draws people to a sport has to do with who plays them,” Greene emphasizes. 

The romanticization of American sports such as football, basketball, and hockey, has led to a culture of putting some athletes before others. Because sports such as rugby and gymnastics are not as traditionally rooted in American culture, they often fall short when it comes to funding, pep rallies, and even attracting good athletes, who may appreciate the social and cultural advantages of playing football rather than rugby or track and field rather than gymnastics. 

SHS Senior Colin Carreira, a member of the high school’s ultimate frisbee team, has found a way to use this American hierarchy to help people understand his passion: “If you watch football, my position is like a wide receiver,” he explains. The connection already being made, he is aware that not many know what the role of a “deep” is, and he uses a football analogy to help make sense of the position. “Obviously if you turn on ESPN, you’re not going to see frisbee,” he suggests. According to Carreira, “ultimate” is worth giving a shot, whether that takes the form of watching or playing, and he hopes the school will do more to advertise its presence. 

In a community where football is worshipped and basketball is praised, it can be hard to beat “packing” the stadium or the gym. However, it is on these nights that one might consider supporting one of the lesser-known sports that SHS has to offer. From rugby to gymnastics, frisbee to swimming, sailing to skiing, there are countless opportunities to get involved and make an SHS athlete feel appreciated–why not? 

You can find Scituate’s rugby and gymnastics teams on Instagram by searching @stormers_rugby and @shs_gymnastics_ respectively.