With the first tournament of the season scheduled for Saturday, the Idaho women’s club rugby program battled through a lack of recruits to form a team in time for the spring season.
Junior Mónic Munoz said the Black Widows have seen improvement every day in practice.
“Our coach has been emphasizing self-decision making on the field rather than the coach yelling on the sidelines what to do,” Munoz said. “And to be able to make decisions on your own and have a plan ‘A’ and a plan ‘B’ kind of thing.”
While the Black Widows have seen progress on the field, Munoz said the team continually struggles to find enough members to construct a full team roster.
With the first tournament approaching this weekend, the team was able to find 15 players – the exact amount required on the field during play. Munoz said the Black Widows combined with another team for the Fools Fest tournament Saturday in Spokane, due to Idaho’s minimum roster requirements.
The junior said communication would be a key aspect for the team during tournament play.
“We’re just going to have to work together this weekend, a lot,” Munoz said.
While the combination of two teams may seem an oddity in other sports, Munoz said it occurs regularly in rugby.
“Meshing with another team is kind of the thing in rugby,” Munoz said. “If you’re on break, and another team needs girls, they’ll kind of just ask anyone who wants to play, and you’ll put on their jersey and play for them.”
Munoz said versatility would be important for the Black Widows during the weekend.
“You may have your set position on your team,” Munoz said. “But if they need someone then you have to be open to play other positions.”
Munoz said in addition to Fools Fest, the team is looking forward to the Widow Ball, a longstanding tradition with the program.
“In the past, the Black Widows have had much bigger teams, so they were able to play against each other in prom dresses,” Munoz said.
Despite the tradition, Munoz said the Idaho women’s rugby team has been unable to continue the event in previous years.
“We’re trying to bring it back,” Munoz said. “We can’t do it against each other, so we’re going to do it against Spokane. We’ve talked to Spokane and because some of them have played with the Black Widows, they’re OK with doing it.”
Idaho will compete in the Fools Fest tournament Saturday. The team will then host the Widow Ball April 23 at Guy Wicks Field.
Mihaela Karst can be reached at [email protected]
Christin Kaminsky
Great to see that the Black Widows are still a team. I played for them from 99-03. At one time on the roster we had 30 on our roster. Keep up the good work! You'll get there.