Today, only 9 of 20 make it to women's rugby team practice

Six women from the rugby team sat debating whether they would wear sneakers or cleats for their conditioning run. Though their decisions differed, all you'd have to do is take one look at their legs to see what they have in common. They're battered, bruised, black and blue and scraped from the previous weekend's tournament.

A rugged sport that requires tackling and heavy physical contact without the benefit of protective equipment, rugby and women seldom come up in the same sentence. But these URI rugby players don't seem to mind the bruises on their legs, which provide visual proof of their dedication.

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"Once you start playing you're addicted," Sophomore Anne Marie Sullivan explained. "You can break your collarbone or tear ligaments but you just keep going back. It's your addiction."

First year coach Tom Campbell informed me that it's difficult to get all the players to practice because of classes. There are about 20 women on the team, but just nine made it to Wednesday's practice.

The team has 10 rookies, and Campbell couldn't restrain his enthusiastic evaluation of their performance in that first tournament. The team left the "Beast of the East" tournament in Portsmouth, R.I., with a 2 and 1 record, beating University of Massachusetts and the University of Hartford and losing to the Coast Guard Academy.

Campbell tried to get games in before the tournament but there were unavoidable cancellations by the other teams. Nevertheless, he was extremely satisfied with the team's debut.

After informing me of their performance, Campbell began a fairly strenuous conditioning program with the players.

"You can't do too much running before a tournament because they get tired," Campbell said. "So they are going to do some running today."

The team ran three laps around the perimeter of the field, which they call 400s. They also ran sprints, which were mixed with jogging and half-speed running. After each sprint, they alternated between doing push-ups and sit-ups.

After about 30 minutes of running they began rugby skill drills. They practiced lateral throws that are caught on the run. These are fundamental skills that allow the team to advance down the field and score points.

As they practiced their passing and catching, they shouted encouragement to one another: "Come on ladies!" and "You got it!"

As I walked away from the practice -- with soccer, softball and baseball teams at work on adjacent fields --I could still hear the faint hollers from the women's rugby team: "Way to go!" and "Good pass!"