Help La Salle Women's Rugby!
Donation protected
La Salle Women's Rugby club (LSWR) began in 2002; built from the ground up, with one member's father being the first coach. Since the club's humble beginnings, we have attended national tournaments and traveled as far as Canada and Florida to play in high level tournaments. Members of LSWR have spent their free time in college working and volunteering in the North Philadelphia neighborhood we call home.
Unfortunately, our club has fallen on some hard times. For a multitude of reasons, recruiting had become more difficult for the club in the past few years. Last spring, we lost about a third of our team to graduation. In addition to declining participation, our coach had to step down due to health concerns.
With dedicated recruiting efforts, this season we have gained a large rookie class and now have between 20-30 girls at practice on any given night. This large rookie class inspired our president, Miah Dugan, to reach out to our alumni base and look for a new head coach. As a result, alumni Lexi Piazza and Christina Foley have come aboard to coach our team, with multiple other alumni volunteering their time to come to practice as well.
With so many girls coming out to practice and play for LSWR, it has become evident that we do not have the supplies to support such a large team. For starters, the rugby balls we are using are approximately 15 years old and do not stay inflated anymore. We would like to purchase at least 6 new balls. Additionally, our uniforms are 6 years old, in poor condition, and we do not have enough jerseys for a full team. We are intending to purchase new uniforms with this money as well.
We are reaching out because we need help. LSWR is just a few years shy of its 20th anniversary, and we do not want to see the club perish. We are hoping that our incredibly strong alumni base, rugby family, and friends of rugby can provide us with the help we need to keep LSWR alive for many years to come.
Unfortunately, our club has fallen on some hard times. For a multitude of reasons, recruiting had become more difficult for the club in the past few years. Last spring, we lost about a third of our team to graduation. In addition to declining participation, our coach had to step down due to health concerns.
With dedicated recruiting efforts, this season we have gained a large rookie class and now have between 20-30 girls at practice on any given night. This large rookie class inspired our president, Miah Dugan, to reach out to our alumni base and look for a new head coach. As a result, alumni Lexi Piazza and Christina Foley have come aboard to coach our team, with multiple other alumni volunteering their time to come to practice as well.
With so many girls coming out to practice and play for LSWR, it has become evident that we do not have the supplies to support such a large team. For starters, the rugby balls we are using are approximately 15 years old and do not stay inflated anymore. We would like to purchase at least 6 new balls. Additionally, our uniforms are 6 years old, in poor condition, and we do not have enough jerseys for a full team. We are intending to purchase new uniforms with this money as well.
We are reaching out because we need help. LSWR is just a few years shy of its 20th anniversary, and we do not want to see the club perish. We are hoping that our incredibly strong alumni base, rugby family, and friends of rugby can provide us with the help we need to keep LSWR alive for many years to come.
Organizer
Kristen Johnson
Organizer
Philadelphia, PA
