Every season, within the first week or two of school, the best girls rugby team in Colorado plays its toughest competitor – itself. (Photo courtesy: Summit Rugby Facebook)
“A lot of times we think kids don’t really want to be challenged, but deep down they want challenge,” says Karl Barth, head coach of the Summit Rugby team. “You know they want to grow, they want to get better, and I think we do a disservice when we don’t.”
Today at Summit High is the annual green vs. white scrimmage. It’s part try-out and part homecoming for the defending state champions.
For Barth, it’s a tradition 30 years in the making.
“What comes to mind was using half of the Silverthorne rec center court, and playing in the hallways and wrestling room at Summit High School because we didn’t have a place to play,” Barth remembers from those first formative years. “When we started playing, we were playing against colleges and women’s teams. There were only two highs schools (playing girls rugby) in the state. It’s amazing to talk to those kids now about the facilities we have now, the fields. It’s been amazing watching it over the years.”
Barth loves rugby. He picked it up in college when he was rehabbing a lacrosse injury.
“They say it’s the game played in heaven,” he laughs, only half joking. “Obviously with a really good rock band playing while you’re at it.”
He loves how rugby is kind of like other sports, and yet nothing at all like other sports.
“Well, it’s where football came from, so it’s football without the stoppage,” he says. “It’s soccer where you can use your hands and tackle with the whole body, not just the slide tackle. There’s a connection to basketball or lacrosse in terms of movement and vision, or problem solving and leverage like wrestling. It’s a little like everything. You have to be fit, you have to fast, you have to be strong, but you can be big or small. It doesn’t matter.”
But what he loves most about the sport are the generations of the Summit Rugby family.
“It’s the girls,” he says. “That’s the culture they have. It’s amazing servant leadership, and it’s giving back to obviously the community, but their team especially.”
This fall, Summit Rugby is chasing its 17th consecutive state title.
But first, a scrimmage with the family.
“At the end of the green and white (game), it’s all the kids who have never played, and you have the seniors and the older kids – the starters – they are running up and down screaming, you know, and cheering for them and running water for them,” Barth says. “It’s a really welcoming environment for them to know that it’s just, go out and give it your best shot, and we’ll grow from there.”
Opening game of the regular season for some at rugby. It’s next Friday, they’re back at home for the summit.