Historically, girls’ high schools in Iowa play their regular season in the fall (7s), are off during the spring, and then have 7s all-star opportunities with the Iowa Hawkettes during the summer. Covid-19 claimed all of 2020; however, a massive effort from the Iowa Youth Rugby Association (IAYRA) saw the girls’ championship 7s season move to the spring this year. It’s the first time the girls and boys have competed alongside each other, and the move also means the girls have not lost a season to the pandemic.
When the fall 2020 season approached and it was apparent that the girls’ season wasn’t going to happen, there were also discussions on what the boys’ season might look like in spring 2021. That’s when IAYRA Girls Director Debbie McKittrick asked, “Is it possible to do the girls, too?”
McKittrick was introduced to rugby during her first year at law school, and she was the only woman on an all-male 15s team. The trend continued as she played for the next eight years, as there were no women’s teams in her vicinity. She always talked about rugby around her children, so it was no surprise when her eldest son, Hunter, started playing in middle school.
“When Hunter was playing, it wasn’t well organized because poor Dennis [Oliver] was trying to do everything,” McKittrick said of the Ankeny boys’ high school coach and current IAYRA Executive Director. “I asked to take over the communications part, so I could be the point person for all kinds of questions, announcements, organizing team dinners, etc., and he could focus on coaching. From there, we started a rugby board made of parents, who could fundraise and do the advertising and marketing, and handle the books – more of a divide-and-conquer so the coaches could coach.”
Three years ago, McKittrick joined the Ankeny coaching staff, and she’s joined by Hunter and two former players. The younger generation is awash in 7s and more astute when it comes to game strategy. McKittrick described herself as “the glue that holds it all together.” She has a master’s degree in Negotiation and Dispute Resolution, and is a Judicial Officer and Title IX Coordinator at Des Moines Community College.
“When the kids are having a hard time at practice, I’m taking them on a walk around the pitch for a talk,” McKittrick lent context to her role in the program. “I help on a personal level, so they can put it all out on the field. I’ve always said rugby is the cheapest and most rewarding therapy.”
When the desire to reconfigure and formalize the IAYRA board arose, so did McKittrick’s name.
“With all the changes that were happening with World Rugby and USA Rugby, just staying on top of it was too much for the gentleman doing it all,” McKittrick said. “So we added new coaches to the board – again, more of the divide-and-conquer to help the previously smaller board – and we’re changing our bylaws and getting up to date. I’m a lawyer by trade, a woman, and I played, so it made sense for me to be oversee the girls. Plus it’s just a fresh voice, and I have no problem being vocal.”
McKittrick took over the IAYRA Girls High School Director role when Covid-19 was already underway and presided over what would end up being a postponed, not canceled, fall season. In December 2020, the girls got the official O.K. that they’d be able to play in the spring, and both excitement and anxiety followed.
“I was worried about conditioning,” McKittrick said with her coaching hat on. “Usually we practice in August and get all warmed up [for the fall], but here we are in December and it’s winter. We can’t get outside until March 1 and getting out in Iowa then isn’t desirable because the ground is frozen. But we have to get outside and tackle and get hands on the ball, because we have all these new players. It’s a very different season for the girls because they don’t usually deal with snow and ice.”
Initially, McKittrick had more than 30 players express interest in an Ankeny spring 7s season.
“I knew there would be plenty of desire on the girls’ part, but during the fall, it’s already hard [competing] with volleyball and cross-country, but now we would compete with softball and track in the spring, and that’s really tough,” McKittrick said. “And it has been tough.”
Ankeny is down to nine active players. Some of that decrease is the Covid-19 quotient as well as competition for athletes who would otherwise be free in the fall. McKittrick has no track athletes, including a junior who was one of the league’s leading try-scorers last season. The tension is even more pronounced on the boys’ side.
“We have boys who play football in the fall and want to play rugby in the spring, but their coaches say, ‘Do track instead,’” McKittrick said. “But a prop’s not going to be running in a relay race – unless he’s an exceptional prop. And shotput isn’t working on football form. I’m not sure how a running sport like rugby would hurt football.
“We get a lot of seniors out for rugby and without exception, each of them has said, ‘I wish I came out earlier. It’s so much fun, the coaching is different, the brotherhood is different, the whole feel is different,’” she continued. “We ask them why they didn’t play sooner. And they say, ‘We’re told: You won’t start if you play rugby.’ That’s putting an adult decision on a child.”
McKittrick is baffled by the resistance to rugby, or why coaches don’t see the value of multi-sport athletes, and it’s an issue she intends to investigate when she heads to England. McKittrick was one of 26 coaches selected for the spring 2020 Premiership Rugby scholarship program, which begins with an immersive overseas trip to England. The group was supposed to depart in April 2020, but the hope is to go abroad in the fall.
“They are community minded and get a lot of community support,” McKittrick said. “So I’m looking at how we build that larger community – which includes the schools and other coaches – but I’m not looking to re-invent the wheel. I’m hoping to learn a lot by working with Premiership Rugby.”
Conversely, McKittrick described the rugby-playing membership as grateful to have a spring season. Approximately 80% of teams – nine – are back in play and one new team, Waverly Shell Rock, has emerged. Groups of 3-4 teams have been contesting 7s round robins since April 2. Scores and standings are kept, and the season will culminate with playoffs and a state championship.
“The majority of players and coaches are in the camp of: We’re just so happy to do something that feels like normal,” McKittrick said. “Being outside, playing the sport we love, hanging around we people we like hanging with.”
The season is far from seamless, though. There is some disagreement about how postponements or Covid-19 cancellations should be recorded and impact the standings. And there’s also some different energy levels on the pitch.
“There are some players who saw their teammates lose their senior year last year – that was heartbreaking. Those kids were hoping to get looked at by recruiters and they didn’t get that opportunity at all,” McKittrick explained. “So kids who are juniors and seniors now, they’re really trying to set themselves apart and are extremely assertive in the games. Sometimes they forget they’re playing at a different level than some of the newer players or those who don’t have that same kind of thirst and hunger for the sport. They’re there for the camaraderie. There is sometimes a little friction between those who want to take it to another level after high school and those who are there for the fun.”
For McKittrick and other teams that are running lower-than-normal numbers, there’s always a level of uncertainty for who might be available on game day. That factor impacts advance planning, and consequently, the amount of information that can be passed onto parents.
“Coaches understand what’s going on a bit better because we’re talking directly with the administration, and I’m in the administration. I’m trying to be transparent but it doesn’t always trickle down to the parents,” McKittrick said. “This season, we haven’t been able to plan out more than a week in advance, because some teams have merged, some have low numbers, and availability changes quickly. The teams that are doing well are the ones who have an abundance of players.
“So everything is week-to-week and there are parents who need to know what’s happening 2-3 weeks in advance – all for valid reasons, like taking off work,” she continued. “And some parents like the comfort of planning out a whole season in advance – I’m one of those parents. But we can’t give them that. It’s week to week with injuries and blended teams, and just finding locations that can accommodate rugby.”
IAYRA Operations Manager Clint Gadbury is “playing the schedule Tetris game,” per McKittrick. Every time a team experiences a delay – whether it’s related to Covid, numbers, field availability – the schedule needs to be reworked but also balanced. Normally, the girls’ teams play each opponent at two different tournaments during the season, making for easy seeding into playoffs. But that’s not possible during Covid-19, and Gadbury does his best to mitigate that imbalance against constant adjustments.
“He’s an exceptional man and he deserves an award for this extremely time-consuming task,” McKittrick said.
As such, the girls’ schedule is posted one week at a time, but Gadbury is very good about updating the site and standings, and this Friday marks week four of competition. Southeast Polk is currently undefeated and has outscored six opponents 215-22. The team’s closest match was against DM Roosevelt (5-1) – a 24-7 contest. Both Dowliing and Cedar Falls are 4-2, and Ankeny is 3-3. See the full standings.
A general schematic for the state championship has the finals being played on May 7, with some sort of elimination round (e.g., semifinal play-in match) contested the night before. There was hope to have all three divisions (two boys, one girls) competing at one location, but limited access is dividing the field into two stadiums. This season, in an effort to maximize venue rentals, girls’ and boys’ teams have been alternating on the same pitch. McKittrick hopes that exposure translates into more growth and interest in the girls’ game, and that would be an excellent reward for all of the time and effort that has gone into this spring and beyond.