South Surrey secondary school\u2019s girls rugby squad starts season 3-0<\/p>\n
Published 10:30 am Tuesday, May 5, 2026<\/p>\n
A South Surrey secondary school\u2019s girls rugby squad has started out the season undefeated.<\/p>\n
Players at Earl Marriott Secondary, which has several boys rugby teams as well as one girls team, have embraced the sport, with the girls team featuring players from Grade 8 through 12.<\/p>\n
So far this season, the girls team has emerged victorious over Lord Tweedsmuir (17-10), Kwantlen Park (58-15), then Kwantlen Park again in a narrow 28-27 win Wednesday (April 29); the squad is set to play Lord Tweedsmuir again this Wednesday, May 6 (prior to print deadline).<\/p>\n
The players themselves, several of whom also play club rugby with Bayside and other clubs, are enthusiastic about the sport, which they say is welcoming and inclusive, even if someone has never played rugby before.<\/p>\n
\u201c(Some girls) might think, \u2018Oh, I don\u2019t feel like I\u2019m a great dancer or I don\u2019t feel like I fit in with ballet or I don\u2019t think I\u2019m fast enough or tall enough to be a great swimmer,\u201d noted Grade 12 Mariner Astrid Maynes, also co-captain of the EMS girls rugby team along with Isla Van Staveren. \u201cSo (they get into) rugby, where anyone is welcome. It runs year round \u2026 you can join any team at any point, at practically any level. I know (the) school season is what got a lot of girls to join club (rugby), and I know a lot of girls who join club, then joined in their school season.\u201d<\/p>\n
Maynes and Isla, also in Grade 12, have played together at both school and club rugby levels, enjoy the friendships they\u2019ve made, the travel they\u2019ve experienced and the bonds that they have formed with teammates while playing rugby. <\/p>\n
\u201cI really love the (rugby) community. I love the involvement it\u2019s given me and the people I\u2019ve met \u2026 I\u2019ve known these girls for such a long time. We were in elementary school together. I really love the bonds I\u2019ve made and the people I\u2019ve met when we\u2019ve been fortunate enough to go on tour,\u201d Maynes shared. <\/p>\n
Isla, whose father Adam Van Staveren is a former Team Canada rugger and also, her team\u2019s head coach, grew up around the game. <\/p>\n
\u201cI always grew up watching him go play rugby \u2026 then once I got old enough, I was never really big into dance or swimming or anything like that \u2026 nothing I ever really stuck with, and then when I was in the third grade, my dad was like, \u2018We\u2019re going to go play rugby today.\u2019 And I was like, \u2018OK\u2019 \u2014 I didn\u2019t really understand what that meant. And then that was the end of it, because I started showing up on Sundays and I didn\u2019t really stop.\u201d<\/p>\n
She joined Bayside Rugby and her EMS high school team as soon as she was able.<\/p>\n
\u201cI think that\u2019s when I started getting more serious about rugby. I started realizing just how much I enjoy it, and it gives me an outlet to kind of take out my emotions. If I\u2019ve ha a hard day, I get to come to practice and hang out with my friends,\u201d she said. <\/p>\n
Adam Van Staveren, the girls team head coach, is pleased with his players\u2019 3-0 start to rugby season.<\/p>\n
\u201cThey\u2019re doing fantastic. They\u2019ve gelled really well as a team together,\u201d he said last Tuesday (April 28), noting they play 7s and 15s. \u201cThey work really hard at training and we progress every game, which is all (we) can ask for.\u201d<\/p>\n
There\u2019s a core group of Grade 12s who\u2019ve excelled with leadership, he noted, and he \u2014 like Maynes and Isla \u2014 is hopeful the squad will make it to provincials.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe hope to finish off a strong regular season and then obviously, the goal is to make to the B.C.s and then make a splash there.\u201d<\/p>\n
Maynes\u2019 and Isla\u2019s friend, classmate and teammate Cooper Marsden also enthused about the sport and its community. <\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019ve played the game for so long that it goes through phases \u2026 there\u2019s times where I\u2019m getting over a fear of tackling and then there\u2019s times when I\u2019m just enjoying myself so much,\u201d she said, adding everyone is welcome to come and try. <\/p>\n
Isla Van Staveren agreed.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt can\u2019t hurt. Come out and try it. You\u2019re not going to get put on the field at your first practice. You\u2019re not going to be put in a dangerous situation. We\u2019re not barbarians,\u201d she quipped with a smile. \u201cA lot of rugby teams are coached by caring, smart coaches who will teach you and guide you and lead you through the game.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"South Surrey secondary school\u2019s girls rugby squad starts season 3-0 Published 10:30 am Tuesday, May 5, 2026 A…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":649861,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[194299],"tags":[49,48,163792,87674],"class_list":["post-649860","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-surrey","tag-ca","tag-canada","tag-lower-mainland","tag-surrey"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/649860","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=649860"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/649860\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/649861"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=649860"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=649860"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=649860"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}