Hononegah Lady Indians finish the fall girls' rugby season

Since 2018 Hononegah High School has had a girls' rugby team. They play a developmental fall season with mixed-team tournaments and in the springtime, they play competitively. Recently the team finished up the fall season and has begun off-season training to prepare for the spring competitive season. Coach Lassen Fleege and her team are always working to improve and educate the community about the game. Last spring 23 girls participated for the Hononegah rugby team.

Girls' rugby is one of the many newer sports being offered to girls in Illinois high schools. According to the NFHS, rugby has over 5,000 girls nationally participating. Right now Hononegah offers it as a club sport and hopefully with the foundation set, it can become a statewide sport in the coming years.

The earliest recorded organized youth rugby in Illinois began in the spring of 1973, when three high school teams formed and began play in a league called the Illinois Colts. Those pioneers were Evanston, New Trier, and Loyola Academy.

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More information about girls' high school rugby can be found https://rugbyillinois.org/girls-hs