Olympics spark an interest in learning rugby — here are some local teams to check out

The 2024 Paris Olympics provided an opportunity for many under-the-radar sports to get a little extra shine. Rugby was no exception.

In the United States, the women’s team gained plenty of fanfare by capturing the bronze medal in rugby sevens. With more success comes more interest, and that has been true for potential new participants in the Land of Enchantment. The biggest beneficiary on the women’s side of the sport in that regard was the Atomic Sisters, an Albuquerque-based rugby club that was founded in 1993.

Olympics spark an interest in learning rugby? Here are some local teams to check out

“We’ve definitely seen an influx of interest since the Olympics, especially (with) the run the women’s team has made,” says Gabby Rivera, who is a captain and recruiting chair for the team. “It definitely caught people’s interest. And, from our perspective, people that have been playing this sport for a while, it’s been really exciting to see people talking about it in the mainstream. And, yeah, we’ve definitely seen more messages and questions about joining.”

While the Atomic Sisters are a competitive club that travels and competes in the Southwest Rugby Football Union at the Division II level, there are plenty of chances for players of various skill levels to get involved. The team is currently in the offseason, but weekly practices are held on Thursdays at Johnson Field from 6 p.m. to 8 p.m. These are ideal opportunities to get a taste of the sport because the sessions often focus on skills instead of game strategy.

Additionally, the Atomic Sisters will hold an annual Try Rugby Day on Sept. 21 at 10 a.m. — also at Johnson Field — where the basics of the game are taught.

While the Olympics featured rugby sevens, Rivera says that most club-level grassroots rugby teams play fifteens, which emphasizes a slightly different style than its up-tempo counterpart. And anyone who wants to be part of the team will be able to participate in some capacity, because the Atomic Sisters don’t make cuts.

“We need absolutely every body type: smaller, faster people and larger, stronger people and everything in between,” Rivera said. “Our advice is always, don’t feel like you have to get to a certain level of fitness or have played before or know anything about the sport.”

Case in point: Rivera herself came from a tennis background before transitioning to rugby. She acknowledges that the contact aspect of the game might scare some people, but the sport isn’t as dangerous as its reputation might indicate.

“It can be intimidating at first, but rugby is actually a pretty safe sport when it comes to contact,” she said. “Since we don’t wear pads or any kind of protective gear, we have to learn safe technique. So before you do absolutely anything involving contact, we teach you how to do it safely. There’s not a false sense of security that comes from wearing pads or a helmet. You’re aware of your body and you’re aware of not wanting to get hurt or hurt the other person. So we focus a lot on technique.”

While the Atomic Sisters are the only women’s team in New Mexico, adult male players in Albuquerque have a couple options: the New Mexico Brujos and the Albuquerque Aardvarks.

The Brujos, who play at the Division III level, follow a philosophy similar to that of the women’s team. In other words, participation is open to virtually anyone.

“In general, rugby is a pretty inclusive sport,” said Brujos coach Dustin Soflin. “There’s no specific size or height or requirements to come play rugby. There’s a position for everybody, no matter how tall or small or whatever you are. And we just try to embody as much of that as possible.”

According to Soflin, the best way to get involved is to attend one of the team’s weekly fall practices, held on Tuesdays and Thursdays at 6 p.m. at Johnson Field.

“They’re able to be on the team in any capacity they want. We have players who are super competitive and want to be performing at a top level, and we’ve got players who are there to just be more social. They love playing rugby, but they’ve got a wife and kids at home, or maybe they just want to have a bunch of guys to play rugby with and go grab a drink …”

Soflin also downplays the contact aspect of the sport, at least in terms of popular perception.

“Whenever we think about contact sports, at least in the United States, we think about football with the pads and guys running full speed, trying to just blow each other up,” Soflin said. “In rugby, there’s a lot of rules around tackle height and how to perform that tackle … I would tell people it’s not the huge giant hits that you see on social media.”