Women’s rugby

When I started playing rugby I didn’t realise how much it would change my life. I kind of imagined going training a couple of nights a week, a game at the weekend and that was about it really. However joining a ladies rugby team is SO much more than you can really begin to explain or imagine.

Rugby is the complete team game. You can’t play it on your own and you can’t get through the opposition to score without some help and support from your team mates. These team mates come in all shapes and sizes, from all walks of life and with diverse personalities, qualities and outlooks. Rarely will you find school teachers, nurses, scientists, students, dustbin ladies, office workers, police women, unemployed and ambulance drivers all mixing and socialising together.

When you train, play and socialise with your team something very special happens. After a while you begin to realise that the bonds forming between you and your team mates are getting stronger and your team begin to mean more and more to you so much so that they feel like family. One day on the pitch when you are in a bit of trouble and a player comes steaming in to help you realise that your team mates are now firm friends who will do anything to help you out. Suddenly you realise that you have friends for life. No matter what time passes or distance separates.

So when a team-mate of ours was diagnosed with breast cancer three years ago it affected all of us. However we could only watch as she went through many horrors, starting with having to terminate the early pregnancy she had only just begun to celebrate. Treatments followed with weeks of chemotherapy and the indignity of losing her lovely red hair (would it still grow back red? Yes! Yes! Yes!) Harder still was looking after her very young son along with stopping work for the foreseeable future.

Great strides have been made in breast cancer treatment and our friend was lucky enough to benefit from this work. It’s still incredibly hard to go through the horrible months of feeling ill but there is now a light at the end of the tunnel for many breast cancer sufferers.

And the reason for this is money spent on research.

A few years on and our team-mate is a survivor. Twelve years ago her mother was not so lucky and lost her own battle with cancer. We are so thankful that research has moved on the treatments and our friend is now clear of this nasty disease. She’s still being monitored every year but so far it’s looking good and we are all over the moon for her and her cheeky young son. All we need to do now is to persuade her to play rugby again.. 🙂 You see research works, our friend is here today because of research which gave enough information on breast cancer to devise a way of treating the disease.

Please sponsor me at http://www.raceforlifesponsorme.org/onepint and help make this the case for all cancers.

And while you are at it why not think about getting fit, making some great new friends and changing your life? It’s easy – women’s rugby – give it a go!  Find your local club here: http://www.rfu.com/takingpart/clubfinder