Catholic Memorial girls rugby team headed to California

WAUKESHA -- They will be pushing and tackling and generally mucking things up in California on Mother's Day weekend -- and they'll be loving it. We're talking about the girls rugby team from Waukesha Catholic Memorial High School.

The Catholic Memorial team is one of only 12 from across the country invited to the national tournament in Stanford.

"I'm very excited, but more so grateful that we've been given this opportunity and overall this is probably the highlight of my senior year," Catholic Memorial's Hannah McCaffrey said.

Rugby is not a WIAA-sanctioned sport and operates on more of a club basis at the high school level.

Catholic Memorial has only had a team since 2007 and only fields a team for girls. It is gaining popularity for many reasons.

"Number one, there's a spot for everybody. You can be slow and little and find a really good spot to help the team. With 15 players on the field, there's nobody on the bench. It's a participatory sport. If you are on this team, or almost any rugby team, you're going to play a lot. And kids like to participate, they learn from it better. They find it rewarding, and I do too as a coach," Coach John Waliszewski said.

Of the dozen teams competing in the nationals at Stanford, two of them are from southeast Wisconsin. Besides Waukesha Catholic Memorial, Divine Savior Holy Angels High School will be on the field.