The Notre Dame Cougars are emerging as a legitimate threat to the Red Deer girls rugby throne.
They’re experienced, athletic and versatile. Most importantly, they are starting to pick up steam, including a 34-0 win over the Hunting Hills Lightning last week.
As they prepare for a likely showdown with defending zone champion Lindsay Thurber Raiders, their biggest hurdle may just be themselves.
“We would like to see the girls get a little more confidence in their abilities,” said Cougars head coach Ian Rattan. “They are still just a little bit hesitant going for rucks ... to make tackles. It’s just getting some more confidence and experience in those situations and if we can shore that stuff up, it would be great to see that improvement each day they we are striving for.”
The veteran talent — maybe the biggest overriding key for anyone team — is there.
They are loaded with experienced Grade 12 athletes like Chelsea Antonio, Alyssa Reid, Cierra Stephens, Kendra Tieken-Maerz and Brenna Colona.
Perhaps this year’s biggest standout has been Jade Kolkman.
“She’s come a long way since her Grade 10 year and she’s made a lot of tackles for us this year,” said Rattan. She plays No. 2 — that’s her sheer athleticism, we can put her anywhere in the field outside of maybe second row, because she’s not the tallest girl. But she makes up for it in heart and she’s a good player.”
In addition to veterans — it is a pretty close split on their 30 players between experienced and seasoned players — many of them can play multiple positions, giving Rattan options when injuries and absentees crop up or even in terms of strategy when trying to match up against other teams.
But Rattan has to be careful not to go to the blender too much.
“It is kind of frustrating as a coach, because where do you put these girls?” he said.
“And you don’t really want to tinker too much with your combinations because you want to get some chemistry at certain spots.”
The Cougars have got in a lot of extra time on the field this year with a tournament in Kamloops, B.C., and a few exhibition games in Calgary, but their most telling series of games was the Cougar Classic where they brought in some of the top team in Western Canada. They finished fourth in the tournament, losing 20-0 to Western out of Calgary. But Rattan was impressed by what he saw.
“It was the same score we lost to them in Calgary, but it was an 80-minute game (at the Classic) as opposed to a 40-minute game,” said Rattan. “It was great to see our defence step up and hold them, because they are usually one of the better women’s teams in the province.”
The Raiders are still the team to beat in Red Deer, and Rattan is doing his best not to put too much focus on the city championship. Instead he is focused on taking small steps.
“We want to get better each week, as long as we are improving each game, I’m not really concerned about the results of games.”
The Cougars are in Olds on Wednesday and Rimbey on Friday this week.