York RI: It takes all sorts to make a team

To introduce our new website, we are running a series of blog posts from our players exploring what being part of York RI Women’s Rugby means to them. This week, Treasurer and kick off queen Helen Clarke explores her competitive side and the second family she has gained through joining the team.

I have always been fiercely competitive, even since I was a toddler. What can I say, except I like winning.

I have also always been really interested in sport. It never really mattered what kind of sport it was, I would give anything a go at least once (which is, incidentally, how I ended up in a Trampolining competition at University, but that's another story for another time).

Growing up, I always struggled with my identity as a competitive, sporty girl. I was extremely lucky to have a group of friends who accepted who I was wholeheartedly. However, I found it difficult to fully accept who I was in the face of a society and general widespread media telling my impressionable teenage brain that being a woman is about being skinny and meek and demure and accommodating and... well, you get it.

And then we come to late 2019. My facebook is advertising something called an 'Inner Warrior' session, which (so the ad told me) would allow me to experience a new sport, challenge myself, and learn new skills. I was absolutely sold, and reached out to my local club to get involved.

I turned up to my first session at York RI Women's rugby on a cold, damp night in January 2020, and knew immediately that I had found something special that I needed to be part of.

I absolutely love rugby as a sport. The physical challenge is amazing, my own desire to do one thing better in the next match than I did in the last, and the often the mental challenge of figuring out what is actually going on on that pitch, are all things that I really enjoy.

But here's a little secret I'll share with you. The thing I love most about York RI Women's rugby isn't actually the sport. It's the team.

Playing a game of rugby demands everything from you. But what keeps me going, especially on the days where it feels like a struggle to keep going, is the support of the other women on my team, who are on my team on and off the pitch.

I found a second family the day I joined York RI Women's Rugby. I found a place where my inner child - my inner competitive, sporty, not-traditionally-girly child - dreamt of. It is where I can be myself surrounded by women who accept me for exactly who I am. These wonderful women see all of my strengths and weaknesses and know that it's all fine, because it takes all sorts of different people to make a team.