Rush Rugby inspires young women in East Idaho

IDAHO FALLS, Idaho (KIFI/KIDK) - The Idaho Falls Rush Rugby team represents the whole East Idaho region.

The girls competing in the sport get a lot of questions from their peers.

"The most [biggest] question I get is, There's rugby in Idaho?," Rush player Akrisha Ferguson said. "I just had never found a sport that I liked. So I figured why not? I should try it and so I did and I love it."

Some players joined due to word of mouth or by a poster. Ritter Truxal originally wanted to play football. Rugby filled that void.

"Anybody can play rugby," Rush player Nikki Ritter Truxal said. "I started my freshman year and I had people way bigger than me. Way smaller than me. Super skinny and anybody can play. Come out, you're going to enjoy it. Yes, this first practice is rough for me and going to be rough for you, but you're going to learn to love it."

For head coach Hope Morrow, she can't think of a better way to spend her time and inspire young women.

"We got girls who are on full-ride scholarships playing rugby all over the country that came from this program," Morrow said. "Some of these girls are going to go off and go play college rugby and either go to school or chase their dreams and I hope they got some of that empowerment from this team."

We got girls who are on full ride scholarships playing rugby all over the country that came from this program. Some of these girls are going to go off and go play college rugby and either go to school or chase their dreams and I hope they got some of that empowerment from this team."

"Just come play rugby," Ritter Truxal said. " You got to play rugby. You are going to love it. It's a new sport and you probably don't know about it but you are going to love it if you come out here and just try. Just try it."