The Ladies have arrived: Aspen fields own women’s Ruggerfest team for first time

The Ladies of Aspen Rugby Football Club is playing at Ruggerfest.

For anyone who follows the sport in the Roaring Fork Valley, they’d know that first sentence is nearly six decades in the making and those first steps this weekend will mark a milestone moment in local women’s rugby.

“Going in with open expectations, ready to learn. For a lot of our players, it will be their first tournament,” said player Rachel Nahirny, who also serves as the president of their three-person board. “But it feels really incredible to take something that was really just an idea and really just four or five of us last year and take it to where we have 32 rostered for Saturday.”

Aspen’s annual Ruggerfest rugby tournament, which kicked off its 57^th edition with the men’s 40s and 50s divisions on Friday at both Wagner Park and Rio Grande Park, is hosted by the Gentlemen of Aspen Rugby Club, which like Ruggerfest dates back to 1968. Over that time, women have certainly played a part in the local rugby scene, with numerous female athletes having competed at Ruggerfest for various sides.

But, according to both the Gents and the Ladies — or Lads, as they like to be called — this weekend marks the first time Aspen has ever fielded its own women’s team at Ruggerfest. This iteration of Aspen women’s rugby was founded just a year ago, an effort led by Mav Hopkins. With only a handful of players actively taking part early in the spring, the Lads saw a major boom in numbers over the summer and now will get to represent Aspen in uniform beginning Saturday.

“This will be a very big learning experience, and we are really excited to actually be fielding our own team under the banner of Ladies of Aspen,” said player and board member Karsyn Stryffeler. “This year we are really excited to get our name out there and to have that recognition. Then hopefully to be able to throw together some cohesive plays.”

The Lads’ roster is made of women from all over the Roaring Fork Valley, including nearby towns like New Castle and Redstone. Experience varies, from players brand new to the sport, to some who have played in college. Nahirny, who comes from Massachusetts and now teaches fourth grade at Aspen Country Day School, played for three years at Middlebury College and another with the Boston Women’s Rugby Club.

Then there are players like Stryffeler — she grew up in the valley and was once a moguls skier with the Aspen Valley Ski and Snowboard Club — who claims she touched a rugby ball for the very first time only last summer. She’s also an educator, teaching social studies at Glenwood Springs High School.

The Ladies of Aspen make up for the lack of experience on the pitch with a lot of it on the sideline. Gents’ icon Fred Waititi, who still helps coach the men’s side, is their primary coach, aided by Ike Fitzgerald, who formerly coached the Valley Valkyries 7s rugby club, a high school team based out of Glenwood that hasn’t competed in a handful of years. A few of the current Ladies of Aspen players are former Valkyrie players.

“At one point, we debated being the Roaring Fork Valley team, rather than Aspen, because it really feels like we encompass the entire valley. But it felt like Aspen was more true to the team and where we compete and want to represent,” Nahirny said. “I’m really, really proud of what we’ve put together, and I know it’s something the Gents have wanted for a long time. They’ve been super, super supportive with us and helping us figure out resources and funding and field space and everything we could ever imagine needing help with.”

The women’s open division at Ruggerfest features five teams this year: Gypsy Rugby, the Sister Wives, the Colorado Gray Wolves, the Boulder Babes, and the Ladies of Aspen. The Sister Wives and Boulder Babes are two of the more established sides that a newcomer like Aspen will be chasing.

The Lads will get right to it, being the first women’s team on the pitch with an 8:45 a.m. game on Saturday against the Sister Wives at Rio Grande Park. Game 2 will be at 11 a.m. against Gypsy, with other games tentatively scheduled for 2:15 p.m. (vs. the Gray Wolves) and 3:45 p.m. (vs. Boulder). The latter three games will be played at Wagner.

The top two teams out of Saturday’s pool play will advance to the final on Sunday.

“On one hand, I’d like to walk away with at least one win on our record. But I also feel like I don’t care about the wins and losses at the same time. I just want to go out and have a good showing,” said player and board member Natalie Simecek, another homegrown valley product who helped run her college program at Vermont State University at Castleton, which was her introduction to the sport. She now does outreach athletic training for Rifle High School.

Simecek sees this summer’s growth, and this weekend’s tournament, as proof the Ladies of Aspen can be a long-term commodity, like their male counterparts.

“Next year, maybe we’ll have more experienced players than not experienced players. And then even more after that. You have to start somewhere,” she said. “Long term, I see us being very successful, whether that is us personally or the next generation of girls. I really see that happening, and I’m glad we can at least kickstart something that will hopefully last a really long time.”

While the Ruggerfest roster is pretty locked in, anyone wanting to get involved with the Ladies of Aspen after this weekend can reach them via email at ladiesofaspenrugbyclub@gmail.com or find them on Instagram at @ladiesofaspenrugby.

“We’d love to be as established as the Gents. They are really the gold standard of having this incredible legacy and incredible numbers, backing and support by the town and community,” Nahirny said. “Really hoping we can build this into something that has that same legacy and that same atmosphere and aura around it.”

acolbert@aspentimes.com