From the Beginning:

Norwich Trailblazers

Talk to Theresa (Maggio) Knizewski for a few minutes and you will see that a passion for rugby is deep in her soul. A player on the inaugural Johnson State College Women’s Rugby Team (1980-83), she played wing and served as the slub president for the team. Theresa came to Norwich to earn her MEd during 1983-84 and soon found other women interested in forming a women’s rugby team.

Student-athletes including Sue (Hall) edgerly and Betsey Pendergast had already begun to talk about the need to start a rugby club. Betsey had seen rugby while she was playing a field hockey match at University of Vermont. Many of the original team members remember wanting a greater challenge and a “more physical game to play.” Many of the players had seen the Norwich Men’s Team in action; the physicality on the field and camaraderie off the field intrigued them. In the fall and winter of 1983, momentum began to build simultaneously on both Norwich and Vermont College campuses to start a women’s rugby team.

The founding women hit obstacles in the path in putting a team on the field. Theresa remembers spending countless hours with the Athletic Director and other administrators at the school trying to gain support for a “new club” and get access to athletic fields where the team could practice and play. By all accounts, few were thrilled about seeing a women’s rugby team emerge on campus. Many of the men’s rugby team initially scoffed at the idea of women playing rugby, meanwhile other athletic teams started to see competition for athletes from the small pool of womens on campus. During the fall, the founding members recruited across the campus and twenty women were committed to seeing what rugby was about. Undeterred by resistance from the university, the women’s rugby team came into being the spring of 1984 when they played their first match.

Norwich swimming coach and former NU rugger Steve Looke stepped forward to help coach the team. Practices were held and team captains were selected to include Robin (Cleveland) Mongeon, Betsey Penderghast, and Theresa (Maggio) Knizewski. Knizewski helped build a schedule with matches against several of the Vermont-based teams, including her former team, Johnson State.

Knizewski remembers that “because of my experience, I was named captain and played scrumhalf. The team was made of outstanding athletes and we had a great time. We decided to wear black jerseys that first year because Norwich wanted nothing to do with us.” She recalls that she “personally lined the pitch for our first game because Norwich refused to support us. However, once we were up and running, I never had to line the field again.”