New Players
What to Bring
Athletic clothing
Athletic shoes
Water bottle
A superb attitude to tackle anything that comes your way!
Optional but useful:
Cleats (basic soccer cleats are fine, football cleats usually aren't; check here for full guidelines)
Mouthguard (simple style with no parts extending outside of the mouth)
Rugby shorts
Be prepared to take off jewelry (including piercings) to prevent injuries during contact.
How to Play
If you want to get a head start before coming to practice, check out some info on rugby basics here.
Who Can Play
We are a senior rugby club open to all 18+ adults! We encourage younger players to check out the Santa Barbara Stingrays Youth Rugby League, which has a coed under-18 team.
What to Expect
We are a welcoming group of young professionals, college students, moms, first-time players, and rugby veterans. Everyone is useful on the rugby pitch: We need small players, strong players, heavy players, tall players, fast players, scrappy players...and you! We don't require any prior experience with rugby, and encourage you to try it out for yourself (:
We will not tolerate any harassment or discrimination against our players for any reason.
We play full-contact rugby, which can be physically and mentally demanding. Please be open and honest about your abilities so that we can make sure that our practices and games remain safe and fun for everyone. Let the coach know ahead of time if you have any concerns. Some training sessions are more intense than others, and we are constantly mindful of our teammates' injuries and limitations.
COVID-19 requirements
Rugby is a high-contact sport, so we are requiring player vaccination in order to keep our teammates and community safe. All players need to be fully vaccinated against COVID-19 to practice and play with the Mermaids. Vaccine information for Santa Barbara can be found here. Please contact us with questions; we will gladly help anyone navigate the vaccination process so that they can play with us!