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18 and over women's rugby team
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San Luis Obispo Rugby Football Club
20 Years of SLO Beaches
Over the past two decades, SLO Women’s Rugby has blossomed into the amazing club it is today, thanks to the passion and dedication of its founders, Lindsey Graf (White) and Amanda Waysom. We also owe a big thank you to past presidents Sara Dechance and Elena Strom, who played a vital role in bringing the club back to life on multiple occasions following times of club dormancy.
Lindsey and Amanda met at Cal Poly San Luis Obispo in 2004 with the goal of creating a women’s rugby team in San Luis Obispo. As a part of the already established SLO and Cal Poly men’s rugby community, these founders were able to quickly find 25 women to join them on a grand adventure. In their first season, they were a tremendous success and were able to grow and develop talented players to join the SCRFU Griffins team.
The SLO Women's Rugby team, affectionately known as the Pirate Beaches, was created with the idea that having fun and fostering strong friendships among team members leads to great success on the field. This approach has not only shaped the women's team but has also positively impacted the entire SLO Rugby Club, benefiting both the men's and women's teams over the years. Each team leaning on the other for support to keep the spirit alive.
In 2013, a spark at Cal Poly began to flicker by the name of Jessica (Jessi) May. She reached out to the SLO Women’s team as a place to keep her boots warm while she fostered a relationship with the Cal Poly Men’s team as their manager in hopes to find numbers to build a women’s team. With this open communication, Jessi recruited players for the SLO Women’s team and in turn helped Cal Poly college athletes develop their rugby skills. Among those athletes were the future of SLO Women’s Rugby and a boom to the San Luis Obispo rugby community as a whole.
The growth of the Cal Poly Women’s rugby team was driven by standout players like Jessi, Liz Segars, Elena Strom, Lena Silberman, Morgan Moulis, Rylee Birdsall, and Angelle Marshall, to name a few. With experience gained from playing senior club rugby with SLO, they became a dominant force in collegiate competition. By 2018, their efforts led to Cal Poly’s official inclusion in the Women’s Collegiate West Coast Rugby Conference (DII).
As these Cal Poly athletes graduated, they brought their talent and leadership back to revive San Luis Obispo Women’s Rugby. With the support of the San Luis Rugby Club and former club president Sara Dechance, Elena Strom stepped up to captain the Pirate Beaches, leading the team to a successful return in 2022.
Many athletes have played a pivotal role in growing women’s rugby in San Luis Obispo, leaving a lasting impact on and off the field. Joanne Absher has gone on to excel as an athlete with Belmont Shore and now coaches UCLA Women’s Rugby. Samantha Lovett gained social media fame during the 2020 pandemic and is now part of the media crew for PR7s and World Rugby 7s.
For some, SLO Beaches is a lifelong rugby home. For others, it’s a launchpad to an even bigger stage. Either way, the legacy of this team continues to shape the future of women’s rugby.