Run like a girl. Yell like a girl. Hit like a Lady Gladiator. With the occasional bloody nose or broken ankle, the Lady Gladiators Rugby team breaks down the gender stereotype of girls in contact sports while building friendships and connections with girls all over Memphis.

The Lady Gladiators come from schools across the city, such as Bartlett, Cordova and White Station. Many schools in Memphis don’t have a rugby team; the schools that didn’t have one founded the Lady Gladiators. The team is a club sport meaning anybody can join with no prior rugby experience needed. Even though these girls are forming bonds across the city, the sport itself is not popularly known.

The Lady Gladiators team has existed for many years and is now coached by Christina White, a former college player now hoping to guide younger girls in rugby. White leads the girls to become strong and powerful women on and off the field.

“I feel like by coaching I’m helping kind of influence girls as they’re growing up,” White said. “Not just teaching them about rugby but teaching them about life lessons.”

It’s not uncommon for these players to be questioned about their place playing rugby, a full contact sport with no padding or gear besides a mouthguard. Some might think that girls aren’t strong enough to compete, but the Lady Gladiators are here to challenge that.

“My gender literally has no influence on the fact that I can play,” KT Pritchard (11) said. “I can do exactly what guys do.”

Women are perpetually seen as weaker than men in sports. It used to be an oddity to find women playing sports. They were supposed to be “lady-like,” not perspire. While men were taught to play sports that emphasize strength, women were encouraged to partake in sports focusing on balance and flexibility. In men’s sports, the Big Three— basketball, football, and baseball— are continuously being broadcasted or written about while women’s sports receive little or no coverage, and when they do, it is mostly women’s basketball.

Few colleges offer rugby as a competitive sport, the colleges that do have rugby are mainly club teams funded by the players. Scholarships are rarely given, and most of the Lady Gladiators choose to play on a club team if they wish to continue playing.

Kaira Smith (12) plans to continue her rugby career after her senior year playing on a club team. The college she is aiming for has a place for her to play as well as an ability to coach.

“[With] the way that the schools are set up, I can start and coach an intramural team,” Smith said. “If I bring an idea I can coach it.”

Smith was influenced to play by her sister’s friend, and now Smith and Pritchard, as well as the rest of the team, hope they can help introduce younger girls to rugby.  With the Lady Gladiators team increasing in size, they hope to continue this trend in the future. They are currently in the beginning of their fall season, hoping to secure a couple wins and have fun doing it.