English teacher Emily Philbin is going into her eighth season as girls’ rugby coach. Philbin’s experience in the classroom as well as her background in the sport have had a large influence on her coaching style.

“I think knowing how to break down concepts for students makes it easier to break down [the rugby concepts],”  Philbin said. “Especially [since] no one has played rugby when they come to try out for the team, so you have to introduce a completely new sport, so I do think what it takes to be successful in the classroom can translate to [the pitch].”

After leading her Providence College women’s rugby team as a captain, Philbin also started on the City of Providence women’s team. Due to illness, she was an in-name only player on the under-23 U.S. National team.

Although she coached the Providence women’s team to a National Championship the year after graduating, Philbin did not begin coaching at the high school level until finishing her Master’s degree. She was first asked by current co-coach Laurie Bourdon and her daughter Kelsey Bourdon to help build a new girls’ rugby team at Algonquin.

“I had thought about [coaching], and we had talked with the administration about starting a boys’ team first, but the boys couldn’t get their act together and [Kelsey and Laurie] did a great job,” Philbin said.

While Philbin has led the team to five consecutive State Championship titles in the past six years, the team sometimes has to extend its efforts to recruit people who most likely have never played the sport. Many of the current players, including senior captains Sam Dickie and Maddie Scott have been recruiting potential players.

“We have a lot of new talent,” Scott said. “[There are] a lot of younger girls which is really awesome because we graduated 12 seniors last year. We have been having some captains’ practices and lifting sessions, and there has been a lot of potential there so I am very excited.”

If interested in learning more about playing rugby, stop by room H208 for more information from Philbin.