Squamish's rugby community is aiming to introduce more girls into the sport.
The invites girls to come to their Girls Can Rugby event on March 6.
"There's no experience required," said James Butterworth of the .
"No need to go splashing out on cleats and things like that. It's going to be a low-key, low-pressure situation. The idea of it is to introduce the sport to girls, have fun, and hopefully meet new friends."
The Girls Can Rugby event is part of a larger initiative being spurred by , which is co-ordinating with clubs to host Girls Can Rugby events across the province.
Butterworth said that the sport has traditionally been predominantly male, and the 麻豆社国产club is seeking to encourage female participation.
Locally, one of the factors that has created hesitation for girls to join the Axemen has been its co-ed nature.
"Speaking to parents of girls in the club, some of their friends are deterred by the fact that they would be playing with and against boys," said Butterworth.
"And when you're getting to that 10, 11, 12-year age group, it's a bit daunting having these big burly boys not passing to you, maybe tackling you quite hard or something. It gives the girls a bit more freedom and takes away the worry of having to play with boys who may have more experience, and, at the end of the day, they're bigger and sometimes stronger."
He said the goal of the event is to create a safe and friendly learning environment to introduce girls to the game.
That day, two female coaches will be taking players through an introduction to the sport, running them through exercises, and, if all goes well, engaging them in non-contact scrimmage.
This isn't the only effort the 麻豆社国产club has made at promoting girls' participation in the sport.
"At the end of our fall season, just before Christmas, we introduced some girls-only training for the girls that were enrolled in our club, which is like six or seven girls," said Butterworth.
"It's great having women coaches to coach them and get them some sort of one on one...it gives them a bit more comfort and a bit more exposure. It helps them get involved a little bit more."
However, he said things have still been relatively quiet in the female youth section.
The club hopes this event will help change that soon, though.
Butterworth said the Axemen have the goal of creating an all-girls team likely to be in the under-14 age range.
If everything goes according to plan, the club will have a full team of girls ready to play sometime in the spring. That's around the time that BC Rugby is hoping to have a girls' league ready to go, he said.
"BC Rugby is trying to set up a spring schedule for an age group they initially set up as an under-14 competition," said Butterworth.
"They're still developing, because they've got a whole host of clubs who are interested and will be holding this [Girls Can Rugby] event. So, hopefully, it goes well, [and] clubs do get the numbers in order to raise a team. It could be literally every week, every other week of competitive games."
If things don't pan out for a competitive spring season, the Axemen will still be holding regular practice twice a week, he said. The hope will then be that girls can start playing for the upcoming fall season.
The Axemen will be hosting the Girls Can Rugby event on March 6 from 10 a.m. to 12 p.m. at Don Ross Middle School, on the main lower field. No experience or equipment is required to participate.
