Wisconsin Girls High School Rugby is pleased to announce that referee Emily Grambsch will be the head referee for our State Championship game between Catholic Memorial HS and Divine Savior Holy Angels. Both teams are at the top of their game and are regularly rated in the top 5 HS programs in the USA. It should be a fantastic game.
Emily started playing Rugby at UW Madison her sophomore year and played in Germany while she studied abroad for a year. She played for the WI U23 team and was invited to play for the Midwest U23 but declined because of injury, which forced her to retire from playing. Currently she is a non-playing member of the D2 National Champion Wisconsin Women's Rugby Club.
When asked how she got into refereeing Emily stated, "Jes Burda, my former UW-Madison coach and former WWRFC captain, encouraged me to pick up the whistle after seeing how much passion I had for the sport, despite not being able to do contact drills or play in games. I picked up the whistle in and became serious about officiating. Since then, I've refereed men's and women's senior, collegiate, and high school levels in both 15s and 7s. I am still an active non-contact player on the WWRFC, but travel every weekend to officiate instead of cheering on the team.
WI HS Girls Rugby has been successful in getting alumni players in the coaching ranks, with approximately 70% of our coaches having played Rugby for WI High schools or colleges. Our next big push is to get more of them refereeing.
Emily started playing Rugby at UW Madison her sophomore year and played in Germany while she studied abroad for a year. She played for the WI U23 team and was invited to play for the Midwest U23 but declined because of injury, which forced her to retire from playing. Currently she is a non-playing member of the D2 National Champion Wisconsin Women's Rugby Club.
When asked how she got into refereeing Emily stated, "Jes Burda, my former UW-Madison coach and former WWRFC captain, encouraged me to pick up the whistle after seeing how much passion I had for the sport, despite not being able to do contact drills or play in games. I picked up the whistle in and became serious about officiating. Since then, I've refereed men's and women's senior, collegiate, and high school levels in both 15s and 7s. I am still an active non-contact player on the WWRFC, but travel every weekend to officiate instead of cheering on the team.
WI HS Girls Rugby has been successful in getting alumni players in the coaching ranks, with approximately 70% of our coaches having played Rugby for WI High schools or colleges. Our next big push is to get more of them refereeing.