DSHA has a history as a girls rugby powerhouse
MILWAUKEE (BVM) — In Milwaukee, Wis., there is a high school girls rugby program that has dominated its sport for two decades.
Since 2000, the Divine Savior Holy Angels High School Dashers have won 17 state championships, 17 Midwest Championships and eight national championships. In the few years where they didn’t win, they were the runners up, finished in third place or sometimes — on a real off year — they took fourth.
In girls high school rugby, DSHA has created a dynasty — one that rivals any other and shows no sign of ending anytime soon.
In fact, had the Midwest Championships and the Single School National Rugby Invitational Championships not been canceled due to COVID-19, the Dashers probably would’ve won it all again.
“It was difficult because we had a great senior class, one of the best that I’ve ever had,” said John “Chin” Klein, the Dashers’ head coach since 2000. “We had two out of the past three national championships, so there was great hope that we were going to win again.”
Klein has seen the league and his program grow over the last 20 years. Wisconsin has some of the best girls rugby programs in the nation, but it all starts with DSHA.
“Everybody keeps wanting to get better because I think you have this culture of getting better within the state and I hope it keeps growing,” Klein said.
The other team fueling that culture besides the Dashers is their biggest rival, Catholic Memorial High School (CMH), which is coached by former Marquette University High School classmate and close friend of Klein, John Waliszewski. Their friendship has helped the rivalry between their programs.
What also makes this rivalry special is the fact that since 2000, the Crusaders and Dashers regularly play each other in championships.
The culmination of this rivalry happened two years ago when DSHA and CMH faced off against each other in the state, Midwest and national championships. In each of them, the Dashers got the better of the Crusaders.
“It was incredible to have that happen,” Klein said. “To have Memorial be there and have them play for a national championship with us was phenomenal.”
DSHA’s success is monumental. What makes this even more impressive is that with rugby there is not a large youth base. With many other sports, kids are able to play in competitive leagues from an early age. By the time they get to high school, they have a strong foundation for coaches to build on.
That is growing with rugby. The Dashers host camps, but a lot of their players get involved with rugby in high school. To have the success that they have had when their athletes have little or no experience before they join the team is remarkable.
“In the game of rugby I think the uniqueness of it at the start of it causes you to dive into it and once you dive in you’re doing everything you can to be the best you can be,” Klein said.
It speaks to the skill of the coaches and the dedication of the girls to become elite players in their four years of high school. It also speaks to the culture that they have created at DSHA.
That culture was brought in by Klein.
“I have always tried to share my story with the girls and they’re aware of the life that I have lived,” Klein said. “My story revolves around the fact that my dad, my mom and my sisters are all cognitively disabled. The only person in my immediate family who is not is me. I think with their understanding that that comes with a lot of responsibility. The culture has been expanded from that base that anything is possible. My parents have accomplished so much given the little they’ve been given in life.”
The girls took that to heart and have accepted that culture as their own. The success has followed. With the success has come an expectation and sense of pride in what it means to be a member of the Dashers’ rugby team.
“Our alumni have set the standard I think that every single person that comes through our program has to live up to and as a result they don’t want to be that team that isn’t successful,” Klein said. “The standard has been set so high the girls know that when they come to do this that they’re going to be learning the game at such a high level as a result they feel like they have to be committed at a very high level and I think it snowballs.”
That snowballing has turned into an avalanche that isn’t stopping anytime soon even if it has been side tracked the last six months because of COVID-19. The hope is that they will be able to start practicing by Sept. 7 and from there, have a somewhat normal season.
“We’re still in this day-to-day mode,” Klein said.
When play resumes, the Dashers will be ready and even more motivated than ever before because of the time they’ve lost. Bad news for Wisconsin and the rest of the nation.
