A community of Middle Tennessee State University students have taken special interest in women’s rugby and revived it at MTSU, representing the university with their own club team, the MTSU Moose Mommies.

While women’s rugby doesn’t command the same spotlight as traditional NCAA sports, it is a niche that is steadily gaining traction, in part due to increased interest and involvement at the grassroots and collegiate levels, such as the Moose Mommies.

The MTSU women’s rugby club caters to this increased interest and provides an outlet for female students to compete head-to-head with other collegiate rugby clubs while also learning the game’s strategy and rules.

While MTSU has rostered men’s and women’s rugby teams for decades, the women’s side has a particularly unique history, as in 2018, it received a ban due to university violations.

In 2023, the club was revitalized, with current club president McKenna Laryman and vice president Belianna Make among the founding members, and it currently posts a roster of 20 women, including nine new faces.

“I fell in love with the sport,” Make said. “You can be tough with your opponents on the field but be best friends after.”

“You want to be your best on the field, you want to win, you want to be that person,” said second-year player and team treasurer Keira Warren. “I’m proud to be a part of it and it’s so fun. Seeing people come onto the team and play the game for first time and you see that sparkle in their eye, it lights me up.”

MTSU concluded its fall season, hosting a tournament in Oct. 2025, with its A team winning the tournament in three games with a combined score of 84-7 over squads from fellow South Athletic Rugby Conference Division II members the University of Mississippi and Mississippi State University.

The Moose Mommies play 7s-style rugby in the SARC Division II, which has 20 teams scattered throughout the southeastern United States.

The Moose Mommies host ‘The True Blood Bath’ rugby tournament Saturday, Feb. 28, with conference foes in the University of Alabama and Tennessee Tech University visiting Murfreesboro, Tennessee. MTSU and Alabama plan to field A and B squads, creating five teams for a round-robin-style tournament.

The Moose Mommies will travel to the University of Arkansas on March 14 and will make three road trips throughout the south before closing their season at the University of Tennessee-Knoxville on April 25 to play tournaments.

Aside from great physical exercise, members cited sociability and learning new knowledge as benefits of being on the team.

“I get a good workout in, I get to meet new people, I get to be a good role model and teach others,” junior Paige Flinner said. “It just basically helps my spirit.”

The camaraderie and love for the game keep players involved. Laryman is planning to return to the pitch after suffering an ACL tear in the 2025 season.

“Everybody always talks about the physicality of the sport,” Laryman said. “I’m about nine months post-op, I’ve got the scars to prove it.” 

MTSU bolsters a highly confident squad, the mentality and expectations for the Moose Mommies are very high for the spring as they begin league play.

After a successful fall season, the goal for the Moose Mommies in the spring is to reach their conference championship. If MTSU wins in Fayetteville, it guarantees a trip to its conference tournament.

“I want us to win the University of Arkansas tournament,” Warren said. “That is our automatic qualifier, that would get us a guarantee to go to the championships which we’ve never done before as a team,  that’s never happened that would be an extremely successful season and I absolutely believe we can do it we just have to stay dedicated.”

The Moose Mommies will play at least three games in their tournament Saturday and will play in three contests every tournament they participate in during the spring season.

The first match will kick off at 11 a.m. CDT on Saturday at the MTSU sports club complex.  

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