Pacific Desert rugby conference
Welcome to the new Pacific Desert Rugby Conference (PDRC) website. We are building this site as we speak. If you are one of our D1 or D2 teams, we have sent your teams current contact an email to get up to date information regarding your team. We want to have current information for your team, your fans, and prospective athletes or colleges who may want to start a new women's rugby teams/clubs.
Please contact us at our info email address if you have any updates.
Pacific Desert Rugby Conference (PDRC) is committed to grow collegiate women's rugby by developing the student-athlete, the
coaches and the teams. Our values, our passion, our perseverance and teamwork will be
the foundation to the success of our conference. PDRC serves the players, coaches, universities and spectators
that make up who we are. We stand together and we win as one!
The History of Rugby
Rugby was born in 1823 when, in a fit of unsportsmanlike rage, William Webb Ellis of Rugby School in England picked up the ball during a match of soccer and ran with it. Since that time, many others have mimicked his actions (both unlawfully during soccer as well as during sanctioned rugby matches). Rugby was brought to the U.S. by 1840, and in 1911, lead to the development of American football with the introduction of the forward pass.
Women, bright enough to avoid playing American football, joined in the sport of rugby by the 1970s by organizing the country's first women's clubs in Colorado and Connecticut. Rugby is at present one of the fastest growing sports among collegiate women in the U.S.
PDRC Board Members
Emily Ogata, Commissioner
Cynthia Soares, Secretary
Rusty Wortman, Treasurer
Joanne Absher, D1 Competition Chair
Evan Wollen, D2 Competition Chair
Tony Roulhac, Referee Director
Alecia Foster, D2 Representative
Open Position, D1 Representative