Indeed, enthusiastic friends are often the most persuasive, and dogged, recruiters. Martinez, who did not play a sport in high school, says she was "made to try out" by her roommate. Finally, three out of her four first-year roommates wound up playing.

Co-captain Myrza R. Perez '95 says peer pressure was also a factor in her decision to join the club.

"A few friends pressured me in." Perez says. "We were just talking about it, and they convinced me to come to practice."

Ex-Cheerleaders

For almost every women's rugby players, the sport is an entirely new experience. Few high schools offer it, and the club draws curious athletes from seemingly incongruous backgrounds.

Jane Remeika '98, for example, was a ballet dancer; Seo and Perez, like several other members of the team, were cheerleaders.

"It's a running joke," says Seo, who has played since the fall of her first year. "There are a lot of ex-cheerleaders on the team. Myrza was captain of the cheerleading squad in high school, and a basketball cheerleader her first year at Harvard. I just did it up to junior year."

"There's a sense of pride about rugby that I just didn't feel about cheerleading," Perez adds.

Remeika, who played soccer in high school, says rugby appealed to both her love of athletics and her desire for adventure.

"I used to play soccer, but I wanted to try something new," says Remeika, adding that her sister's involvement in rugby at Brown also prompted her interest. "I like it very much. It's pretty non-stop; there's a lot of action."

Unlike other sports, rugby does not require a set body type. That's part of its appeal, says the club's coach, Lisa Gartner.

"Different positions require different things," Gartner says. "Some positions require strength, some speed."

Patty Conell, captain of the Boston-based rugby club Beantown, which provides coaches for the Harvard team, says that while a wide range of abilities are necessary, none are "specific to the sport."

"People who've never even played tackle football can come and learn to play rugby," Conell says. "That's the way it is everywhere. It's the last amateur sport in the world, as far as I know."

"It caters to a lot of different athletic abilities," adds Michelle C. Sullivan '96, who played Harvard rugby for three semesters, beginning in the spring of 1993. "I hadn't played the sport before; I hadn't played any sport before. There's no cut, [so] it was something I could try, and I wasn't going to be told I wasn't good enough."