Atlantis Rugby HS Girls are headed to Portugal!
- Dave Codell
- 18 hours ago
- 3 min read
Atlantis Rugby is thrilled to announce our first High School Girls international tour since 2017 when we took Silver at the Paris World Games! We will be participating in Lisbon Junior 7s, in Portugal, on February 14 and 15 at the G.D. Direito Sports Complex in a pool that also includes SG RK03/St. Pauli and Agraria+Lousa Litocar. The team is comprised of players from across the United States with Pennsylvania, Colorado, Indiana, Idaho, Texas, Virginia, and Hawaii represented in the 12-player squad.
In honor of National Girls and Women in Sports Day, which takes place on February 4, 2026, we reached out to some of the Atlantis Rugby female leadership that has been working so hard behind the scenes for six months to make this trip a reality. Leading the way from the sideline will be Atlantis Girls Director Kate Flanagan, who is also serving as Head Coach for this tournament. Coach Flan has had the opportunity to work with most of these players domestically in the past and has also travelled overseas with the North American Lions several times in recent years. When asked why she was motivated to take a team to this event Coach Flan told us “Atlantis Rugby has been doing so much work throughout the US in both 7s and 15s and the players keep coming back more and more motivated to expand their horizons. These athletes are seeking additional opportunities domestically and abroad as they continue to take steps to grow and develop both on and off the field and we are extremely excited to help provide those opportunities to them.”
Program Manager Diane Ramage echoed much of what Coach Kate said and mentioned “Atlantis Rugby helped my daughters tremendously when they were younger players, and rugby ended up taking them to so many places that they otherwise may have never gone. Seeing that benefit firsthand, from the perspective of a parent, motivates me to encourage other parents and players to do the same and explore everything this sport, and the Atlantis Rugby program, has to offer.”
We frequently refer to the “Atlantis Rugby Family” and this event will be a family affair as Alie Ramage will be with us as On-Site Manager! In addition to being one of Diane’s daughters, Alie was also a player on the first Atlantis High School Girls tour to the Paris World Games nine years ago. Alie is looking forward to giving back to Atlantis in this new role and is hoping to bring an additional perspective to this staff, having been in the players’ shoes as a participant in at least 10 Atlantis tours when she was in middle/high school.
We are certainly extremely excited to have Alie with us, and we are also very happy to have Karl Barth coming on tour as an Assistant Coach. Kate wanted to make sure that Karl was given proper credit for the huge amount of knowledge and experience that he brings. She mentioned that he has been tremendously helpful with selections and planning behind the scenes for things such as nutrition and mobility plans. His preparation skills will help have the players in-tune and ready to perform, and his ability to help Coach Flan in the moment during match play will also be a great benefit to us.
Our roster for this tournament listed alphabetically by last name includes:
Mack Aluise – Doylestown Girls Rugby Club in Pennsylvania.
Jeni Bradford – Summit Girls Rugby in Colorado.
Giselle Long – Westside Revenge in Indiana.
Anna Petzinger – Eagle Lady Mustangs in Idaho.
Avery Russer – Summit Girls Rugby in Colorado.
Hailey Russer – Summit Girls Rugby in Colorado.
Kaliyah Schimpf – Monarch HS Rugby in Colorado.
Galia Vichis – Woodlands Rugby Club in Texas.
Hiilei Vuta – Puna Chiefs in Hawaii.
Kanani Watts – Eagle Lady Mustangs in Idaho.
Hannah Webb – Summit Girls Rugby in Colorado.
Kaiya Wrigley – Culpeper Rugby Club in Virginia.
Our staff is:
Kate Flanagan - Head Coach
Karl Barth – Assistant Coach
Alison Ramage – Manager
Keep an eye on the Atlantis Social Media over the next couple of weeks as we post individual player profiles in the leadup to Lisbon Junior 7s!