Let me start off with two questions: First, if you had a son would you let him play rugby?

Take a second to think about it. Once you are sure of your answer please read on.

The second question is if you had a daughter would you let her play rugby?

Again please take your time to think of your answer and read on when you are ready.

Now if I had to make a prediction most of you said yes to the first question but no to the second question. Some may have said no to both in which I predict those people will have their kids living in a bubble with no friends. I applaud the ones who answered yes to both questions. You realize that we are now living in the 21st century and that women are no longer frail, helpless beings who at the first sight of dirt will crumple under its horrifying appearance. You understand that we have more of a purpose than just waiting around for a super duper manly male to come and drag us off to his cave where we will make him sandwiches and attend to ALL of his needs. Now let's focus back to the people who answered yes to the first question and no to the second one. I want you to think of three reasons why girls shouldn't play rugby and while you do that I am going to tell you three simple reasons why they should.

1. Playing sports has proven to have a positive physical effect on your body

Our nation has a serious problem with parents giving their kids a tablet loaded with games and sticking them in front of the TV so that the kids can be filled with mindless details and basically be transformed into little robots. All this TV watching is fueled by endless amounts of snacks which is causing kids to be more rotund, possibly to the point where you could roll them down a hill in the winter and create a nice snowball. When I was a kid, I was always outside. Whether I was creating imaginary obstacle courses while rollerblading or schooling my brothers in a game of street basketball, I stayed outside till the sunset and if I was lucky, even later. I had a TV in my room, tons of toys and a few gaming system but to me none of those mattered when the sun was shining and there were new things to be discovered. I played almost every sport my city had to offer and if they offered rugby I would have played that too. Like most sports, rugby required a lot of physical stamina. I mean, you have to be in good enough shape to run up and down a field that is about 130 yards, for a full 40 minutes with very little breaks. You have to be strong enough to take down opponents that may be three times your size. Not only is rugby going to make you look good, it is going to boost a girl's perceived image of their body.

2. Rugby is breaking stereotypes

I don't know if you have seen the campaign by Always called "Like a Girl" but here it is:

Commonly anything done by a girl is considered to be weak or not good enough but rugby has changed that. I know several players who run "like a girl" but they are still faster than the boys, and their girliness isn't slowing them down. We are able to overcome decades of stereotypes that state that because we are girls, we are slow and our main concern is if we look flawless while running. In rugby we are most likely covered in dirt, our hair is sticking out in several different directions and we probably look like maniacs but none of that matters because we're running like a human and we are scoring a try like a human. Our sex is not stopping us from anything.

3. Rugby boosts confidence and self-esteem.

I was recently reading that girls in adolescence are reporting drastically low levels of confidence or self-esteem. If I were to predict, this is because certain parents are filling their child's closet with whatever brand is popular now (I don't really buy nice clothes, so I don't know) and the girls who don't have those fancy items are being cast out. On top of that we have some boys who believe they have the right to critique girls as though they know what it is like to be a girl. It happened in my school and I know it is happening in tons of other schools. Our society is doing a really shitty job of teaching our kids that it is perfectly fine not to be popular, or to have the newest things. I have always told myself that I am going to get where I want to be because I want to be there, not because someone else put me there. I am going to work hard and do what is necessary to get there. No one is going to make or break me, only I can do that. At some point the nay-sayers and protagonist aren't going to matter, because what is will be what I did, the changes I made and the lives I have changed. I had a subtle realization of this when I played other sports, that no one was going to be able to hit the ball for me. When I picked up rugby, that is when it really hit me. I'd never played or even watched rugby before college, and I had no freaking idea what I was doing. For the first season I just kind of ran around like a chicken with no head. My second season I learned that by helping others understand how to play, I had a better understanding. Rugby has given me the confidence to talk to others (I used to hate this, my mom even called me unapproachable). My team has given me the support I need to be confident in myself. I can accept the way I act, look or feel because of rugby.

By now I am sure you have come up with your three reasons on why you would not let your daughter play rugby. They are probably something similar to the following:

"I don't want her to get hurt." / "It is too dangerous."

My counter to that is that you can get hurt sitting at home on the couch. Injuries are a side effect of life.

"Rugby is a man's sport."

Wrong! No sport is specific to any gender. Rugby is one of the few sports that doesn't discriminate between different sexes. Women and men play the same game with the same rules on the same field.

"My daughter is allergic to fun."

This probably wasn't one of your reasons but I couldn't even think of a third reason why you shouldn't let your daughter play one of the best sports around.

I hope you finish this article feeling differently. If you are skeptical about it, most teams will probably let you try it for a day or two. If you don't like it after that then you might want to get your head checked out. I think it is pointless to hold someone back because of your own personal fears. I strongly suggest you just give it a try, you might just fall in love.