As Bath Rugby's Women and Girls' Rugby Development Lead, Maria Crowfoot is expanding the club's women's game, taking on the role of Women's 7s Head Coach for the past two seasons.
In May 2021, the club pledged to grow the women's game with the hopes of one day having a professional women's side competing in the Allianz Premier 15s league.
Part of this investment saw Crowfoot join the club, bringing with her a wealth of knowledge after previous coaching positions at Lightning, Loughborough University and Lichfield.
In a club first, Crowfoot was instrumental in forming its first ever Women's 7s side competing on the elite 7s circuit and playing in the Super Sevens Series.
With the team's training in full swing and two tournaments under their belt, Crowfoot will lead her squad to one of the biggest 7s tournaments of the year this Friday as they take their place at Bournemouth Sevens.
Crowfoot has even secured the team professional athletic development support through Chippenham-based outfit, Southern Academy of Sport. The Academy provide strength and conditioning to the team, sports science both on and off the field and assist the team's physiotherapists with player rehabilitation.
Of the growth made at Bath Rugby, Crowfoot said: "When I joined the club we only had grassroots offerings in terms of girls' rugby.
"To be able to come here and expand that into now having a well-established Women's 7s team is pretty special.
"The 7s team are a young side, but have such a zest for going out there playing elite rugby. I feel like good things are coming and I'm excited to be a part of that.
"We have so much more to offer now at the club from a women's and girls' perspective. I've worked closely with Bath Rugby Ladies, University of Bath and Bath College, which all form an important playing opportunity base for women and girls in our region.
"The success that Bath Rugby Ladies and the University of Bath have had on the pitch is testament to the players, coaches and support staff involved, and puts important foundations in place for what is to come both with 7s and the future!
"Our Bath Rugby Academy at Bath College will enter it's second year next season. We've had five players who come from a variety of clubs and I'm delighted to see how they've progressed and developed across the year. We're still recruiting for next year so it would be great to get more players involved.
"Our Grassroots team have done a fantastic job this season, with Girls Participation Hubs seeing more sign-ups than ever before. We have our own girls only rugby day camps, and a girls only residential camp at Millfield this summer.
"To anyone following Bath Rugby's Women's and Girls' journey, I'd say thank you for your support, keep pushing us to do more and watch this space. There's a lot to come and we're very excited for the trajectory we're on."
