{"id":29411,"date":"2026-01-11T08:14:10","date_gmt":"2026-01-11T08:14:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/nanamedia.org\/en\/2026\/01\/11\/the-berkshire-mother-wants-to-encourage-others-to-take-up-rugby\/"},"modified":"2026-01-11T08:14:11","modified_gmt":"2026-01-11T08:14:11","slug":"the-berkshire-mother-wants-to-encourage-others-to-take-up-rugby","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/nanamedia.org\/en\/2026\/01\/11\/the-berkshire-mother-wants-to-encourage-others-to-take-up-rugby\/","title":{"rendered":"The Berkshire mother wants to encourage others to take up rugby"},"content":{"rendered":"

Introduction to Rugby for Mothers<\/h2>\n

The co-founder of a rugby club for women with children said the sport was ideal for new mothers who want to stay active. Annette Bevan, a mother of two who currently plays for Reading Abbey RFC, is one of the coordinators of the Maa Maas club. It has approximately 920 mothers following its Facebook page and around 150 have signed up for games, one of which will take place in Newcastle in April.<\/p>\n

Importance of Self-Care for New Mothers<\/h2>\n

\u201cYou have to carve out that time for yourself,\u201d she said of new mothers. \u201cYou have to do something you enjoy, be it rugby or another hobby or interest.\u201d
\n\u201cI think that once you create that space for yourself, you come back to your children and your family as a better mother.\u201d<\/p>\n

Inspiration from England Star Abbie Ward<\/h2>\n

Bevan said England star and mother Abbie Ward had been an inspiration following the country’s World Cup victory in September. Ward carried her daughter Hallie across the Twickenham pitch after the win against Canada.
\n\u201cMothers all over the world, we have formed a little community,\u201d Bevan said. \u201cEveryone is so helpful. They just want to help each other, give each other advice, share their experiences and we are united by the fact that we have all been through childbirth and pregnancy and we all want to come back and stay active.\u201d<\/p>\n

Encouraging Mothers to Play Rugby<\/h2>\n

"I want to continue to inspire. I want to connect with other moms."
\n"I want to start getting women excited about rugby. This is a great time to try out our sport. It’s truly one of the best communities to be a part of."<\/p>\n

Personal Experience and Passion for Rugby<\/h2>\n

The former Henley and Bracknell player, who also played for Ireland, said: "The community game is close to my heart. I always knew I wanted to continue playing rugby after my children were born."
\n"It’s such a passion of mine. I think it’s always uncertain whether you’ll do that physical activity again."
\n\u201cBut it\u2019s really important to me to show my kids that I can still be physically active and do something that I really love.\u201d<\/p>\n

Improving Accessibility for Mothers in Rugby<\/h2>\n

She started her Instagram page, Rugby after birth, four years ago, and said some clubs had made "great strides" in improving accessibility of facilities, such as introducing breastfeeding areas and changing tables in toilets.
\n"You might think it’s something small, but a lot of clubs are still behind the times with this. It’s about breaking those barriers and making sure spaces are available for mothers," she added.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Introduction to Rugby for Mothers The co-founder of a rugby club for women with children said the sport was ideal for new mothers who want to stay active. Annette Bevan, a mother of two who currently plays for Reading Abbey RFC, is one of the coordinators of the Maa Maas club. It has approximately 920<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":29412,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[40],"tags":[13044,22103,16278,22102,295,443,1471,1193,2278,22100,22101],"class_list":{"0":"post-29411","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-health","8":"tag-berkshire","9":"tag-bracknell-rfc","10":"tag-breastfeeding","11":"tag-come-back-and-stay","12":"tag-facebook","13":"tag-instagram","14":"tag-ireland","15":"tag-mother","16":"tag-pregnancy","17":"tag-reading-abbey-r-f-c","18":"tag-twickenham-stadium"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/nanamedia.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/29411","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/nanamedia.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/nanamedia.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nanamedia.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nanamedia.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=29411"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/nanamedia.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/29411\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":29413,"href":"https:\/\/nanamedia.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/29411\/revisions\/29413"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nanamedia.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/29412"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/nanamedia.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=29411"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nanamedia.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=29411"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nanamedia.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=29411"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}