There are still a couple of more days before the close of the Paralympics, but Team USA's success in the Olympic Games earlier this summer is already having an impact on sports fields and gyms across the country, especially on what have historically been less popular sports. It's the first practice of the season for the D.C. Furies, one of the oldest women's rugby clubs in the country.

Players lace up, run drills, and dodge tackles.

A typical training for the Division I club, but this year is different, says Fury's

President Liz Lindstrom.

I'm actually a little concerned that incoming prospective players are going to outnumber current

club members right now.

The easiest way to pass it is a pop pass.

In fact, she says about half the women who showed up tonight are brand new to the club.

Some had played before and taken a long break. Some folks had never played a

sport before, let alone rugby. It's a change that Lindstrom traces directly back to this moment when the US women's team

beat Rugby powerhouse Australia to win bronze at the Summer Olympics.

Rugby in America is so much further behind rugby in the rest of the world.

So we were definitely underdogs in that.

And to be playing for a medal was impressive in itself.

But then to actually walk away with a bronze medal in the first ever I think was really

really special. It is the US's first rugby medal in a century since the men's team

won gold back in 1924. The appeal of women's rugby is unique, says Kat Avarsano, Vice President of

Women's Elite Rugby USA.

We take big hits, we give big hits, and don't have any padding so you can see you can see the joy on everyone's

faces and you can see the impact directly on the athletes and that's the kind of

human connection that people want and that we really enjoy out of athletes in

sport.

...