CALGARY - The Menin family lives by the credo: good, better and best. They apply it to their every day lives and the three daughters, Jade, Daleaka and Kasselle, apply it to rugby.
 
"We wanted our value system and principles to stay in tact, and I think that was the most important thing that we wanted as a family," said Quinselle Menin, mother of the three Dinos rugby players.
 
It is the first season all three Menin sisters donned the red and gold, and they have managed to take the season 4 and 0 heading into the Canada West Final Four. But it's by no means their first foray into the sport.
 
Jade, 22, and Daleaka, 20, were the first to enter into the world of rugby.  In their grade-7 and grade-9 year they started playing and continued to play on their high school team, County Central High School. Kasselle, 18, joined the high school team
after her sisters graduated.
 
"I really did fall in love in the sport," said Daleaka, noting her favourite aspect of the sport was how it differed from every other one she knew.
 
"Most sports you need certain skills – for volleyball, jumping, basketball it's sprinting – rugby, especially when you're new, it really has a place for every body and athletic type."
 
All the sisters have managed to make a name for themselves at a local and provincial level, but Daleaka made her way to the National stage. The middle-Menin played U17 Alberta where they went to Nationals and won, was invited to play U20 and went to National Cup in 2013 to play England and took a victory, started with the Dinos soon after, and was once again invited to play U20 over the summer of 2014 and had the opportunity to play with the Senior Women's Canada Team for the Super Series.
 
She also managed to take the title of Canadian Interuniversity Sport Rookie of the Year and Canada West Rookie of the Year last season.
 
"As I've started playing higher level and as you play higher levels you fall in love with it more and want to keep going," she said.
 
But there were ground-rules to be set before the girls could continue their pursuit of the sport.
 
It was when their oldest Jade, first set her eyes on the University of Calgary Dinos they decided to sit down as a family and discuss the rules of committing to the sport.
 
"And a lot of it have to do with funding sports," Quinselle said. "If we were going to do this, what the girls were going to do for their commitment at the next level and show that was really important and that we would support them in a certain way."
 
Because it's a pay-to-play sport the fees were steep – especially with three daughters interested – so the first rule was to earn half of the fee and their father Kevin and mother Quinselle would match it.
 
They also had to make the commitment to be fit.
 
"It wasn't enough just to be talented. They had to work at something and have a work ethic."
 
The final, and most important rule, was to never lose their priorities and to do what was important. Rugby was a portion of their lives, but being a contributing member of society was what would last them a lifetime.
 
They had to choose a university based on the education, not on the rugby team's history and stats.
 
"It didn't really matter, from my perspective, what level of rugby they got to as long as we followed those principles," said Quinselle. "I am pleased they have done as well as they have, but I am proud of them as individuals."
 
Jade was the first to become a Dino, followed soon after by Daleaka and this past season by Kasselle.
 
Daleaka said it's amazing having your sisters all together on one team – having already played many seasons with Jade it was nice to finally have all three together – and it was like having two personal cheering sections on your side.
 
"Because we're siblings we can get mad at each other more, but also since we don't compete for the same position it's not an argument there," she said, noting she plays Prop, Kasselle is at Lock, Flank or Eight and Jade a 12.
 
"We all have different playing styles, so it never gets heated – but there are moments where we can be the one to go to the other person, especially when the other girls don't feel they can, we can go and be like, 'okay. Come on.'"
 
A fairly new team, under 10 years old, Daleaka said she is excited to be a part of the program that's making a name for itself at the Canada West stage and become well-known on campus.
 
"We are sort of unknown," she said, adding their last game saw the most fun they've seen. "I try to think of life without rugby – I try to think of when I will stop – and I don't know what I will do … just seeing it grow right now has been really exciting. I'm excited to be a part of this program right now."
 
The Dinos Women's Rugby team are 4 and 0 finishing off their season, going into their final game against Lethbridge in the Canada West Final Four on Friday. Should they win, they punch their ticket to the CIS Championship as the top two teams earn a spot from the conference.