Rugby Here & There

Now that the holiday is over, check out some of the rugby news that has been circulating:

• Women’s Club Championship VIDEOS!

  Well not really, but they say you can email for your own copy. What happens when a huge amount of requests come in? DVDs are cheap, but they aren’t that cheap! Here is the note from Katie Wurst:

  Dear Women’s Club Players, Staff & Supporters:

  We regret to inform you that this year’s Women’s Club Championship match broadcasts will not be available to view online in the USA Rugby media center. Technical difficulties involving decoding during the production have prevented the footage from being provided in an internet usable format. The problem was discovered and adjustments were made leading up to the men’s NASC which is why these matches are available.

  What we can offer is copies of the matches sent to your homes. Please write to kwurst@usarugby.org and include your email address and specific matches you are interested in obtaining and they will be sent to you as soon as possible. Please accept our apologies for this inconvenience. On the plus side, we did receive great feedback and will be looking ahead to further broadcast opportunities for women’s rugby in the future. Thank you for your patience and your comments/suggestions are always appreciated. Happy Holidays!

• San Diego Invitational 7’s Tournament – Open to Women’s Teams
  From womeneagles.com

  12.23.07 – As many people already know, the San Diego 7s event in rapidly approaching. It is the largest international rugby event hosted in North America and a stop on the iRB’s 7s World Series. This event will take place on February 9-10 at PetCo Park, home of the Padres, in Downtown San Diego. This event features 16 of the Worlds best 7s teams including New Zealand, Australia, England, South Africa and your USA Eagles!

  What you may not know is that on Thursday and Friday, February 7-8 there is another event running in conjunction with the San Diego 7s known as the San Diego Invitational. There will be nearly 50 rugby teams in town ranging from youth, high school, collegiate and Masters (AKA old boys). Also, as a part of the San Diego Invitational, there is an International Women’s 7s event featuring teams from Samoa, South Africa, Canada and most importantly, the United States Women’s National team!

  Last year the women’s final between the US & Canada was played at PetCo Park in front of 15,000 spectators who were there to watch the men’s event and we are really hoping for this to happen again. This is a tremendous opportunity for women’s rugby, not only here in the states, but internationally as well. In order to make this happen, USA 7s is asking us to show that the women’s rugby community supports their National Team.
  Slots open in San Diego Invitational for Women’s Teams

  The San Diego Invitational has all age levels, but for the most part, only male participants. Women’s senior and collegiate teams have not shown interest in participating. I am not sure if this is due to lack of knowledge or interest in the event.

  If we, the women’s community, can band together and show that we are participating in the San Diego Invitational and purchasing tickets to the USA 7s event (at a discounted group rate) it will help the USA 7s make the decision to have the women’s final inside the stadium once again.

  How does the San Diego Invitational work/how does my team get games? On Thursday and Friday we have 8 fields available all day long. Your team can challenge another team from a different territory or you can submit your interest to Kim Brock and she will work on matching you up to another team who has shown interest. We can work out a round robin format, short halves, full matches or whatever you want your matches to be in order to get you to the event. There is NO ENTRY FEE to play in this event!!!

  To get your team registered, contact Kim Brock at USA Rugby now to reserve your team’s spot in this prestigious and important event!

• Women Eagles Europe Tour News
  From womeneagles.com

  12.7.07 – For Women Eagles tour news from the 2007 First Sports International England Tour check out our new archive page. For a inside look at what’s happened in England take a look at USA Rugby’s Player’s Daily Journal.

• Rugby on the RADIO – Houston, TX

  This is broadcast weekly here in the Houston area – so if you have anything to get out – tournaments – events – etc…please send to Peter or Richard before Thursday so it can make this weeks announcements…

  Best regards, Rick

  I have been covering rugby on KPFT off and on for years. We where announcing scores on a weekly basis. Now for the first time we have a better time then ever before. The rugby segment of the sports brief is on at 6:58pm on Saturdays. Its not live but taped on Thursdays. If you guys can get us information of news and things to get out to the public
  we can announce it. Peter Evens is handling the rugby section and you can email him at. peterevans@sbcglobal.net or you can email me Richard Hanna at rad@hipweb.net WE have been moved taken off ect for a while since I have been doing it so this is something that hopefully we can keep.

  Richard Hanna 90.1 KPFT

  I did a google search and found the website: http://www.kpft.org/ and there is a link on the top left to listen live. I will have to try and remember to listen on Saturdays when they are back up and running! Pretty sweet.

• 2008 YOUTH RUGBY CLINIC IN HOUSTON & DALLAS

  No Experience Necessary
  Are you between 14 and 19 years old?
  Would you like to learn how to play Rugby?
  Need a Spring Contact Sport?
  Want to improve upon your existing rugby skills?
  Want that extra step against the competition next year?

  If you answered yes to any of the above questions, the CANTERBURY OF New Zealand Youth Rugby Clinic is for you !!

  The camp will include the following:

  Half Day Introduction to the Game that will get you up to speed even if you have never seen a rugby ball
  Individual Skills- Passing, Tackling, Running
  Scrum Safety and Lineout Techniques
  Team Skills and Decision Making

  The camp will be run by the current USA Junior Eagles coaching squad and this will provide each camper with the experience of a lifetime of being coached by some of the best coaches in the USA. The coaches are:

  Salty Thompson – Head Coach of the United States U20 National Rugby team.
  Mike Kwedar – Head Coach of the United States U19 Developmental squad & the U19/Collegiate Texas Select rugby teams
  Stuart Low – Head Coach of the United States U18 National Rugby team.
  Sean O Leary – Head Coach of the United States U17 National Rugby team.

  In addition to our coaching staff, the clinic will feature a number of current high school varsity rugby coaches who will work with clinic attendees. $30 Registration Fee. Please contact: Rick Marshall for more details.

• More on the USA Rugby NEEDS YOU CAMPAIGN

  See the below message about a new grass roots program that USA Rugby is launching – I am thinking about have each club a 3ft x 2ft banner made with the Rugby needs you, the poster of Z, USA rugby logo and your team logo – so if everyone can send me their team logo in a jpg or some other format – I have a sign person here locally whom will make these banner cheap for me… There are some cards, stickers and a log book I will get copied as well and then I will send each team a package including the banner – you can hang it at every home game, tournament and other function around your local communities – let me know everyones thoughts?

  Fyi – I would like to recommend that we Solicit campaign leaders based on geography and gender to get this initiative rolling in Texas. Please send me your thoughts.

  Please note that the West has asked Texas to arrange to set up and staff a booth/facility at the three Western championships in 2008. The West will be looking into producing a couple of large banners for use in this effort.

  For more information please contact Rick Marshall.

• USA Rugby Makes Inaugural Appearance at National High School Federation Convention
  From USA Rugby

  BOULDER, Colo. – While USA Rugby’s Emerging Sports Initiative typically attends the yearly NCAA conventions and other conferences specifically geared toward the expansion of women’s varsity rugby within the NCAA, on December 14-17 the initiative turned its attention to gaining exposure at the interscholastic level by attending the National Federation of State High School Association (NFHSA) Convention in Nashville, Tenn.

  Catering to more than 2000 attendees, USA Rugby was able to showcase girl’s high school rugby, which currently exists at the club level in only a handful of states around the country. Attendees of the convention included high school athletic directors and administrators from around the country.

  “USA Rugby’s presence at the event helped generate positive exposure for our initiative on the interscholastic side of our cause,” Becky Carlson, USA Rugby’s Emerging Sports Program Manager said. “The success of creating high school girl’s varsity rugby within the state high school associations directly affects our initiative at the NCAA level. We were well received in our first ever appearance at this annual convention.”

  While USA Rugby’s high school varsity initiative targets specific states, Colorado’s approach has been at the forefront on the state high school level. Although USA Rugby has been enthusiastically received by the state high school associations over the course of recent months, the NFHSA conference brought specific attention from a number of Colorado-based athletic directors. According to Carlson, the positive feedback received by Colorado athletic administrators over the past few months is largely due to the strong effort of Colorado Youth Rugby (CYR) administrators and coaches.

  “We have many key advocates, coaches and teachers involved at the state-based level who have been working to continually improve the competition administration,” Carlson said. “Colorado Youth Rugby has done the legwork in predicating the Colorado High School Activities Association (CHSAA) mission, so Colorado rugby really stands out.”

  Given that college athletic directors currently use the high school federation numbers as a primary source of motivation to add intercollegiate programs, USA Rugby soon hopes to legitimately add rugby to the list of high school interscholastic sports. The next public exhibition for the Emerging Sports Initiative will be at the annual NCAA Convention on January 11-13, 2008. For more information on the Emerging Sports Initiative for both intercollegiate and interscholastic sports, please contact Becky Carlson at bcarlson@usarugby.org or 303.539.0300 x102.

• To Watch Sportmanship, Try Youth Rugby
  Bernie ‘Boomer’ Martin, our correspondent in the Capital District reports about an article David Farison has written for the Albany Times-Union.
  First published:
  Sunday, December 16, 2007 – DAVID FARISON – dfarison@nycap.rr.com

  In response to the letter from Robert Therriault (‘Farewell to sportsmanship, Dec. 2) regarding his yearning for the good old days of sportsmanship. Mr. Therriault’s opinion was ‘I may just be an old fogy yearning back to the old days, but I distinctly remember that at the conclusion of every sporting event, the winners and losers would line up and go about congratulating and consoling each other. I think that was a wonderful tradition and an example of true sportsmanship. I am sitting here wondering whatever happened to that grand tradition.’

  Mr. Therriault, I would like to invite you to attend one of the rugby games that will be played this spring by the teams of Capital District Youth Rugby.

  Quoting from its bylaws, CDYR was formed last year with the purposes of ‘fostering the development of the sport of rugby football for boys and girls’ in the region and ‘to use the sport of rugby football to teach the concepts of fair play, sportsmanship, camaraderie, and teamwork for boys and girls,’ among others. A dedicated group of rugby volunteers recruited and trained about 100 high school-age kids and fielded three boys’ teams and two girls’ teams. As coach of the Albany Bulldogs boys’ rugby team, I can assure Mr. Therriault that we succeeded in both of these goals.

  We have all heard horror stories about youth sports: parents arguing with coaches and officials, many of whom are volunteers and might be only high school students themselves. Our players are coached to honor the game, which includes honoring the opposition and the offi
  cials. A rugby game is played by two teams of 15 players, and all are watched by one referee.

  You certainly see that one official is bound to miss a call or two. But there is no questioning the referee — his decision is final. Only the on-field captain may speak with the ref, and even he can be penalized if he objects to a call too strongly.

  At the conclusion of each hard-fought game, the players join with their teammates at the center of the field and give three cheers for their opponent, three for the referee and, lastly, three for themselves. Then one team would clap the other off the field, shaking hands and congratulating the other on a game well played.

  An old rugby adage calls it ‘the game for hooligans, played by gentlemen.’ I know that the youth rugby coaches that I worked with and coached against tried to instill this in their players.

  When our schedule is set for this upcoming spring, I hope to see Mr. Therriault not cheering for one team over the other but for the sportsmanship displayed by these young athletes.