Pumpkinfest Rugby Tournament 2009

The Philadelphia Women’s Rugby Football Club (PWRFC) is thrilled to host their 25th Annual Pumpkinfest Tournament this weekend, September 12 and 13, at Pennypack Park in Philadelphia, PA. This year there are 15 senior teams, 10 college teams, and 4 high school teams participating in the tournament. 46 games are scheduled over the weekend, including PWRFC’s first league match of the fall. The PWRFC – Atlanta match will be a highlight of the tournament, and kicks off at 10:30 am on Saturday.

PWRFC is also happy to host two special educational events in conjunction with the tournament. USA Rugby’s 2nd Annual Women’s Referee Development Camp is participating and staffing a lot of our games. The first camp, held at Pumpkinfest 2008, focused on basic principles of refereeing, which this year’s camp will focus on how to progress as a referee. The camp includes both classroom sessions and practical experience with real-time feedback.

PWRFC is also hosting, in conjunction with the Eastern Pennsylvania Rugby Union and USA Rugby’s Coach Development Department, the Luke Gross Extended Lineout Workshop. Two sessions of this 4 hour workshop geared towards coaches are being held. Luke Gross, a veteran Eagle lock and lineout specialist, will also be in attendance at the tournament on Saturday for a meet and greet.

More information is available on the tournament website at http://www.pwrfc.org/pumpkin2009.html or via email to pumpkinfest@pwrfc.org.

from USA Rugby:
BOULDER, Colo. – USA Rugby is pleased to announce that it will be hosting its 2nd Annual Women’s Referee Development Camp and a Luke Gross extended Lineout Workshop, September 11-13, 2009.

The camp and clinics will be held in conjunction with the PumpkinFest Tournament, held September 12-13 at Pennypack Park in Philadelphia and hosted by the Philadelphia Women’s Rugby Club. Over 30 rugby teams are looking to attend PumpkinFest this year, including teams from the surrounding high schools, colleges and clubs.

While the focus of last year’s Women’s Referee Camp was on the basic principles of refereeing, this year’s camp will focus on how to progress as a referee.

“The response to last year’s camp and the feedback received from both referees and the teams demonstrated the need to support the expanding numbers of women referees,” said Referee Development Director Ed Todd. “The PumpkinFest Tournament has provided an excellent environment for the identification and development of some very good performers with tremendous potential and they will get the chance to work with some of the top trainers in the country.”

Participants will take part in classroom sessions that will run all day on Friday, September 11, and will include presentations by National Panel Referee Manager Richard Every, USA Rugby Lineout Specialist Luke Gross, National Panel Referee Coach Jem McDowall, National Panel Referee Chris Henshall, National Evaluator Peter Simpson and Territorial Evaluator Kat Todd-Schwartz.

On Saturday and Sunday, participants will get to practice what was learned on Friday by refereeing games at the tournament

“We are very excited about the upcoming camp,” said Match Official Administrator Jennifer Gray. “We have some new faces attending the event this year and a great group of mentors who are lending their time and expertise to provide one-on-one feedback throughout the weekend.”

Electronic copies of all presentation materials will be made available after the camp on the Best Practice and Resource Materials section of the Referee Development website at www.usarugby.org/goto/referees.

In addition, the Coach Development Department is excited to bring to the tournament Lineout Specialist Luke Gross, who will be holding two extended Lineout Workshops for coaches throughout the weekend of PumpkinFest.

Luke Gross’ Workshop will focus on helping coaches to better coach the lineout safely and effectively; to understand the fundamentals of throwing, lifting and jumping; and to better learn basic offensive and defensive lineout strategies.

This four hour extended workshop will be a practical coaching workshop, allowing coaches the opportunity to actually coach players under the guidance of Luke Gross. Participating coaches will receive 5 USA Rugby continuing education credits for participation.

There are two separate sessions: Session one will be on Friday evening, 4-8 p.m., and is held in conjunction with the Philadelphia Women’s Rugby Club’s PumpkinFest Tournament and participants are encouraged to make an early trip to Philadelphia for this session.

Session two will be held on S
unday in cooperation with the Wilmington Rugby Club. Specific workshop locations are currently being finalized and will be posted at http://www.epru.org, and communicated via email to all registered participants.

To pre-register for either of the workshops or for more information, contact lrosen@usarugby.org Please include in the subject of your email : Luke Gross Lineout Workshop: September 11 or Luke Gross Lineout Workshop: September 13. You will receive a tentative confirmation with payment details. Workshop spots are available on a first come-first serve basis. Payment must be received by September 1, 2009 to guarantee participation. For more information or to host a lineout clinic in your area contact Coach Development Manager Mollie McCarthy mmccarthy@usarugby.org

For more information on USA Rugby, or to find out how to become involved in officiating or coaching the game in your area, check out www.usarugby.org.