Saturday, June 30, 2012

Lakefront 7's Results

A few results have trickled in from the Lakefront 7's today at Veteran's Park in Milwaukee:

Catholic Memorial won the high school division in convincing fashion:
Pool Play
CMHS 43  Penn HS 7
CMHS 41  Brookfield 0
Finals:
CMHS 39  Brookfield 5

Thanks to the Kettle Moraine girls in particular who played today as well, filling in for a short-handed Penn.
Organizers hope to make the LF 7's a key destination for girls rugby 7's and promise to continue the girls brackets next year. 

In the women's qualifier, Chicago's Northshore women looked dominant, but DSHA put in an impressive showing, winning the 3rd Place match in an exciting sudden death overtime.  With a young team and only one senior on the pitch, DSHA had several breakaways that were snuffed out just as they approached the try-line. There was some wonderful back and forth play with runs from both sides.  The high school girls finished 2-2 taking on some good collegiate and women's players in the process. 

DSHA 7   Youngbloodz 20
DSHA 36 Ann Arbor 0
DSHA 0  Northshore 30

3rd Place Final (overtime)
DSHA 10 UW-Lacrosse 5

Wednesday, June 27, 2012

Lakefront 7's Preview




Played at Milwaukee's Veteran's Park, overlooking Lake Michigan and beautiful lake drive, the 30th Annual Lakefront 7's takes place Saturday.  With seven fields and eighty teams, it's the single largest rugby event of the year in Milwaukee.  The first matches begin at 8am.  A youth tournament featuring kids from Madison, Fond Du Lac, Menomonee Falls, Wauwatosa, and Waukesha begins at 10am on field 7.  Even the Mexican National team will be here, playing in the men's qualifier for a developmental weekend.

Brookfield, Catholic Memorial, and Penn High School (Indiana) will compete in the girls bracket:
2:40pm CMH v Penn HS (Field 5)
3:40pm CMH v Brookfield (Field 5)
4:40pm Penn HS v Brookfield (Field 5)
6:00pm Girls Championshp (Field 3)

DSHA will be playing in the Women's Qualifier.  This is a first for a Wisconsin high school team and an experiment in developing better 7's through high-level experience.  The first game is a fascinating matchup.  Youngbloodz are a traveling team that only plays a 7's season, drawing "young" players together for the summer from different 15's programs, butmostly from the Minnessota Valkyries, Amazons, and UMN.  They've had a very successful men's team for several years as well.

12:40pm  DSHA v Youngbloodz (Field 6)
3:20pm    DSHA v Ann Arbor (Field 2)
4:40pm    Women's Qualifier 5th Place and Semifinals
5:40pm    Women's Qualifier 3rd Place
6:00pm    Women's Qualifier Championship


The Men's Qualifier Championship at 6:40pm on Field 1 concludes the tournament matches.
Hope to see you there!  wisconsingirlsrugby@gmail.com

VETERANS PARK


1450 N Lincoln Memorial Drive

Milwaukee, WI 53202.

Take I-794 East to exit 1F on the

left to N Lincoln Memorial Dr





Monday, June 25, 2012

School Teams

A recent article by Kimball Kjar, an American rugby player who first played in college, caught the attention of our staff writers here at WGR.  Highlights from the article are excerpted below

Varsity Inclusion---The Path Forward

"I recently had the opportunity of watching Utah's youth and hig hshcool state championships a few weeks ago.  The three year old Utah Youth Rugby State Based Rugby Organization (SBR) .. has grown by hundreds over the last few years

While attending Rugby Indiana’s coaching clinic earlier this year there were dozens of dedicated coaches in attendance. The numbers and the involvement by the Rugby Indiana coaches at this clinic showed their commitment to growing the game.

Locally, the numbers of certified coaches in Utah is now up to 132—a far cry from the couple
dozen just a few years ago while Rugby Indiana boasts 113 certified coaches as of the recent competitive season, also an increase from relatively small numbers."

A side note: there were 8 coaches at Marquette University's coaching certification over the weekend, and 3 of them were from the Wisconsin Girls League.

"Within both states (Utah and Indiana), one a recognized rugby-state and the other an up-and-coming rugby-state, there are common themes of why the recent success: 1) Coaching Development & 2) Varsity Inclusion.

 The unique thing about both SBRO’s has been the growth and emphasis of what I call “Varsity Inclusion.  This term is somewhat thrown about in rugby circles, but the concept is defined, in my opinion, that a rugby club is financially supported by a high school administration or is affiliated with a high school as club or some other on-campus affiliation.

 Cathedral Rugby competes as a Division I club in Rugby Indiana by combining Chatard and Cathedral high schools, but centers its success in using the “Varsity Inclusion” model by working with Cathedral Royal Irish High School officials, parents and community leaders to develop the standing of the club on a whole. By using this model the club has won five consecutive state titles, three consecutive midwest regional titles and as mentioned above recently won the National High School Club Championship last month.While in Utah the past two state champions have been teams that would fit the “Varsity Inclusion” model in the more common definition: Snow Canyon High School (2011) and Herriman High School (2012). Both clubs compete in UYR’s Division I, which includes both high school-only and high school-club programs. And by winning state championships against high school-club programs like Trybe (formerly Highland Rugby) and United (2009 National Champions) as a high school-only programs is no small accomplishment.

In chatting with both teams’ head coaches the common reason for their success is clear and can be summarized by one word: Community.

Snow Canyon head coach Jay Day recognizes the single-school transition that is currently occurring in Utah and on the national level, which is developing strong community ties. “From my vantage point in Washington County in southern Utah, I see widespread acceptance of rugby in the schools and in the community,” Coach Day said, “The local newspapers and sports magazines cover rugby, and mainstream citizens of the communities reference rugby within their daily conversations. Rugby is enjoying increased acceptance and support, with dedicated rugby pitches, youth programs and clinics, and events centered around rugby. I see more and more of this in the near future.”

While recently crowned Utah state champ head coach Jeff Wilson of Herriman High School simply says the “Varsity Inclusion” model is the way forward for rugby at the youth level.

“I think the single-school model is the right one, we just need to become more effective at implementing it,” Wilson said, “Which means providing those who wish to start programs with the resources and material to help do so.”

Wilson, a former assistant coach for the once-renowned Highland Rugby Club, also made the astute observation about starting a successful program using the “Varsity Inclusion” model. “Comprehensive coaches training for those who know the sport [is imperative],” Wilson said, “Not only more coaching development but on how to run a program, not just have a team—there’s a big difference between the two.”

As Coach Day and Coach Wilson have found in their respective exploits the ideal of sports teams is about being a rallying point for a community, whether on a small or global scale. Whether soccer, football, rugby, basketball or baseball, sports are a common cultural denominator for people of all ages, races, ethnicities and religions. Sports are meant to include, rather than exclude, whether by those participating or by those supporting."

As a rugby community with a strong but comparatively small rugby culture (we don't have 132 certified coaches!) the question that lingers for Wisconsin is whether our develpoment structure fits our culture best, or if the trends of other states can help us grow the opportunities for include more participants.  In a related discussion, our next article will be focusing on the Title IX issues tha thave been in the local and national news involving local schools, specifically Kettle Moraine, Brookfield, and Hartland.

Sunday, June 17, 2012

Midwest u19 Tourney, Day 2

In day two action, a few scores to report:

5th Place:  Indiana 15 Michigan 0
3rd Place:  Wisc 20  Minnessota 0
1st Place:   Ohio 15  Minnessota II 12

It appears there was not a developmental girls game this year. 

Saturday, June 16, 2012

MW u19 Select Tournament

Midwest Girls u19 Tournament in Elkhart, Indiana.

Wisconsin 22  Indiana 0
Wisconsin 15  Minn B 20
Indiana 0  Minn B 22

Ohio 24  Minn 12
Ohio 47  Michigan 0
Michigan 5  Minn 31

Girls Pool A:  Indiana, Wisconsin, Minn. B
Girls Pool B:  Ohio, Minn., Michigan

Sunday
Championship:  Minn B v Ohio
3rd Place:  Wisconsin v Minn.
5th Place:  Michigan v Indiana

We don't know the full story yet, but the scores being reported to WGR show the WI u19 falling to Minnessota's second side in a tight match.  Wisconsin will play for 3rd Place Sunday morning.  Best of luck to the competitiors down at the Moose Rugby Grounds.

Thursday, June 14, 2012

Lakefront 7's Girls Bracket

The 30th Annual Lakefront 7's rugby tournament at Milwaukee's Lakefront is fast approaching.  With about 80 teams and a half dozen fields, it's a major event.  Plus, with Summerfest, the largest music festival ever, teams from across America will converge for the annual tradition.

Early bird registration and the $50 discountfor the high school girls bracket ends tomorrow.  Head here for the registration info:  LAKEFRONT SEVENS.

With 7's as an Olympic sport and more and more youth teams popping up all over, the event has become even more important to the rugby calendar.  Any high school players heading down there will want to try and catch some of the men's qualifier playoff matches that occur later in the day, especially those involving the Milwaukee Barbarians.
This year's girls bracket includes a strong core of teams with Catholic Memorial High School fresh off the High School Challenge at the Philly Collegiate Rugby Championships; Penn HS from Indiana, the 6th place finisher at the Midwest Championships; along with Brookfield, the 2011 Midwest D2 Runner-up and one of Wisconsin's consistently strong D1 teams for the past eight years.

Monday, June 11, 2012

Wisconsin u19 Team

The Wisconsin Rugby Union's u19 team travels to Elkhart, Indiana this weekend to play some matches.

The traveling roster, barring any last minute changes, is listed below.  Good luck to all the Wisconsin girls.  Last year's team finished 1-2, losing to Ohio (17-7)and Minnessota (40-10) after defeating Michigan (36-0) but they had little time to prepare due to some last minute changes.  The team has had a better build-up going into this year and will look to improve it's finish.  Indiana has won five consecutive tournaments at the state selectside tournament and will enter as the returning favorites.

Rozman Taylor km
Rozman Hayley km
Schultz Cassie km
Whiteaker Caelee km
Mueller Katie cmh
Mertins Drea km
Beach Lizzy km
Tutkowski Megan km
Schubert Libby km
Galstad Ricki ahs
Meyer Sami km
Holt Emily uw waukesha
Baus Erika Vernon
Prusheik Alexia Vernon
Dunn Samantha Vernon
Dunn Danielle Vernon
Harvey Katelyn Vernon
Cervera Aliana Tosa
Maltz Nora Tosa
McGavin Stephanie Tosa
Crouse Tiffany UW Mil
Crouse Courtney km
Ortiz Cheynne Brookfield
Rosenthal Carly Brookfield
Stuckroth Ellen Brookfield
Margret Stich Brookfield
Gramling Laurel Brookfield
Cales Allie Oak Creek
Wismeth Ryley Oak Creek
St. Arnold Caitlyn Oak Creek
Barksdale Dominique Oak Creek
Claudio Monica Oak Creek
Feto Anisa Oak Creek
Larona Lorelei Oak Creek
Nice Courtney Oak Creek

Monday, June 4, 2012

7's Championships

Fallbrook girls rugby claimed the 7's championship at the Collegiate Rugby Championships in Philadelphia, Pa over the weekend.

Fallbrook defeated Doylestown 41-3 in the final after a good game against Wisconsin's Catholic Memorial, 24-5 in the semifinal.   Catholic Memorial was able to score first against Fallbrook, off a long break and finish by Hannah McCaffery.  The rest of the match CMH played some strong defense but was unable to score again.

DSHA lost in the semifinals to Doylestown on a last-second try. 

Both teams advanced out of pool play on Friday and Sunday against Hempfield and the New York girls rugby club.

And .. this note from DSHA's website puts things in perspective after DSHA and CMHS were placed in the same pool and played Saturday morning at PPL Park just before the Dartmouth vs Life College opening match ... 

"‎DSHA over Catholic Memorial HS. Congratulations to both teams! We have travelled over 3275 miles since April 29 to play Catholic Memorial High School, our great competitor 17 miles from home. Midwest Championship in Elkhart, IN, the 2012 Emirates Airline USA Rugby Girls' High School National Invitational Championships, Palo Alto, CA and the USA Sevens - High School Rugby Challenge - Philadelphia 2012" 
Girls High School - Round 1 Pool Play Results

Divine Savior 12-0 Hempfield

Catholic Memorial 29-0 New York

Fallbrook 39-0 West Shore United