Youth Conference Update

A few highlights from the youth conference last weekend:

-140 people attended the youth conference, the most ever. 27 states had non-profit youth organizations represented, with several more being formed.

-Rookie Rugby and Play Rugby USA are growing significantly in other parts of the country. Checkout the picture used at the top of Rookie Rugby's home page; it features one of Wisconsin's great high school players, and four-time national champion, Lauren Franzen.

-All but three of the attendees said they supported USA Rugby's eligibility proposal focusing on strictly high school teams, instead of u-19 clubs.

-The long-term vision of USA Rugby is to support a single-school team system, with an understanding that we’re a long way off from that.

-The reaction to USA’s All-star schedule was more divided.

-Support for a national championship remained strong.

-There did not appear to be any interest from other states in 7’s or all-star teams for girls in the spring. That’s their team season for now. Indiana has some interest in a fall girls season.

Wisconsin Delegate to Speak at National Conference

This coming weekend, WGR’s John Klein will be speaking at the National Youth Conference on the Game in Indianapolis. Klein has the rare honor of speaking at the beginning and end of the conference. In one of the opening sessions, Klein will present about the opportunities for girls rugby and how these opportunities have increased dramatically in the last few years. At the conference’s final session, as part of a prestigious panel including Mike Tolkin and Lee Kelly, Coach Klein will address how great programs are developed. Mike Tolkin coaches Xavier High School in New York (The 2010 National Champions), Superleague team NYAC, and the USA Men’s National Team, as defense coach. Lee Kelly, coaches Gonzaga College High School in Washington D.C.


WGR will be dispatching one of its beat writers to report back live on the event.

No More High School National Championship?

As reported by Rugby Magazine, USA Rugby’s Youth and High School Committee is considering several significant changes.

"The long-term outcome of this vision will be to create a High School focused season leading to a state championship; followed by a ‘travel or club’ season, potentially leading to a national championship," said Youth & High School Committee member Kurt Weaver. "These travel teams might be all-star teams, city based club programs, or even sevens clubs, but the focus will be on an actual season for these programs instead of the one-off tournaments we currently support for our select teams. Through this process, both our saturation and our rugby talent will improve."

“Proposal Highlights:
U19 designation changed to "High School Club."
Players on High School Clubs must be in high school to play.
Players in Single-School teams must be current students at the school they play for.
Age requirements (must not have turned 19 by September 1 of the School Year) remain.
Players who graduate during the season can still play.
Provisions allowing players who graduated last year to the year before to still play will be stricken.”

Implicit within Weaver's statement is that USA will no longer support a high school national championship. The committee’s intent, according to the article published Nov. 29th, was to have the proposals adopted by the New Year. Not a lot of time for discussion or feedback. No further announcements have been made at this time, so it appears the issue may still be open.

The High School and Youth Committee is:
Bill Middleton (chair) bmiddleton@usarugby.org Kurt Weaver kurt@rugbyohio.com
Mark Van Trees everythi@mindspring.com Tal Beyer tbayer@hydedc.org
Dick Podmore dick@dickpodmore.com Mark Griffin mgriffin@usarugby.org
Erin Kennedy ekennedy@usarugby.org

Women's Rugby Pioneers

( Photo courtesy of the New South Wales Heritage Library, Australia.)

For our 201st post, we'd like to pay tribute to all the girls playing rugby in America. You are pioneers who help break stereotypes. For one, there haven't been women playing contact sports in great numbers, especially as a team sport. In addition, you've all been playing a sport that for a long time was seen as foreign.

Sometimes rugby inspires that kind of independence and i suppose it's been that way for some time. Women's rugby had some success in France starting in the 1920's. Some French even tried a women's version of rugby they called "barette" which did away with rucks but kept scrums and lineouts. Our first vintage picture is from a French magazine advertisement of that era. The second is a group of Australian ruggers from New South Wales.

The first documented evidence of an attempt to form a purely women's team occured in 1891 when a tour of New Zealand by a team of female rugby players was cancelled due to a public outcry.

In Wisconsin, Divine Savior Holy Angels High School began forming the first girls team in 1996. These brave young women played mostly college b teams. It took two years before they scored the first try in team history, thanks to a young Miss Allison Urbanski. It wasn't until years later, the Fall of 2000, that the second team, Kettle Moraine, came on the scene.

Wisconsin Growth Part iii: The Positive

The Positive

WGR’s first two installments examined Wisconsin’s rugby growth in terms of numbers of teams and players. The third and final part to our year-end-review looks at indications of excellence and the relative stability or strength of programs. Wisconsin Girls rugby and the Midwest in general is growing stronger and more stable than a decade ago:

(Picture courtesy of Ric Benavides. DSHA offloads in the 2010 final vs KM 2010)

-Every girls team in division one played second side matches. That’s a lot of young ladies getting the opportunity to play and learn on a regular basis. Kids stay involved when they play games and contribute.
-Girls teams get game and playoff experience each week. Each division one team played nine weekends of matches in the Fall. Playoff teams continue to play, even after a loss, to determine their final ranking and possible qualification for Midwest or for promotion/relegation. There were zero match cancellations in division one this Fall. Playing a Fall Conference season with its manageable weather helps in this regard. Couple that with eight or so weekends in the spring and young players are getting the opportunity to play on a regular basis. A decade ago it was difficult to find matches; they tended to be against the same two or three teams over and over again.

-The competitive success of these girls teams is remarkable.
-Wisconsin has had five different teams qualify and compete at the National Championship: DSHA, Northshore, Kettle Moraine, Vernon, and Brookfield.
-Of the thirteen Midwest championships, Wisconsin has won twelve and placed a second team 2nd or 3rd on seven occasions.

-The Midwest High School Girls Championships is an impressive event. Teams from seven states compete in three divisions of play. 24 girls sides competed in 2010. This event has improved the level of play for MW girls teams by providing serious incentive to compete at higher levels, against different regions. The event is well-run by dedicated volunteers in Carmel, Indiana, who continually impress parents, players, and supporters with the event.

-There isn’t another girls championship event of this size in the country. The Midwest has 81 girls teams. The Northeast is the next closest territory at 37. Overall, girls teams have more than doubled in the last five years, from 121 to 243. The results of this growth can be seen in the competitiveness and increasing athleticism in good teams. DSHA has acknowledged on more than one occasion that the challenge the MW Championship provides is part of the reason they find so much success at Nationals ---- they often have to defeat three state champions just to advance.

-The runner-up from the Midwest has finished in the top three at Nationals on nine occasions, out of eleven championships. Seven times a Wisconsin team has been the Midwest runner up and finished in the top three. These teams are competitive at the highest levels.

-DSHA’s success is unparalleled, both in height and longevity: Six National Championships and twice runner up since the championship was first held in 2000; Twelve Midwest Championships, and a seven-year unbeaten run.

-Division I and II works. Dividing teams by program size and development level helped these newer teams find some success, while also providing competition. The scores of teams playing in their own division showed that each week was competitive. There weren’t any 100-0 matches, which isn’t healthy for either side involved. The semi-finals were more competitive than the finals of year’s past.

WI Youth Growth Part II: Rugby and Lacrosse

Marquette University’s announcement today that it is fully funding varsity men’s and women’s Lacrosse should not come as a shock. It’s a reflection of LAX’s enormous growth. Let’s look at the facts (see the chart above).

This is the explanation from Marquette's Athletic Director, Steve Cottingham;

“We saw this as a strategic opportunity. There has been incredible growth in lacrosse. There are only two men’s and three women’s programs in the Upper Midwest, in five states. Eighty-two percent of our freshmen class come from those states.

“We really thought it was an opportunity, a great demographic fit. And if you look at the schools that play lacrosse, it’s sort of a natural demographic. It’s a sport we thought we could become competitive at fairly quickly. Lacrosse made a great deal of sense to us.”

I wonder if rugby's incredible growth the last ten years will lead to more schools adopting MU's philosophy. It's not too hard to imagine similar comments about rugby. The catch is, it's also difficult to imagine schools (high school or college) adopting two new sports. So, let's look at how rugby's growth compares. The numbers above compare WI’s rugby from ’05-’10, to Lacrosse’s growth from ’04-’09. The data comes from Rugby Magazine’s 2010 census and a study conducted by the Wisconsin Lacrosse Federation in 2009.

Observations:

I. LACROSSE IS GAINING MAINSTREAM ACCEPTANCE:

Eighteen varsity LAX programs in a matter of five years, with six more teams in the process of applying for varsity status. Clearly, they are organized. They have trained coaches, and they’ve convinced parents that this is a safe, rewarding contact sport. Varsity status equates to more access to students and more funding. Kids like getting recognition for playing for a school team. It might not be the main reason they play, but it certainly helps and gives the sport creditability.
Rugby has made few inroads in this area. Name one varsity rugby program in the state? Our most successful program, DSHA, is NOT one. Is this a conscious strategic choice by our rugby teams not to pursue varsity acceptance? Has rugby failed to show the qualities needed to gain mainstream acceptance?

Another observation: varsity lacrosse programs dominate the Madison area: Sun Prairie, LaFollette, Verona, and Middleton all boast impressive numbers of boys and girls. Has Lacrosse affected high school rugby in Madison? The girls rugby team there folded a number of years ago.
II. Selectside Teams Have Played Little Role in LAX’s Growth in WI:

It’s just not a big focus. They encourage local teams and building numbers in order to play. Look around their league and youth websites. One of their lead articles is that they announce an All-State team, like other traditional high school sports, in order to recognize kids.

III. THE SNOWBALL EFFECT:

How many more Lacrosse teams will start up as a result of the number of grade school kids playing or because of the lure of a college program? Where’s the motivation or interest for kids to start high school rugby teams going to come from? Check out Dunhams or Sportmart. Do you see rugby balls for sale there? No. Lacrosse nets and sticks? Probably. It seems Lacrosse is hitting up both ends of the spectrum: elite collegiate teams and youth.

WGR Coach Development Program Continues

In an effort to support the efforts of young coaches, WGR has renewed its coach development program for a second year. The most significant obstacle to starting and developing existing programs is a lack of coaches and the hope is that this will make things just a little bit easier.

Any coach may apply to this program through the WGR board, and if the application is approved, WGR will help cover the costs of a USA Rugby Coaching accreditation course. Conveniently, Marquette University is planning to host these courses in Milwaukee for the third consecutive summer.

Coaching certification offers several benefits:
(1) Education: there's always something to learn about rugby, something to get better at, especially as the laws continue to change.
(2) Credibility: certification is tangible. It's something we can show parents or school administrators to reassure them that coaches are properly trained and knowledgeable about the sport and safety issues.
(3) Prevention: We live in a litigous society and certification helps protect individuals from liability. Awareness of safety issues and concussion procedures, wth an eye towards prevention, is fundamental to coaching in any sport. If an injury were to occur, and an angered parent is looking for blame, an uncertified coach is unfortunately an easy target. It would be unwise for any coach these days to not possess some sort of documented certification.

Out of the twelve programs in WGR, there are four registered coaches according to USA Rugby.