The Conferences are Set

A slow week for rugby news. The one noteable announcement from the league office is that following a productive league meeting, WGR decided to continue building its high school leagues with two divisions of play.

A five team conference composed of top programs will compete for the State Championship and Wisconsin's two seeds to the Midwest Championships. The six remaining programs elected to vie for the Division II title.

Division I: DSHA, Kettle Moraine, Brookfield, Catholic Memorial, and Vernon

Division II: Oak Creek, Muskego, Northshore, Wauwatosa, Fond Du Lac, and Menomonee Falls.

The MVP

The National All-Star Championships were this past weekend. The Midwest Thunderbirds defeated the USA u20 team in the final 26-25, in a thrilling match.

Brittany Houston, of UWM and Vernon, earned MVP honors for her play over the course of the tournament. Our editor here thought this worth a shout out because she's the first WGR alumn to earn such recognition. Just let that sink in a little. That means she was selected as the most outstanding player out of all the all-star players at the selectside tournament. Pretty cool.

An excerpt from Rugby Magazine's match report gives readers an idea as to why she is so deserving of recognition:

"She's a field general," Riley said of the tournament MVP. "She had a marvelous game. Brit is about to graduate but won't be a full-time student next semester, so there's a lot of talk about where she's going to play her club rugby."

A longtime scrumhalf, she's been a widely respected player for many years now, first playing for the USA u20 team and after aging out, continuing to play selectside rugby with the Midwest.

It's also nice to see her giving back to the game, as she's an asst. coach for the Wisconsin u19 selectside, set to play this summer. Best of luck!

While rosters have been hard to find, word on the street is that CMHS alumn and Grand Valley State scrumhalf Emma Pesci was also on the Midwest all-star roster. Congrats on the championship!

Wisconsin Selects

WI Select Info

Will Traber, the Vernon coach for the last number of years has been named as the WI Girls Selectside Coach.

Here's this summer's info:

Seniors that just graduated can still tryout. If you or any of your players have anyquestions feel free to contact me. Please spread the word to all your players.
Thank you.
Will

Camp 1 - 6/11 - Vernon Town Park, Big Bend, WI
9:15-1:00 -
No Cost

Camp 2 - 6/18 - Dretzka Park, Milwaukee, WI
9:15-1:00 -
No Cost

Tournement - 6/25-6/26 -
Will travel down there on the 24th
St. Charles, Ill
Cost is still being determined but looks like very minimal.

Update 6/13: Former Vernon and UWM players Lyndsey Fickau and Brittany Houston are also on the coaching staff.

Book Review: Miracle in the Andes

Nando Parrado's nonfiction story of survival, Miracle in the Andes, was a book I'd been meaning to read for a long time. One of those I'd never found time for, until a late Easter Break and a short rugby season opened a brief window of freetime. You might be familiar with his story: a team of Uruguayan ruggers from the Old Christian Brothers Rugby Club board a plane for a tour of Chile. They never make it, crashing deep in the Andes Mountains. For 90 days they struggle to survive. A lack of food leaves them with no choice but to turn to the bodies of the dead. With no other hope, Nando and two teammates trek over the Andes to find help: no winter clothes or climbing gear ... just some rugby cleats.

I'd known that Nando Parrado had played rugby, but it wasn't until i found myself immersed in the pages of his personal story that i'd discovered how much rugby was a part of this story. Much of the first chapter is about how rugby's influence helped him survive. In a land dominated by soccer, the Christian Brothers from Ireland sent missionaries to Uruguay and brought with them rugby, insisting the boys learn the game through the mission school because in their words "no other sport taught so devoutly the importance of striving, suffering, sacrificing in the pursuit of a common goal," fundamentals inherent in living a Chrisitan life. Nando would draw on these lessons daily in the mountains.

Another great passage captures why many play and coach youth rugby. Playing with the same group of guys for eight years, Nando says: "We had grown up as teammates, drawing from each other's strengths, learning to trust one another when the pressure was on. But the game of rugby had not only shaped our friendships, it had shaped our characters, and brought us together as brothers."

WGR League Meeting

On June 2nd, WGR convenes its league-wide meeting at the Wauwatosa School District Offices at 7pm.

Any new teams wishing to join the conference must be present at this board meeting to petition for admission. In addition, several key agenda items including Division Realignment will be resolved for next fall. Keeping in mind that rugby is still an emerging sport, should teams elect which division they play in? Should divisions be determined by objective factors such as won/loss record, school enrollment, or how many schools and communities a club draws from? Should the goal be to eventually move all programs up to division one? Should there be a mandatory and objective promotion/relegation system?

These aren't issues unique to rugby. The WIAA continues to struggle with division and conference alignment. They regularly adjust conferences every few years as some communities have shifting school enrollments and populations. They do have a clear cut policy of division alignment based on school enrollment, but some conferences mix teams of different divisions.

While players may have finished their seasons, coaches and administrators are hard at work, year round, working together as a league to decide what's in the best interest of everyone, working to grow the game.

DSHA Wins 3rd Place Championship Match

DSHA 8 Kent 7

Two of the first girls rugby programs in the USA squared off again at Nationals in the 2011 Third Place match. Adding another memorable chapter to a storied rivalry, DSHA was able to edge out Kent, as both sides completed a brutal weekend of three matches against amazingly talented and well coached teams. Between them, the two sides played Sacramento, Fallbrook, West Carroll, and Lakewood. While a little less known to us in the Midwest, one observer called West Carroll's forward pack "one of the most physical i've ever seen." Congratulations go out to DSHA for such an amazing accomplishment.

In the title game, Fallbrook defeated Sacramento 60-0.

Another challenge for rugby?

Wisconsin politics and education policy have made big headlines over the past few months. However, relatively modest proposal in 2011 Sensate Bill 95 may have unintended consequences for Wisconsin's growing high school rugby community.

This bill, among other proposed changes to education policy, would allow school districts to grant credit to student-athletes for participation in athletics if the sport is WIAA sanctioned. Over the past decade, we have successfully grown high school girls rugby programs. One challenge has always been changing the mindset of parents and players that playing for love of the game and putting rugby as your extra-curricular was as worthwhile as earning a varsity letter (with limited exceptions for those private schools that voluntarily grant varsity letters to their rugby athletes). Now will we need to convince players that rugby is a better deal than fulfilling course requirements?

Perhaps it is time that we ask, what does it take to be a WIAA sport? If anyone has connections with the state legislature, perhaps the bill can be amended? Why should the WIAA have control over a decision of whether credit should be granted versus a decision by the local school board or private school?

It is just one more potential challenge. But if we didn't enjoy tough challenges, we wouldn't play, coach, cheer for, and love rugby! B