Invictus Outing Pictures

Here are all the submissions for the Invictus Outing Contest. Congrats to the Cleveland Rovers for winning the contest! They will receive 10 balls from WorldRugbyShop.com and be featured in the upcoming WRS magazine.

Cleveland Rovers Rugby Club

Xavier University Rugby Team

Wittenberg Men and Women's Rugby Teams

Wright State University Rugby Team

Indian Springs Jets High School Rugby Team

Westerville Worms Rugby Team

Why the Need for Coaching Education?

This is an article from the OHSAA.


Why the Need for Coaching Education?

What makes the interscholastic sports program unique from all other levels of sports is that
it seeks, above all else, to be a part of the educational experience for its participants.
While the performance of any sports team depends on well designed plays, the structure of
educational athletics demands that our young people not only hone their athletic skills, but that
they also develop the tools educational athletics provide: skills like hard work, team work,
ethics, integrity, respect, sporting behavior, citizenship and critical thinking skills — tools that
will serve our participants in the next level of their lives.

We need to remember who we are, what we are and why we play the games. We’re educational
athletics, not big-time event promoters. We’re the builders of tomorrow’s community
leaders, not farm clubs for college and professional teams. We’re an after-school activity, not
intended to be a year-round endeavor. Our programs should allow “kids to be kids.” There is
nothing wrong with striving to be the best. But we must seek to develop all the students who
want to participate to be their best — their best as individuals, as students, as teammates, as
members of the communities — and not just their best as athletes. No one individual figures larger in this equation than the coach, and the closest link to the student-athlete is the teacher-coach.

The teacher-coach, whether or not a school faculty member, is the ultimate delivery system
of the real message and meaning of high school sports to young people. It is critical that
teacher-coaches have the correct philosophical approach to educational athletics instilled in
them first, or the only message the kids will hear will be about Xs and Os, wins and losses and
playing at the so-called “next level.” It is also critical that teacher-coaches have an approach to
the game that is philosophically in step with the mission of school sports and that they believe
educating young people comes ahead of wins and losses. Additionally, teacher-coaches must
serve as role models and not engage in unsporting behavior toward someone on the other team
or an official, and they must remember they are educators every time they go to practice or a
game.

Teacher-coaches make the difference in school sports. They affect young lives in a way no
one else can. They can be the strongest part of our extracurricular activities if they do everything every day in every way to teach our young men and women what’s truly important about interscholastic athletics.

The teacher-coach with the correct philosophical approach to school sports is the coach
who seeks to develop each participant’s character — to be their best as a person first, a student
second and an athlete third. These are the coaches who are long remembered by their former
players — from those who were the stars to those who barely remember the final scores of their
games — as the ones who had the most influence on their personal growth. In other words,
they’ll remember the relationships and the life lessons learned, not the championships.
Developing the teacher-coach and ensuring that our high school sports programs remain
unique from all other levels of sports is a huge challenge in today’s day and age. That is why the
time is right for Ohio to require that its coaches take the National Federation of State High
School Associations’ Fundamentals of Coaching course. The course will ensure that our
teacher-coaches are delivering the right message about school sports and that our participants
are receiving that message in order to continue interscholastic athletic programs as we know
them in the future.

The privilege of participating in educational athletics should be one of the most exciting
experiences of young people’s lives. It is imperative, then, that teacher-coaches be given the
proper tools to work with their student-athletes since they are the single most important person
in determining the experiences our young people receive.

New website to follow USA Eagles

http://www.eaglesxv.com/

Check it out!

National Youth Conference Underway

The National Youth Conference on the Game is underway and spreading some great information. The conference serves to review the past year, look to the coming year(s) and distribute some of the new items from USA Rugby. It is also a great opportunity to share information with other organizations.


Indiana, Colorado, California, Virginia and Oregon are all in a position of full time staff and professional youth organizations. These groups are taking huge leaps forward, much like Ohio, to grow the game, make it more consistent and safe and put a new, fresh face on the sport of rugby.

Much of the information from this conference will be available at the state meeting on January 24th in Columbus.

An amazing Rugby Story

Check out this video. It is Hyde Rugby in Washington, DC playing rugby with a deaf school. An amazing story.

Click here for the video

Invictus Movie is exactly what we need!!!

I had the privilege of seeing a pre-screening of the Invictus movie tonight. In addition to great stars and a good story line, the movie really did showcase rugby. Nearly the entire second half is all rugby!

HOW YOU CAN HELP:
I brought a ball with me and immediately after the movie people were asking all kinds of questions. Make sure you wear a jersey and bring a ball when you go see this movie and people will approach you. When they ask questions make sure you finish up your conversation with a point of access for them; i.e. 'Our website is www.xyz.com' or 'there are all ages of rugby being played in the area, check it out'. Make sure you drive them to a rugby source and get them involved.

I was at the theater about 20 minutes after the movie let out just chatting with interested people!

Keep it positive, highlight the good parts, give them an access point for the game and share your passion with the viewing public. This movie will bring people to our sport!!!!!!!!!

Successful Conference Adds Rookie Rugby to Schools

I attended a conference this past week that brought together hundreds of PE teachers, health professionals, professors of College Education programs, and many others. The Ohio Association of Health, Physical Education, Recreation and Dance hosted their conference at the Columbus Convention center December 3 and 4.


Immediately upon showing up on the first day, it was evident this even would produce many leads. Rugby was definitely the new kid on the block and many teachers and attendees wanted to know more about us.

We had 70 teaches sign up to bring rugby into their PE programs!!! These teachers were interested in bringing a new, fun and fast paced game to their PE classes. They are always looking for new ways to engage the kids and found Rookie Rugby as a great option for them.

In addition to teacher, I met with the professors from many Ohio Universities and colleges. They are interested in teaching rugby as part of educating the next generations of PE teachers!


After two long days, it was clear the benefits of being part of the main stream education systems. I was really impressed by some of the organizations who are out there 'doing it right' already, such as USA Tennis and Speed Stacks (the cup stacking organization). I learned a great deal from these other groups and how they engage the teachers, kids and public.