[Buk]

Rugby - Speed, Strength, Stamina

This Spring I picked up a new sport, rugby. There is a local Club Division III team here in Blacksburg. Having never played before, I showed up early to one of the first pratices of the season and told the player/coach that I was interested in learing to play. It was the most receptive sport I have ever started to play.

We won the Mid-Atlantic Territory this year, and last weekend we played in the first 2 rounds of Nationals. We won the round of 16(the furthest the club has ever advanced), but lost a very tough match 27-30 in the quarter-finals.

I got a lot of playing time throughout the season during scrimmages and friendlys. It was hard to watch the territorial quarter-finals from the sidelines, and we barely squeaked a comeback win with the rest of the season on the line. With a week before the territorial semi-final and final, I learned a new position and got called to start for the semi-final to fill in for a missing player. I played all 80 minutes and earned man-of-the-match that game, and didn't miss a minute of play in our 3 remining playoff games.

Now I am set with my primary position as an openside flanker(#7, wing forward), along with some wing possibility.

The summer will consist of casual touch rugby pratice, probably a few rugby sevens(analogous to basketball 3v3) tournaments, and training - speed, strength and stamina.