Haines
This time of yr is difficult for me.
As football wraps up, I notice that I’m unhappy. Football has been part of my household since I may crawl. My dad performed at at Penn, my brother performed, and if he was not such a knucklehead, he may have performed Division I faculty football. While I used to be not as expert, I nonetheless performed and my son performed as effectively, and I obtained to teach and watch him excel. I treasure all these recollections.
But round right here, I’m generally known as the “Rugby guy.” After my highschool football profession was over, I discovered rugby. I performed in faculty, after which a complete of 30 years on the pitch for varied males’s membership groups. I like rugby as a lot as football, and I’m thrilled to introduce athletes to our sport and learn the way related rugby is to football.
This previous fall, a number of alumni continued to excel at rugby in faculty. At Robert Morris, Jack Steiner, a 2024 Hollidaysburg grad, has earned the Most Valuable Player award from the Allegheny Rugby Union for his standout play. Colin Butler, a senior at Susquehanna, and a former BG football standout, is ending his implausible profession at SU, being nationally acknowledged for his play.
Down south at Frostburg in Maryland, Mackenzie Link, a 2024 Hollidaysburg grad, is enjoying excellent rugby for this rising group, and receives monetary help from the University for taking part in . She has performed abroad in New Zealand as effectively.
Rugby is rising not solely right here in Blair County, however regional faculties, resembling IUP, Slippery Rock and St. Augustine are advancing deep into the nationwide playoffs for faculty rugby. Over in Butler, the blue turf area at Pullman Park is now internet hosting National College Rugby video games.
Overseas, beginning in February, Six Nations begins in Europe with England, Ireland, Italy, Wales, Scotland and France enjoying one another in stadiums that may maintain 80,000 followers. You can watch rugby on Peacock, Paramount and infrequently ESPN or Fox Sports. It is accessible and straightforward to observe, plus video games are over in two hours, not the four-hour marathon of football. No State Farm commercials, too!
On our boys facet, we now have a tremendous statistic — a number of sons or grandsons of present and former native football coaches play for our group. Longtime football coach Dave Baker is considered one of our largest followers. He sees the advantages of enjoying rugby within the spring as a result of it makes you a greater football participant within the fall.
Our native program, Blair United, options gamers from 12 space colleges with over 70 girls and boys enjoying rugby, from grades 6-12. We welcome new gamers on a regular basis, and on Tuesday Jan. 27 at 7 pm, we are going to maintain a Information assembly for brand new and returning gamers on the Hollidaysburg Area Public Library. Join us and observe us @blairunitedrugby.
Andy Haines is the director of rugby for Blair United Rugby Club. For extra data, contact him at [email protected]