By Tommy Donaldson ‘21

The sport of rugby is very confusing and a very physically demanding, but sophomore David Dody was able to pick it up and play at a varsity level in only his first year on the team. David started out playing football and baseball for Regis Jesuit.

This year in football however he was going to be a varsity player but he broke his finger and was out for most of the season. Even though rugby players have a 25 percent chance of getting injured David still decided to play saying “I feel like with rugby I am less likely to get hurt because people try to protect themselves better because they aren’t wearing any pads.”

Another interesting thing about rugby besides being a contact sport and not having any pads is that the ball is almost constantly moving and the ball is a lot bigger than a football. It takes two hand to pass the ball effectively.

For David the hardest part for him is the difference between football and rugby.

“I’m not used to having to pass at the end of a run or look for the pass I’m used to just running and trying to get as far as I can and not stopping to look for the pass,” he said.

He does like the sport better than baseball though and he seems to really be enjoying it. The typical practice for him and his teammates start by stretching and doing activation warm up. Then they will do drills like working on the game plan and the other key aspects to the game. The practices are a lot better because they are run by the captains instead of the coaches and this is one of the better aspects in his opinion.

Team work

David also enjoyed the team aspects of rugby better because they are all able to touch the ball during the game and they are all a tighter group of teammates. He said “it seems like the whole program is together helping each other out and I think that has to do with the fact that it’s more player lead like we have our captain help run practice and decide teams.” This leads to a tighter group of people and a tighter team instead of being separated and labeled as varsity and JV.

The passing also helps people feel more equal than another sport because everyone will get a chance to touch the ball during the game and that is a huge part of bonding. In football for example the line men have the bad jobs because they are in the un sung heroes but in rugby everyone even the bigger guys get to run with the ball and even get a chance to score. Overall David is really enjoying rugby. Even if it can be more physically tasking at times he has loved the team work and the stress of being a varsity athlete he has really learned to enjoy the game and the people around him.

Overview of the rugby season

The rugby team started out the season with a loss 21-25 to the former state champions east high school and they have two home games coming. the first game is against PAC Misfits Friday March 6th, at 6:00pm. The second game is against Titan RFC Gold Wednesday March 13th, at 5:30 pm. Come out and support your boys rugby team.