Just two weeks into the new school year, and only days into the season, the men’s rugby team has already taken on a new training strategy. The first step, teaming up for a joint practice with UW-Stout Sept. 14.
“We have connections with Stout because when our women’s team didn’t have enough players back in the day, we made a team called Stout-Water and they would have to meet in the middle like Oshkosh,” Rugby Club President Bryce Joel said.
Although Stout may be a familiar friend, when formatting this new schedule, keeping the competitive nature was crucial.
“We are going into a joint practice at the beginning where it’s obviously a little bit of skill work,” rugby player Brandt Garcia said. “We planned to do that with Stout and then hopefully at the end of it, roughly 40-60 minutes we’ll just scrimmage and play a full game of 15s. So yes, even though it is a practice scrimmage, it is still always a competitive state to go out against another team.”
With only one Wednesday practice, just three days before the first joint training, the fall season may feel rushed.
“Other schools in our division like Chicago or Iowa schools have started school actually one or two weeks ahead of us,” Joel said. “They’re already two weeks ahead of us on their practices.”
Brandt explained that the team is trying to get ahead so they will not be at a disadvantage. Regardless, they are going full force.
“It’s our competition culture that we have here between each teammate to push each other to get better every day,” rugby player Adrian Mora said.
At the high school level, rugby does not receive the same level of attention as it does at the college level, leaving many unfamiliar with the sport. New players of the sport can use this collaboration to get a jumpstart on their rugby career.
“They got a lot of new guys, we got a lot of new guys so it’s just gonna be a beneficial day for both clubs here to come together and play some rugby,” Joel said.
The following week is no different. Players looked forward to an eight-hour drive and a two-hour practice with the University of Iowa Hawkeyes Sept. 20. One big difference between the two joint practices is that Iowa is a Division I school with a collegiate rugby team.
“We all know that Iowa is a DI program but that doesn’t hold us back from setting up a joint training,” Mora said. “Because our mindset going into these scrimmages is that we want to get better and work on our game and teach our newer players.”
Networking proves to be everything as personal connections secure the practice date.
“Our coach is just really good buddies with [Iowa’s] head coach so it makes sense especially since they’re more difficult as they’re a DI school,” Joel said. “It’s good to test ourselves against them.”
The team collectively agreed the experience outweighed the gas money they pitched in.
“Our Coach Carm, he got us hooked up with the Cottage Grove Rugby Complex which is one of the best complexes in the Midwest, if not the country,” Garcia said. “They got real nice fields, heated locker rooms and all that.”
“We’re starting our season there, and if all goes well we’ll end our season there in the finals,” Joel said.
Despite the experience from the Stout practice, the team had to attend the new practice on guard, not knowing what to expect.
“These guys are unpredictable,” Garcia said. “They’re either bigger or smaller, faster or slower, there’s such a difference in each person that it’s better to get as many diverse players to go against.”
Later in the year the team hopes to compete back in Iowa again at the Hawkeye Classic 7s Tournament.
“The Hawkeye Classic 7s really helps our program with preparing us for the Great Midwest 7s tournament,” Mora said. “I believe that the Hawkeye classic 7s is a great opportunity to play against top talent in the Midwest.”
Hopes are high to keep this momentum going throughout the year.
