Thursday, November 25, 2010

No Longer Oakland's Best Kept Secret

We are proud to have the final version of a brief documentary telling our story. It was roughly eight months in the making. The process embodied the cliche "the devil is in the details" as filmmaker Paul Washburn and President Burke kept fine-tuning it to tell our story.

Rugby traditionally has been an upper-crust sport but in the last 10 years the game is taking a foothold throughout Northern California, especially in the high school level for boys and girls.

It's always been our goal to grow rugby in our own back yard and make it accessible to all boys enrolled in a high school in Oakland. Kids from these less affluent communities don't get the same chances as suburban kids to participate in athletics. Sports and rugby are powerful bonding agents for boys. We try to get these kids heading down the right path, hopefully towards a four-year college or a junior college.

If any of you have been paying attention lately to Oakland politics you might have noticed that Police Chief Anthony Batts is talking a lot about his department and the City doing more with less in the face of severe budget problems. One of solutions he has discussed is getting to kids earlier and earlier with healthy activities and outlets, before they head down the dead-end trail of gangs, violence, etc.

Our youth rugby program fits nicely with what Chief Batts is talking about. We need the support of everyone to keep offering and growing our program. Please check us out at http://www.oaklandwarthogsrfc.com/

Wednesday, November 3, 2010

10 Reasons to Play Oakland Warthog Youth Rugby


I ask myself: If I had a son would I want him to play for our team? I can definitely, resoundingly and unequivocally proclaim "Yes!" In fact, our head coach's son plays for us. But after a few practices this season I am more enthused than ever about endorsing our program and trying to truly make it a city-wide team for all Oakland boys and a source of pride from the Bay Bridge to the San Leandro border and beyond. It's our fourth year.

I have either played for or been involved in coaching seven rugby clubs including the Warthogs. I can honestly say "we've got it going on."

These are the top 10 reasons to wear the black and white of the Warthogs:



10: Behind soccer rugby is the second most popular sport in the world.

9: We are a structured program but not rigid. We try to keep practice a balance between having fun while instructing the team that it's a physical sport that needs to be taken seriously.

8: We preach that rugby is secondary to earning an education. We insist on a 2.5 grade point average to play. We also take our team for tours of local colleges to show them life outside of Oakland.

7: You don't have to be the biggest, strongest or fastest to be a good rugby player. If you are smart, aggressive and work hard you can find a spot on our rugby team.

6: Rugby is played on more than 400 college campuses in the United States. The odds of playing college football or basketball are slim. Our league, plus other high school, collegiate and club rugby in Northern California are about the best in the nation.

5: Playing rugby means having friends for life. The sport, because of it intense focus on teamwork, bonds players like no other team endeavor. There is a powerful network among rugby players on the pitch, in school and in professional careers.

4: Continuity of coaching and team administration. We have the same head coach, assistant coaches and direction for the team. We are all on the same page. We want our kids to be good citizens as much or more so than being good rugby players.

3: Diversity. Sure, it's a buzzword but we embody it. We draw kids of all races from almost all schools in Oakland, from Oakland Military to American Indian Charter to Oakland High School.

2: Self-confidence. Our sport forces kids to go beyond themselves, physically and mentally. These kids discover how hard they can compete and that their teammates depend on them. Rugby is epitome of getting knocked down but getting back up.

1: Fun.

Saturday, September 4, 2010

2011 season plans and a documentary

By the looks of things we could have upwards of 25 or 30 kids playing for us this season. The coaching staff remains intact and we have a nice addition--the O.G. Warthog, Mr. Eddie Lopez.

The challenges remain the same: Landing a safe, lighted practice and match field; growing our numbers and diversifying our club; convincing Oakland that nothing could be more right for it than rugby.

Continuing the "new" theme, we have a documentary about us by Paul Washburn. Paul did the highlights video for us and previously released an amazing documentary about University of Michigan rugby. The doc tells our story.

The murder last month of a 13-year-old boy in East Oakland should cause mental alarm sirens to go off. By all accounts he was a good kid, a budding track athlete. The shooting death is relevant because as a team we are trying to occupy Oakland kids and keep them from the streets. So I always scratch my head and wonder why the City and Oakland Unified School District don't create new fields and make more field space available.

We have been running touch on Wednesday evenings at Brookdale Rec Center. We start at about 5 pm. We expect to have practice running two or three times a week starting in November/December.

We are forming an advisory council, sort of like a board, and planning a couple of fundraisers. Look for us on Twitter, Facebook, etc. The Warthog train is leaving the station.

Thursday, May 20, 2010

A Fitness Key to Rugby: The 20-meter Sprint

Former Baracus teammate Andrew "The Hurricane" Gray hipped us to this study of fitness on Super 14 rugby players.

Most of you already knew this but the keys appear to be: 20-meter sprints, change of pace and standing up to punishment in the second half.

The other day I made myself do sprints. Now that I am an old fart I dislike sprints even more. What made it a little more interesting was just changing pace with kicking the ball every 20 meters. First one was a jog, hack the ball through on a medium, boot the ball the third time and sprint through the ball. Repeat. I then mixed in some pullups and situps and it sort of felt like I had done something.

We also know from the study that forwards work harder than backs but that backs just look better!( I always loved how forwards would hide their mistakes by just lingering at the back of the ruck or trying to lurk in the crowd and/or leaning on rucks.)

Check the fitness study.

Thursday, April 22, 2010

A Great Day to be an Oakland Warthog!


Our season ended a couple weeks ago with a strong showing at the San Jose tournament, where we tied a match, lost to powers Lamorinda (Silver) and won a game. All the coaches loved the way our players came together in the last games of the season as each and every player contributed. We looked like a team, especially our forwards who can just smash and ruck with the best of them.

It made us feel good for all the hard work we put in the last six months. It's programs like ours that City leaders should be tripping over falling into line to try to support us. It's more than an after school activity. It's growing boys into good men.

And speaking of looking like a team, we had our banquet today and acted like team. More like "felt" like a family. The players brought their parents, coaches came with wives and families and we enjoyed an incredible meal hosted by Oakland Charter School in downtown Oakland. Our guest videographer in residence Paul Washburn made a highlight clip of the season set to rap. The event would not have been possible without the drive of Coach Ryan Burke and our team mom Lupe. There was enough food to start the players growing another 20 pounds and 2 inches into next season (A thought that scares me because I will once again try to "go live" with them at training.)

There were no big speeches at our banquet, just some words about how much we appreciated the contributions from players and from each other as coaches. Had I felt like being Coach Wind Bag this is what I would have dropped on them:

"Maybe it's because I did not have a wealth of natural talent that I had to work harder, focus more and train better to hang with more gifted players. I see my story repeated every practice, every match and every season. It is like the tides and the sunset. The talented player with no dedication will have fleeting moments, the driven players and teams that stick together will triumph again and again.

Victories in life go to the grinders and to those willing to prepare. I have told many of you to just go out to a field on your own and to do your sprints kicking and chasing a rugby ball. I have showed you how a jump rope can be the best tool for footwork and how pull-ups and tricep pushups will give you the power to fend off any tackle. Will you have the discipline to train on your own when you don't feel like it or you and your friends just want to hang out?

Here's another way of thinking about what I am trying to convey:

Everyone says they want to be good and to win but how many of you are willing to sacrifice and put in the time to actually do it?

It's the same whether it's rugby, school, work or business. (I applied to the Graduate School of Journalism at UC-Berkeley three times before I was accepted. I passed the state PI exam on the second try. Don't be afraid to fail. ) You have to work at it every day. And the work has to have focus, discipline and heart.

Every day I look at my college diploma and my master's degree hanging on the wall. I know that they can never be taken from me and that I earned them. They will be with me until I die. Unlike "things" such as a shiny car or clothes, an education is forever. It will set you apart and give you advantages over others. A college degree is far from a guarantee but it's a huge step. Go make it happen.

Talent is not enough. Look what just happened on the Raiders when first round draft pick Jamarcus Russell was cut. He has all the talent in the world but he doesn't have a job this season. The guy who replaced him, Jason Campbell, has been in the league not much longer but beat him out because he has a documented history or working and studying the game hard. Remember: One team the same year took Peyton Manning and one club took Ryan Leaf, who washed out after about one season. Talent and hard work is the best combination in sport and in life.

One kid who has walked the walk and talked the talk is Jose Pena, who has gone from Oakland Warthog to Cal Bear national rugby champion. Jose had gifts but worked hard at every training. Now that's what I'm talking about!"

Tuesday, April 20, 2010

Overcoming Oakland Stereotypes: Our Challenge


We are Oakland, for good and for bad.

Oakland follows us onto the pitch every game day and asks questions of us:

Will you play rugby or will you play thug ball? Will you maintain discipline? Will you break the stereotypes that the suburbs have of you?

I think of these questions and issues against a back drop of one of the worst news stories to hit Oakland in years, the arrests of two 18-year-old men in connection with the attack and beating death of a Chinese father and son along Telegraph Avenue in the Uptown section of Oakland. I can't help but wonder what if a good team or social program or church or job or organization had intervened in these two kids' lives before they went out that day to commit mayhem. The point is that it's events like these two African-American youths arrested for the beating death that give Oakland its bad reputation throughout the Bay and the country.

So this image of Oakland may or may not be in the minds of the teams, and their spectators, when we play in Pleasanton, Danville, Orinda or San Jose. We just lost a tough, tough match to Danville out in Danville last Saturday. This game had extra meaning to me because I had coached kids in Danville with Danville's coach Jon Straka when Danville had just started youth rugby. Our friend James Perley, who started Danville rugby, died suddenly last year.

Warthogs are a fairly intimidating looking bunch, mostly thick Tongan lads and Mexican kids. So the game kicked off and went back and forth. It was intense, end to end rugby that I like. Danville had a couple backs who could just burn and our forwards rucked and pounded the ball. My heart lodged in my throat for most of the game.

It was in the second half that we lost our composure and the match. Two of our better players got yellow-carded within minutes for some type of alleged retaliation and a high tackle. We had to play two men down. The calls were dubious but in rugby you don't have time to engage in debate. Bitching about calls is useless anyway because I have never seen a rugby ref change a call. It's the great thing about rugby, the game just keeps moving.

So one of our two carded players started making a verbal scene when he got back onto the pitch. He was so intent on running someone over that he just lost his focus. He admitted to me later that Danville had got into his head. Danville Coach Straka got heated up too during the game. We all did.

In the last minute of the game a Danville player tracked down one of our speedy wings and made a great tackle on our sideline but came up injured. Our Coach Soni took the time to tend to their injured player. This kindness took place against a back-drop of catcalls and some verbal nastiness between the teams' supporters. (I watch high level rugby from all over the world on television. A fight or loss of composure in pro matches is rare.)

But we are not dealing with professionals. We are dealing with boys ages 13 to 18. We are building a culture and a program to teach kids how to handle anger, rage and frustration. We want to show them how that without a team, that an individual player regardless of superior skill is useless. We try to show them how to be focused and play like a team under pressure.

Teaching life and playing skills to our kids is a process. The light does not suddenly shine for them. But the Danville game marked the first time for me that I saw how hard all of them were working and competing.

After a hard-fought contest, the two teams joined on the middle of the pitch to shake hands and award "men of the match." The two teams ate pizza in the parking lot, which is what rugby is all about.

Monday, April 5, 2010

Mt. Rushmore of My Rugby Coaches


Now that I have coached rugby for five or six years I appreciate what makes a good coach. To boil it down, the good ones teach and lead by: fairness, selflessness, measuring what they don't say perhaps more than what they do say and just flat-out having presence.

Some other qualities:
  • Optimism--they don't freak out over mistakes.
  • Disciplinarians--they make good on threats but rarely threaten.
  • Flexibility--they can make changes and adjustments on the fly.
Furthermore, I have been around the great game for more than 20 years. I have insights. I will start with the current coach of the Oakland Warthogs high school club, Soni Tupouata. I have known Soni for a couple years. (At this point I could spin out of control with parallels to business or other sports but that would suck and this is only about rugby.) More on Soni T.:

He is huge. He is a cool cat. He never talks much about his own life in rugby. He doesn't have to. The few times I have ever seen him play touch or just mess around a little in practice you can tell that he has mad skillz, coordination and field vision. The tattooed hulk sees things and has one of the best dummies, regardless that he is the size of a refrigerator.

He builds confidence in young players. When he leads a fitness session or agility training or any other aspect, the kids hang on his every word. He rarely yells or gets mad. He is patient and has a good sense of humor. But do not cross him because he will put a hurt on you with up-downs. He offers weight training in the off-season to any kid.

John Somers, formerly of Baracus Rugby and a few other clubs, also makes the mark. Like Soni, he is gargantuan and possessed ungodly skills. What other giants, 6' 4" and multiple stones, could dummy, throw skip passes and set up players for scores while at lock?

John got you to think without preaching or yelling. The Irish man-mountain made you learn by doing, picking apart the problems and then reassembling in the classic whole-part-whole school. He made me realize that when you are in traffic that being "isolated" is one of the biggest sins in rugby. He was mellow and cool but, again, not a man to vex. He had to deal with head-strong hippie talent. (Think the Raiders of the '70's.) He has a Ph.D. in mauling and lineouts.

Barry Thompson formerly of the Olde Gaels and now Diablo Gaels U-23 is another coaching genius. In the years I played for Barry in the mid-90's I don't recall touching a ball too much in training. It's because he ran our dicks into the dirt with his "Fasta, fasta, fasta" laugh of his. For a few years when we were very good, and when I was a scrub, he punished us for two hours straight on pavement every practice because we could not access fields in Oakland during the rainy season. We were as much a track team as a rugby club. We just ran opponents off the pitch.

Regardless of your rugby pedigree, if you showed to training regularly the crazy Kiwi would give you a start on the A side. I use his method with our high school players before matches. Barry would talk to you for about 30-seconds in stretching before a match about what you needed to do in that game to help the team. He wanted you to play to your strengths to help the club. Every one on the Olde Gaels wanted to please Barry with how they played. Again, the guy was not a yeller.

I also learned a lot from playing under Harry Batten, coach of the Diablo Gaels. Practice never got boring under Harry. He had the beep test, grappling, ball drills, wheelbarrow races, tackling lines, tons of sprints, etc. I use many of his drills with the high school kids. Harry would also do some coaching for summer 7s. Like the others, he was/is selfless with the time he puts into rugby. The Gaels would not exist today without Harry and manager John Compaglia.

Honorable mention to two other coaches: Wally Davis of Franklin and Marshall College rugby,where I took up the sport, and Eric Whitaker who coached the backs of the Gaels one season.

Davis, built like Ichabod Crane, was a stork of a fullback who ran a local oil company in Lancaster, Pa. I recall getting our asses kicked at Lafayette College one spring. Never to be down in the mouth, Mr. Davis led us in rambunctious singing post-match to the tune that Lafayette kicked us out during parents' weekend. Wally introduced me to the joys of watching international rugby.

Whitaker was a former star at St. Mary's College and member of the USA national team. He weighed about 170 pounds soaking wet. His gift was to turn every drill at backs training into a contest. We had competitions to see who was best under the high ball or to determine the best tackler. It was as much fun to play under Whitaker as it was to play next to him. Whitaker, while playing flyhalf, once Jedi-mind tricked an entire team into stopping while he paused with the ball, wiped his brow and took off for the try.

Saturday, March 27, 2010

Victory Is Ours and Video Interviews

As we used to say in Baracus rugby, Put Away The Mirrors. Team leaders said this to keep the team humble after a win. A couple weeks ago, we posted our first win of 2010 with a 10-5 triumph over Alameda in Alameda. (These videos are some player interviews.)



I was away for the game, the first one I missed all season. I had a family function to attend. But it made my weekend to hear from Coach Burke about the mighty heart we showed in this win. Burke and the rest of the coaches have always been about "it's how you play the game." We would rather lose with class and effort than win with something not measuring up to our standards.



So the week after the win we went back to our usual grind of training, including sprints up Mt. Soni. But something was off, I could tell. We were again having problems with attendance at training, especially in the backs. In rugby, the backs are supposed to provide an offensive thrust. The backs catch the eye with explosive running, deft passing and crushing open field tackles. We had choppy turnout at training all week. When numbers are down, you can't bang on each other and provide the full intensity that practice demands.



On Saturday morning we did the usual "scramble and wait" to assemble team members and caravan out to the game. This week it was in Pleasanton, which has exceptional coaching and is building a great program. The first half found us doing nothing right, coming up soft on tackles, not running hard, taking atrocious angles and just not playing with heart. Pleasanton had knocked us off our short pedestal after the Alameda win.

Coaches at the half talked about problems we needed to fix. We made adjustments and then it all started to click. In five minutes we scored two tries, both set up by our rumbling forwards. Pleasanton answered back. Then, our team leader 'Nela smashed through a couple defenders going weak off a scrum from 10 meters out.

Pleasanton scored a few more but at least we had put up a fight the second half with our more structured style of play. We have one more match, against Danville, and then a tournament in San Jose on April 23 and April 24.

Sunday, March 14, 2010

Paying Our Dues

Five matches into the season and no wins. I know how disappointing it is for our program for all the work we put in, practicing three times a week and all.

We are young. Two seniors start, then after that it's a few juniors and eighth graders and a bunch of kids new to rugby. The part that bothers the coaches though are the inconsistencies at training. But this too can be expected, academic and family demands, some job stuff, etc.

I know of no other sport that puts such a premium on experience. It's not the kind of game where you just show up from time to time and are great at it. Timing, confidence and most of all teamwork play into the equation of how well a team does. There are so many moving parts to this violent game that the analogy "full contact chess" really applies.

Last year our only win came against Berkeley Rhinos. On Saturday, a seemingly new Berkeley program rammed it down our throat on our pitch. Berkeley looked like they found 20 new experienced good rugby players. They were big and physical.

We don't have immediate solutions. I know the kids and coaches will just keep working hard.

As a player I have been on my share of great teams and struggling teams. We are trying to teach these kids that regardless of wins and losses that we are a true team and will keep working to improve. The foundation is being laid.

Know what we will do Monday at training? Run sprints all over the park, including up a steep hill I have dubbed "Mt. Soni" after the head coach, and get ready for our match Saturday against Alameda.

Tuesday, March 2, 2010

"Team Mom" Averts "Lord of The Flies" Situation

Ah....group dynamics. Ugh.....uber-male, testosterone-fueled, rugby, group dynamics.

We here in Warthog-land came off the pitch after our home opener a fairly dour and pissy group. The losing wasn' t the issue. The problem was how we treated each other, our players, the fans, the ref, etc. Delta Rugby had kicked our club in the collective scrotum and we just rolled over.

Volunteers drive our sport, especially the refs. We were fortunate to procure Matt Heafey to ref the match. Matt knew the background about what had happened last year between our club and Delta and how Delta had ended its season. Last year, head Coach Soni had to walk out between the two clubs after some fighting, sit all the kids down and lecture them about conduct on the field and the importance of getting an education. It was amazing, because only the hulking Tongan truck driving coach could have mesmerized kids like that. The match last year ended on a positive note thanks to Soni.

Unfortunately, Delta devolved into anarchy last season when one of its players sucker-punched a ref. The ref was hospitalized and the boy arrested. Such behavior is why rugby has a hard time attracting refs. The on and off-field violence is still pretty rare. The league now has field protocols in place to try to control coaches and spectators.

By the way, I will tell readers the unflinching good, the bad and the ugly about my favorite sport. I will speak my mind about what's good and bad about my favorite sport.

So I told Matt Heafey about what he might be getting involved in and he still agreed to ref. So during the game things weren't going our way and we whined way too much about Matt, who also happened to stick one of our supporters behind a barrier after the supporter verbally lost control on the sidelines. Matt took control of the situation. I dare say our visitors out-classed us that day.

I came to practice Monday night with that heavy-stomach feeling, the kind you might have had seeing your parents argue. But we went through our training and had a pretty good session.

So at the end of the night the coaches say a few words. But this came out of the mouth of Ms. Lupe, whose sons play for us:

"Remember, you play to have fun."

Wednesday, February 24, 2010

Saturday: Season Opens in Oakland


Pretty, athletic and a tad violent. Saturday's a rugby day as the Oakland Warthogs high school rugby club hosts Delta Rugby this Saturday at Raimondi Field in West Oakland at 10 a.m. Wear your black and white Warthog colors to support this city-wide, scrappy little, best kept sports secret in the East Bay.

I cringed tonight after I put the team through a little warm-up and grappling practice. Why? Because the head coach Soni then marched them over to "Mount Soni" at Brookdale Park and unleashed on them 20 minutes of running a 30-degree hill. (I have seen my share of rugged sports training but this was like Jerry Rice meets Mike Singletary meets Ultimate Fighting torture.)

We practice three times a week and are coming off two consecutive tune-up games, one against top national high school club Hayward Rugby in which we held tough the first half. We are becoming a team and family in all the best ways. We are truly an Oakland side: Mexican, Tongan, African-American, female, Caucasian, etc.

What makes our side different is our emphasis on taking our kids to the next level, preferably college.

Tuesday, February 9, 2010

Big Valentine's Kiss For City --We Have a Field!


Wow, what a difference from the last ranting post. Warthogs administrator Ryan Burke informed us today that the City has granted us a permit to host 3 matches this season at Raimondi Field in West Oakland.

Not sure exactly how it happened but I know that Rebecca Kaplan's office worked with Parks and Rec to make this possible. Great thanks to both.

You have no idea what this means to some kids who don't get the standard varsity high school sports experience. Our city-wide players come from Oakland Charter, Skyline, Oakland Tech, Oakland Military, Oakland High School and other schools. It also came about because we had worked on navigating the fields process for close to three years.

The City also gave us a good price, $150 for the total three fixtures. This cost is in-line for what our shoestring budget can afford. Speaking of budget matters, we just received $150 donation from the Oakland law office of Lyle Cavin Jr. and $100 from Oakland lawyer (and rugby ref) Bryant Byrnes Yes, of course, we still need donations to fund our roster of about 25 kids.

These home matches will be:

Saturday, February 27 against Delta Rugby
Saturday, March 13 against Berkeley Rhinos
Saturday, April 24, against Lamorinda Rodents

It appears that the first high school rugby program in Oakland, Oakland Military, has folded. It's a sad day for rugby when a team disappears but we hope to absorb their kids who want to come play.

Saturday, January 30, 2010

OUSD, City Conspire to Keep Kids Obese


My apologies for the misleading headline but I am still stewing about the situation for finding practice and game fields for our high school rugby club. We search for a fair way for the City and the School District to allow better access to fields for youth sports.

There is no conspiracy but obstacles abound. On February 18 I will be attending a City Parks and Rec meeting about the future of field use.

Background info for our club team, which provides rugby to under-served and poor kids throughout Oakland. About 80-percent of our team is dirt poor and lives in the Hood. Many do not have access to traditional school sports like many of us had growing up. Every year we deal with the City and the Oakland Schools trying to get game and practice fields in winter. The City does not allow grass field use during the rainy season because it tends to thrash the fields.

So the City has told us that the policy is that we can't make reservations more than a month in advance. The issue with that is that we have to lineup referees and confirm game days with other teams, only 30 days does not allow much advance planning. Our season is February through April.

What really ticked me off is that one of our coaches finally got an audience with Castlemont High about getting on their turf field for a game. (For the record, Oakland High never responds to our annual requests for a field.) Guess how much Castelmont wants? $250 for a few hours on a Saturday. Why? Because the OUSD custodians' union has a minimum fee of 3 hours at $40 per-hour and apparently OUSD wants to profit on the rest.

I am a City resident who pays hefty property taxes like the other coaches who volunteer time for free. Oakland: Do you not get that we want to engage youth in productive outlets??? My nickname for Oakland when it comes to youth sports is "The City of No."

I learned a while ago that it's a good idea not to bitch if you don't have proposed solutions. So here are some ideas for the City dealing with how it assigns field use:

  1. Give priority to youth sports. (Adults have more options for recreation.)
  2. Give priority to youth sports in the "heart" of their league seasons. A season should be defined as 3 months. Teams need time to sign up for fields far more in advance of 30 days in order to schedule matches and line up referees.
  3. There should be a public record or a published calender online of which group has which field when. (Don't let us wonder if a certain group has a field because of "connections" or something unsavory.)
  4. If there are competing youth sports trying to get on the same field, alternate the usage. Don't just give field space every year to the most popular youth activity.
  5. Look into building more all-weather fields. In the long run they are cheaper than maintaining grass.
To Oakland Unified and especially to the Custodians I say this: Stop being so protective of your literal turf.

Are we not all in this process together of allowing kids more opportunities. Why shouldn't a kid in Oakland have as much opportunity as a kid in Moraga or Orinda?

Thursday, January 21, 2010

Fools In The Rain?

The torrential rains killed our practices this week. Part of me understands but the part of me who never missed practice in any sport until I was over 40 found it revolting.

Our numbers are struggling. We do have a grass field but we would have made a mess of it playing in the rain. Dirt would have been shifted and ugly when the Brookdale field dries.

The solution is getting the team on an all-weather turf surface field such as Raimondi but we are still baffled as to who gets those winter practice slots before we get it.

I had wanted kids to show up and run on pavement in the rain. I want to send a message to them that some days suck, in life and in work, and you just need to show up and do your best. I have credentials for such suck it up measures. First, it was 5 years of Pop Warner football, never canceled for any rain, heat, etc. August meant football.

In high school it was four years of wrestling. Not outdoors but all the running, cutting weight, the tortorous practices and while studying in school. My crowning achievement in high school wrestling was going from mediocre to above average, that and the time I lost 9 pounds in less than two days before a match.

Coaching is a balancing act. But Coach Burke and I wonder if we are creating a bunch of softies by not having them run in the rain. Still, do we want to burn someone out by being ogres?

In all my nearly 20 years playing men's club rugby I never had a practice canceled. I remember playing in a game with our flanker on a cold day who had to be pulled because he had such low body-fat that he was shivering.

Sports do also build character and not just reveal it. Next time, we get wet and we run as a team.

Wednesday, January 13, 2010

Tragic Real-Life Lesson from Coach Isaac

The kids came to practice tonight, not exactly on time but they showed. I had a little venom in me for the initial conditioning session, telling them that they need to be ready when we start training at 5 pm. We had lost 25 minutes or so of valuable time under the lights. We never let them forget that rugby is first and foremost a running game that demands endurance and power.

It was our first night of live contact. We would have preferred to start contact much sooner but now that we are becoming an established program, we had to wait until all the kids and parents signed the necessary waivers to allow tackling. We try to teach them the right way to tackle and go into contact. After all, this is rugby and not football. Leading with your head in tackles in rugby will get you knocked silly and can incur injury if not done correctly. The great thing this season is that on any given night, we have 3 to 5 coaches supervising.

At the end of each practice coaches talk, not just about rugby but about life. Coach Soni asked Jose Pena, a former Warthog player who has made the Cal team, what happens if Cal players are late for training. Jose said that he was late for one Cal training and got a "strike" against him. Two strikes and you might be off the Cal team, Jose said matter-of-factly.

It was Isaac's turn. Just last week Isaac had told the kids that they need to make important life choices. He implored them to go the college-route and avoid hanging out on the corner.

Tonight, Isaac had more urgency in his talk. He told us that he missed practice Monday night because he was at a funeral for a former player of his on the Hayward high school rugby club. He told us that Willie had died of two caps to the chest at 1:30 am while he sat in a parked car with some friends. He talked about Willie's grieving mother. Isaac told them that they better choose their friends with care or they could end up like Willie.

It was a chilling reminder of what life can be for some urban kids. It's why Warthog management insists that our players perform in school. We want them to have options in life, especially ones that include college and improving their lives.

Tonight was about a lot more than rugby. Thank you Isaac for bringing this brutal message to us.

Thursday, January 7, 2010

Warthogs Prepare for Huge Sacramento Tourney


The Warthogs are training hard, three times a week, for the Kickoff Classic in Sacramento on Saturday, January 30, 2010. This is likely the largest youth rugby tournament in the country, boasting about 50 teams including national local powers Jesuit, Lamorinda, etc. The Warthogs look pretty good but still need continuity in personnel to really achieve something special this season.

As one of the coaches I am always thinking how to make learning rugby simple. From having played the game for 20 years or so I have boiled it down to these key points:

  1. GO FORWARD AT ALL TIMES
  2. PROTECT THE BALL--YOU CAN'T SCORE IF YOU DON'T HAVE POSSESSION
  3. MAKE YOUR TACKLES, ESPECIALLY THAT FIRST ONE
  4. "FEED THE SPEED," FIND THE PLAYER MOVING AT PACE. CONVERSELY, NEVER PASS TO A PLAYER STANDING STILL
  5. BEING ALONE, I.E. "ISOLATED" IS A BAD THING ON THE RUGBY PITCH
  6. PLAY FOR TERRITORY AND ABSOLUTELY REFUSE TO PLAY FROM INSIDE YOUR OWN 22-METER LINE.
  7. "GOOD TALK" WINS GAMES. TELL YOUR TEAMMATES WHERE YOU ARE. WHO ARE YOU MARKING ON DEFENSE?