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.
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