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!"

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.

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.

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.

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.

"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."

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.