Bryan Kelly is well known in the BC Rugby community. He was a talented #10 in the JBAA Premier Reserve team. He went on to become the Communications Manager for Rugby Canada in 2012 a post he held for 7 years. He excelled in that position and from this Editor’s perspective, he was the best Communications Manager that Rugby Canada have had since Ian Kennedy in the 90s.
His talents didn’t go unnoticed and he was promoted to the regional level and took up the role of Communications Manager with Rugby Americas North (RAN) in 2019. Again his professionalism was noted and he was hired by World Rugby on a contract basis in 2022 to be the Communications Manager for the women’s World Cup in NZ. He’s now moved on to another chapter as a Global Sports Scout for ASM Scholarships. We’ll let Bryan explain the rest. If you want to reach him, his number is 250-986-8922
from Bryan Kelly
I’m tremendously excited to be joining ASM Scholarships as a Global Scout after 12 years employed full-time in rugby with Rugby Canada, Rugby Americas North, The Rugby Network and World Rugby, working with some of the biggest athletes in the world at five Rugby World Cups, Olympics and more than 100 test matches.
This is a passion project for me and a way that I can give back to the next generation of athletes by providing them with tools, resources, and contacts to get scholarships into American and Canadian Universities. This wasn’t available when I was a teenager, and I would have jumped at the opportunity back then.
ASM Scholarships helps athletes and their families navigate the college recruitment process and directly connect them with university coaches that offer scholarships. Here’s how it works:
Athletes and their families pay us a flat rate to join ASM and then get access to a personalized recruitment plan, SAT tutoring help, assistance on how to speak with coaches, a video highlight reel, visa assistance, potential school visits etc. and then ASM’s team will send their profile to coaches across North America and try to get them a full or partial scholarship. Nothing is guaranteed, but I’m told that the success rate is high.
Athletes aged 14-24 can qualify for sports scholarships, and ASM has helped more than 1,000 athletes since 2018 from over 80 countries. On average, ASM secures sports scholarships worth $35,000 per year for student athletes.
Another reason I jumped at the chance to join ASM was the fact that Rugby scholarships – for both men and women – are one of the most common scholarships that ASM provides for athletes. My friend and colleague Gavin McCleavy, who helped start ASM and is the head coach of St. Thomas University’s rugby teams, was in Langford for the recent Paris 2024 Olympic qualifiers. He was blown away walking around Starlight Stadium by the amount of young boys and girls he saw throwing perfect spin passes off both hands and said “These kids in Canada are all incredibly talented. Schools in the US are in desperate need of talented rugby players and we need to tap into the Canadian athlete market to get them scholarships.”
My plan is to reach out to every club, academy and high school program throughout British Columbia to start and then across Canada to engage with rugby coaches, teachers, administrators, parents and athletes to explain what I can offer and how we can get more Canadians into American schools.