The BC club season wraps up this Sunday with the Junior championships. The mainland tournament will be held at UBC Thunderbird Stadium and the island tournament at the Cowichan Rugby Club.
Adam Roberts who has been heavily involved in rugby development in BC has taken the initiative to organize a meeting December 4th, specifically looking at growing the boys game at the high school level in BC. His note is below along with a link to register.
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Last week I travelled with the Thunder Indigenous program to document their youth camps in Shawnigan Lake, Capilano and Abbotsford. The tour was supposed to continue to Kamloops and Prince George but with the wildfires closing down the Coquihalla Highway earlier that week and the air quality index a concern, the decision was made to cancel the last two stops. It turned out to be a moot point as the truck carrying the coaches and equipment broke down on the 4 lane highway between Vancouver and Abbotsford. The truck decided it wasn’t going any further than Abbotsford anyway.
Thunder Indigenous Rugby are on the road in July and August holding camps in Prince Rupert, Shawnigan, Capilano, Abbotsford, Kamloops and Prince George. Although focused on identifying Indigenous athletes all aspiring rugby players are welcome to join in. The camps are free. Youth attending need to be covered by the BCRU/RC insurance, either through their local rugby club or by signing up for the BCRU/RC insurance as a Thunder player. More details and camp signup can be found at: https://thunderrugby.ca/index.php/thunder-rugby-bc-tour-august-16-23-2021/
On National Indigenous Peoples Day it merits looking at what rugby is doing to help Indigenous Peoples in BC. That conversation would quickly turn to the Thunder Indigenous Rugby organization featuring former national team players Bobby Ross (Songhees Nation) and Phil Mack (Toquaht Nation) as leading figures. Director of Thunder Rugby is John Lyall, a rugby player for over 25 years, who is of Kwakwakawakw descent. They’re focused on creating opportunities through rugby for Indigenous youth.
If you’re a young rugby player between 16 and 19 with aspirations to play high performance rugby at university, in the MLR or for the national team then you should probably tap into the UBC Academy.
Two organizations focused on youth rugby in BC have signed a Memorandum of Understanding to work together to promote youth rugby in BC.
Both organizations have former Canada national team players of Indigenous heritage in leadership positions. Phil Mack of the Toquaht Nation represented Thunder rugby and Clay Panga of Maori descent represented Grassroots Rugby at the signing.Continue reading
The registration poster for the MacDowell Rugby Academy at Cowichan Secondary School is below. The program starts September 2021 and runs until June 2022. There are instructions for CSS students and BC residents, also separate instructions for Out of Province and International students.
Contact Adam Roberts to register at roberts_a@surreyschools.ca.
Congratulations to Robin MacDowell for getting his Rugby Academy program adopted by the Cowichan Valley School District. It means students in Grades 10-12 will be able to add rugby to their regular classes. The Cowichan Valley School District media release is below.