Youth Rugby
Youth Rugby Clubs in the Greater Charlotte Area (last updated 12/30/2011)
North Carolina Youth Rugby Union - Designated State Based Rugby Organization in charge of organizing youth rugby in the state of North Carolina.
Charlotte Junior Rugby Association
Charlotte Rugby Academy
The Charlotte Rugby Academy is one of the few rugby educational programs in the USA created as part of an established top Rugby Club in the nation.
The role of the Academy is to provide high quality rugby opportunities for young players at all levels of skill (from rookie to elite). The program’s primary goal is to identify and develop talented young athletes from the age of 14 to 20 and engage them in a High Performance program.
The Charlotte Rugby Academy wants to support the USA Age Grade Program by preparing its young members to have a realistic opportunity in their future concerning rugby. Providing our players with appropriate tools, it is expected that all Academy students set as a personal goal to become a USA All-American High School Player and represent their nation. Ultimately, Academy Students are prepared to become a Charlotte Rugby Club 1st XV player.
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About the Academy - Academy News - School of Rugby - Development - Elite
Rugby academy gives players a chance to develop
The Charlotte Rugby Club has been fielding nationally competitive men's teams since the early 1970s and has often stocked those teams with recruited players from around the globe.
Now the club is looking closer to home. It recently established the Charlotte Rugby Academy, a training program for homegrown players ages 14 to 20.
For about the last five years, the club has supported several Charlotte-area high school rugby teams that operate on a club level. The purpose of the academy, however, is to train players who want to continue playing with the Charlotte Rugby Club beyond their high school years.
The way the club operates now, men can play on any of the three adult teams it fields, based on their skill level and interest. All of its semi-professional or recreational teams play and practice at the club's facility, Skillbeck Field.
In the spring season, the club's best players represent Charlotte in USA Rugby's Super League, the closest thing the United States has to a professional league. The Super League has 14 teams in or near metropolitan areas across the country.
In the fall, Charlotte's top squad, called the senior team, competes in a different league, the Mid-Atlantic Rugby Football Union. The club's lesser-skilled teams compete at their own levels.
The club endorses the eight Charlotte-area high school rugby teams and two other local under-19 programs that operate independently of the schools.
Those programs do not operate under the supervision of the Charlotte Rugby Club, but the club often provides those teams with coaches and allows them to play at Skillbeck Field.
Ramon Villacura, for example, is the club's outgoing director of youth development but also is the head coach at East Mecklenburg High. When his team doesn't have a commitment, he helps Charlotte Catholic head coach Jason Hinchman, who also is a Charlotte Rugby Club senior team player.
It was through these relationships that the idea for the Charlotte Rugby Academy was born. Club officials want their senior players to mentor younger players on and off the field because they might be teammates some day.
Seventeen-year old Ryan Malloy started playing for West Mecklenburg High's team last October. He's found a home with the rugby community and has no problem riding his bicycle five miles to Skillbeck Field for academy practices.
He started attending the academy in the summer, when Morgan Salesi, a member of the American Samoa national team, was visiting Charlotte and playing and practicing with the Charlotte Rugby Club's senior team.
Salesi committed to coaching some of the academy participants after the senior team's practices were over.
"In every sport I've played," said Malloy. "I've never had a coach give me one-on-one attention like that."
Villacura's son Nico, 18, started playing rugby at age 6 in their native Chile. Nico and his Charlotte Catholic senior teammate Andrew Clement are two of the more experienced academy players, but they say they are still learning the game.
"They teach us how to read the field, to learn how to find the spaces to predict what's going to happen," Nico said. "A rugby game is kind of like a chess game."
Said Clement: "We've mostly done a lot of mental work, how to set up our defense with our pillars and guards. Sometimes it's the muscle memory stuff, where to put your feet when your playing the pillars and guards, and not to drop your arms when you pass."
P-J Anderson, director of rugby operations, says the club also wants to fill a void that exists for players between their high school years and early- to mid-20s who want to play at their age group's highest competitive level.
Currently, if players don't attend colleges where they can play for club teams, there are no teams in Charlotte for them. If all goes well with the academy, Anderson said, the club hopes to form a team from this age group in the next six months.
Joe Habina is a freelance writer.
Subscribe to The Charlotte Observer.
Read more: http://www.charlotteobserver.com/2010/09/12/1678759/rugby-academy-gives-players-a.html#ixzz0zdpgRPb0
Youth Rugby Clubs in the Greater Charlotte Area (last updated 12/30/2011)
North Carolina Youth Rugby Union - Designated State Based Rugby Organization in charge of organizing youth rugby in the state of North Carolina.
Charlotte Junior Rugby Association
__________________________________________________________________________________
About the Academy - Academy News - School of Rugby - Development - Elite
Rugby academy gives players a chance to develop
The Charlotte Rugby Club has been fielding nationally competitive men's teams since the early 1970s and has often stocked those teams with recruited players from around the globe.
Now the club is looking closer to home. It recently established the Charlotte Rugby Academy, a training program for homegrown players ages 14 to 20.
For about the last five years, the club has supported several Charlotte-area high school rugby teams that operate on a club level. The purpose of the academy, however, is to train players who want to continue playing with the Charlotte Rugby Club beyond their high school years.
The way the club operates now, men can play on any of the three adult teams it fields, based on their skill level and interest. All of its semi-professional or recreational teams play and practice at the club's facility, Skillbeck Field.
In the spring season, the club's best players represent Charlotte in USA Rugby's Super League, the closest thing the United States has to a professional league. The Super League has 14 teams in or near metropolitan areas across the country.
In the fall, Charlotte's top squad, called the senior team, competes in a different league, the Mid-Atlantic Rugby Football Union. The club's lesser-skilled teams compete at their own levels.
The club endorses the eight Charlotte-area high school rugby teams and two other local under-19 programs that operate independently of the schools.
Those programs do not operate under the supervision of the Charlotte Rugby Club, but the club often provides those teams with coaches and allows them to play at Skillbeck Field.
Ramon Villacura, for example, is the club's outgoing director of youth development but also is the head coach at East Mecklenburg High. When his team doesn't have a commitment, he helps Charlotte Catholic head coach Jason Hinchman, who also is a Charlotte Rugby Club senior team player.
It was through these relationships that the idea for the Charlotte Rugby Academy was born. Club officials want their senior players to mentor younger players on and off the field because they might be teammates some day.
Seventeen-year old Ryan Malloy started playing for West Mecklenburg High's team last October. He's found a home with the rugby community and has no problem riding his bicycle five miles to Skillbeck Field for academy practices.
He started attending the academy in the summer, when Morgan Salesi, a member of the American Samoa national team, was visiting Charlotte and playing and practicing with the Charlotte Rugby Club's senior team.
Salesi committed to coaching some of the academy participants after the senior team's practices were over.
"In every sport I've played," said Malloy. "I've never had a coach give me one-on-one attention like that."
Villacura's son Nico, 18, started playing rugby at age 6 in their native Chile. Nico and his Charlotte Catholic senior teammate Andrew Clement are two of the more experienced academy players, but they say they are still learning the game.
"They teach us how to read the field, to learn how to find the spaces to predict what's going to happen," Nico said. "A rugby game is kind of like a chess game."
Said Clement: "We've mostly done a lot of mental work, how to set up our defense with our pillars and guards. Sometimes it's the muscle memory stuff, where to put your feet when your playing the pillars and guards, and not to drop your arms when you pass."
P-J Anderson, director of rugby operations, says the club also wants to fill a void that exists for players between their high school years and early- to mid-20s who want to play at their age group's highest competitive level.
Currently, if players don't attend colleges where they can play for club teams, there are no teams in Charlotte for them. If all goes well with the academy, Anderson said, the club hopes to form a team from this age group in the next six months.
Joe Habina is a freelance writer.
Subscribe to The Charlotte Observer.
Read more: http://www.charlotteobserver.com/2010/09/12/1678759/rugby-academy-gives-players-a.html#ixzz0zdpgRPb0
