USA Rugby — Rugby Texas

USA Rugby announced the 2011 Boy’s High School All-Americans Touring Squad. As part of the selection was Christian Ostberg of Stony Point (Round Rock, TX) and Bear Allbritton of Alliance and Keller HS.

Bear Allbritton 3 year letterman for Keller HS

Bear Allbritton was a 3 year Keller HS Varsity Football letterman and starting RB. Bear has played Rugby for Alliance Rugby Club of Keller, Texas since he was nine years old and was a starting center on Alliance’s 2009 and 2011 State Championship teams. He was a member of the Texas U17 All Star team as a 14 year old & a member of the 2011 Texas U19 All Star team that traveled to Denver and placed 3^rd. He was chosen to the All Tournament team as a Fullback. Bear will be attending Arkansas State in the Fall and hoping to help that team claim a national title.

Ostberg Advances The Ball Against Strake Jesuit

Christian Ostberg is 16 years old, 6’4.5″, 225 lbs and played lock for Stony Point but played 8-man for the Texas High Perfomance U-17 team in Colorado this year. He also made the All Tournament team in Colorado as 8-man this year. At 15, he made the All Tournament team for the U-17 High Performance but at lock. In 2011 he was All-District and All-State and was nominated for “Player of the Year”. He was the leading forward scorer for his team this past year and will be captain for his high school team next year.

From the US Olympic website:

http://www.teamusa.org/news/2011/06/29/2011-boys-high-school-all-americans-touring-squad-announced/43162

USA Rugby June 29, 2011

BOULDER, Colo. – USA Rugby is proud to announce the 2011 Boy’s High School All-Americans Touring Squad consisting of 30 of the best American high school rugby players. The team will depart for South Africa on July 12 to take on two top high schools and two developmental sides. The 20-day tour is made possible through the generous support of Aircraft Charter Solutions.

The Boy’s High School All-Americans (HSAAs) will travel to Durban to play George Campbell Tech College and Glenwood High School and then make their way to Cape Town to face Tygerburg Rugby Club and Durbanville High School.

HSAA Head Coach, Salty Thompson, and his staff have scouted the Regional All-Star Tournaments and the National High School Championships, looking to find the best young players in the country.

The selection cycle started with a winter camp in Santa Barbara, Calif. where the squad beat Canada’s Under-17s then moved onto Las Vegas in February for the first ever HSAA Sevens team assembly where two HSAA teams finished 1st and 3^rd in their division. A spring assembly, sponsored by Aircraft Charter Solutions, provided a further 60 players an opportunity to compete for a place on the touring side.

Thompson and his staff aim to help players improve their overall skills and decision making to, ultimately, enable them to compete at the next level and further their development in the sport.

“Traveling internationally and playing quality teams in South Africa is the best development opportunity for aspiring young players”, added Thompson.

Selection to the High School All-Americans is a common entry point to the pathway to senior international rugby. The next progression is selection to the Junior All-Americans (Under-20s) then to the Collegiate All-Americans and eventually the Men’s National Team.

2011 BOY’S HIGH SCHOOL ALL-AMERICANS | SOUTH AFRICA TOUR

Forwards

Michael Bush (Sacramento Jesuit High School), Jeffrey Calzaretta (Marin Highlanders), Christian Castro (Davis Rugby), Joseph Corrado (Xavier High School), Pierce Dargan (Blackrock College, Dublin), Cameron Falcon (Shaw Eagle Rugby), Henry Hall (St. George’s School), Brendan Hardiman (Marin Highlanders), Richard Korvick (Kansas City Junior Blues), Titi Lamositele (Chuckanut Bay Rugby Club), Peyton Lauber (Southside U19 Rugby Club), Christian Ostberg (Stony Point High School), Andy Sandoval (Los Angeles Cougars), Blake Simons (De La Salle Rugby Club), Colin Snyder (Rugby Indiana), Seteone Vaitafa (Red Mountain Youth Rugby), Ekapatelisio Veamatahau (San Mateo Warriors)

Backs

Sione Aisea (Rugby Oregon), Taryn Allbritton (Alliance RFC), Gavin Brown (North Central H.S.), Matthew Chipman (Jesuit Rugby), Charlie Hutchings (Tampa Barbarians), Saaitua Laei (Lowland Varsity), Sione Letoi (Tempe U19 Rugby Club), Zachary Miller (Raiders Rugby), Jesse Milne (P.I.T.S Rugby), George Naufahu-Talakai (San Mateo Warriors), Michael Reid (Warrenton Wolfpack), Sakalia Alofagia (East Palo Alto Razorbacks), Alexander Taefu (Tempe U19 Rugby Club)

Coaching Staff

Salty Thompson (Head Coach), Michael Engelbrecht (Assistant Coach), David Fee (Assistant Coach), Jason Payne (Assistant Coach), Paule Barford (Assistant Coach), Mark Stephens (Trainer), Eric Taber (Manager)

2011 BOY’S HIGH SCHOOL ALL-AMERICANS SOUTH AFRICA TOUR

July 19: USA Boy’s High School All-Americans v. George Campbell Tech College| 4 p.m.

July 23: USA Boy’s High School All-Americans v. Glenwood High School | 3 p.m.

July 26: USA Boy’s High School All-Americans v. Tygerburg Rugby Club | Kickoff Time TBD

July 28: USA Boy’s High School All-Americans v. Durbanville High School | Kickoff Time TBD

ABOUT THE ALL-AMERICAN PROGRAM

The All-American program selects the best rugby players in the country based on performance in domestic rugby competitions. Selected players attend high performance training camps throughout the year and, unlike other sports in which All-Americans are named but never compete as a team, rugby All-Americans compete in domestic and international matches.

In addition to recognizing outstanding rugby players, the All-American program is a development pathway to international honors. The program identifies and develops talent and character in order to prepare athletes for higher levels of rugby and life outside of the game. Beginning with the High School All-Americans, a player may progress to the U20-Junior All-Americans, and finally reach the pinnacle of the All-American program and become a Collegiate All-American.

All-American rugby has been in existence for more than a century in the United States. The original Collegiate All-American team, originally titled an “American Universities” team, traveled to New Zealand and Australia in 1910, marking the first ever American rugby tour. The All-American crest, adorned with 13 stars and stripes is the same one those athletes wore on the inaugural All-American tour and the 1920 and 1924 Olympic Games, a nod to America’s rugby and national heritage.http://www.teamusa.org/news/2011/06/29/2011-boys-high-school-all-americans-touring-squad-announced/43162

http://www.economist.com/node/18070557

Worth a try
More and more Americans are being converted to the sport
Rugby in America

Feb 3rd 2011 | SAN FRANCISCO |

THIS weekend tens of millions of eyes will be glued to television screens as the Pittsburgh Steelers meet the Green Bay Packers in the Super Bowl, which takes place in Arlington, Texas on February 6th. American aficionados of rugby union can only dream of the Croesian sums of money that are lavished on American football, a sport that vaguely resembles rugby in wimpish armour-plating. But although their resources are far more modest they have achieved some notable successes.

One of them has been to get young Americans engaged with the game. Last year almost 360,000 children played a non-contact form of the sport at school, according to USA Rugby, the sport’s national governing body. That has helped raise rugby’s profile: a study by America’s Sporting Goods Manufacturers Association (SGMA) found that between 2007 and 2009 (the latest year for which data is available), it was the fastest-growing team sport in the country, outpacing rivals such as lacrosse and hockey. In 2009, says the SGMA, some 750,000 Americans played rugby, over 20% more than in 2007. “For the sport to be on our radar screen is a sign it’s got some legs,” says Mike May, an executive at the association.

To bolster the game’s appeal, USA Rugby is launching a college premier league next month that will see teams compete in four regional “conferences”, with the top two from each conference heading to playoffs in May. The league’s promoters hope it will act as a magnet for high-school players, as well as introducing rugby to more students. “This represents an enormously powerful opportunity to promote rugby,” says Bill Campbell, an enthusiastic supporter of the game who happens to be chairman of Intuit, a technology giant.

The sport in America also stands to gain from the fact that a seven-a-side version of rugby (as opposed to the standard 15-a-side contest) will be included in the 2016 and perhaps the 2020 Olympic games. The last time rugby featured in the Olympics, back in 1924, America won the gold medal. Although a repeat performance is unlikely in five years’ time in Rio de Janeiro, the prospect of representing the USA Eagles, as the national team is known, should attract more athletes to the game. Some impressive players already compete in an annual super league competition, which includes teams from some of America’s 2,400-odd rugby clubs.

The notion of Olympic rugby has certainly piqued the interest of television executives. Long the preserve of cable channels, rugby is about to appear on network TV. NBC has acquired the rights to show games from this year’s rugby World Cup and the next one in 2015. And it is planning to broadcast other matches too, including some from an international rugby sevens tournament taking place in Las Vegas later this month.

Those responsible for promoting rugby in America are confident that when more people see it, they will love it. “Americans like combat sports and good athletes,” says Nigel Melville, the head of USA Rugby. True. Yet they also have a penchant for sports that promote superstars and breed controversy, both on and off the field. With its emphasis on teamwork and fair play, rugby doesn’t quite fit that mould.

Allbritton (Alliance) & Ostberg (Stony Point) Named To HS All American Team

Economist Article on Youth Rugby In America

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