New Mexico Youth Rugby

2003-10-28T10:16:00.000-08:00

New Mexico Youth Rugby

Press Release: October 27, 2003

Youth Rugby Group Formed in Albuquerque

A group was recently formed in Albuquerque to organize and oversee all of the high-school age and non-contact youth rugby in the Albuquerque area.

Attending the meeting on October 19, 2003 were:

Reggie Clark
Andy Murray
Don MacCallum
Mark Neice

Dick Podmore, the USA Rugby Youth Development Officer for the area also attended. The members of the group agreed to appoint a leader from among them by the end of October. The new leader in turn would then spearhead the creation of a plan by the end November for what the group intend to achieve during 2004. The group will consider among other matters an expansion from one to two high school and the addition of a youth non-contact league for younger and less experienced players.

Youth rugby, either as high school programs or as youth non-contact programs already exists in several parts of New Mexico and El Paso area. The new group should strengthen Albuquerque’s representation within the overall structure.

Anyone that is interested in finding out more about, or becoming involved in, any of the programs should contact one of the following:

Area wide
High school or youth non-contact Dick Podmore 505-989-8814

Albuquerque
High school Mark Neice 505-237-2923
Youth non-contact Reggie Clark 505-280-5705

There is additional information on the website at www.newmexicoyouthrugby.org.

2003-10-28T10:15:00.000-08:00

New Mexico Youth Rugby

Press Release: October 26, 2003

Youth Rugby Spreading Throughout Rio Grande Area

It was a good year for high school and youth non-contact rugby in New Mexico and the El Paso area. High school rugby programs, which had existed off and on in northern New Mexico for many years, grew rapidly during the year. They are now on a much firmer footing, with fully active programs in Albuquerque, Cimarron, El Paso, Los Alamos and Santa Fe.

A team from El Paso won the Rio Grande area high school championship, which was held in Santa Fe this past spring, and a team from Los Alamos represented the area in the Western Rugby Football Union high school championship, which was held in Dallas. Separately, a team from across the area participated in a high school select side tournament in Denver. One of the players, Micah McCarthy of Santa Fe, even made it onto the squad from which the USA national Under 19 team is selected.

The high school rugby was not just for boys. Los Alamos had a fully functional girls team that was of sufficient strength that it was able to make up numbers for, and play matches against, more skeleton girls teams from Albuquerque and from Santa Fe.

Youth non-contact rugby also made strides. Non-contact ruby is a simpler version of the game that is the rugby equivalent of flag football. It introduces younger or less experienced players to the various aspects of the game, but does not have the tackling that is involved in high school level rugby and above. A league was formed in Santa Fe in 2002, and in this, its second year, the league structure was expanded to three divisions for Under 11, Under 13 and Under 16 players. More than 130 boys and girls took part. The youth non-contact rugby season ended with an all-day tournament at the Municipal Recreation Complex in Santa Fe. In the couple of weeks following thereafter there was a short, informal contact season for Under 16 players, to introduce them to the tackling aspects of the full game in a safe, supervised environment.

The youth non-contact league sponsor was Los Alamos National Bank. The division sponsors were PNM, Anazazi Software and Santa Fe Bar & Grill. Team sponsors were Aspen Copies, Cisneros Design, Cookies for Breakfast, The Country Store, Dougherty Real Estate, JC Plumbing, KSFR, Red Mountain Engineers, Scales of Justice, Title Guaranty & Insurance Co, Trinity Computing Services, and Wells Investments. There were several other individual sponsors.

The programs also made progress on the administrative front. Last winter the New Mexico Youth Athletic Association (NMYAA) was formed as a New Mexico not-for-profit corporation to organize and oversee high school and youth non-contact rugby, initially mostly in the Santa Fe and Los Alamos areas. Its mission is to advance the game of rugby football as an outstanding physical-fitness and character-building outlet for young people in the Rio Grande area.

Early this year the NMYAA filed for and obtained charitable status under the USA federal tax code. This will help considerably in raising funds to cover the very considerable expenses involved in the programs. Expenses include fees to the City of Santa Fe to cover access to the fields at Municipal Recreation Complex, fees to USA Rugby to cover liability insurance and the like, and the purchase of jerseys, balls and other equipment for the players. None of the volunteer coaches, officials or administrators receives any compensation for the time that they commit to the programs.

Next year should bring a year of continued expansion. The NMYAA is working with volunteers in other areas of the Rio Grande to begin high school and youth non-contact rugby programs. If all goes well there will be additional high school teams in Aztec, Carlsbad, Ruidoso and Thoreau. In Cimarron there are plans for a girls high school team, and both the boys and the girls there are currently working on leveling and seeding a new field. There may also be a youth non-contact rugby leagues in Albuquerque, based on the local community center, and in Aztec.

Anyone that is interested in finding out more about, or becoming involved in, any of the programs should contact one of the following:

Area wide
High school or youth non-contact Dick Podmore 505-989-8814

Albuquerque
High school Mark Neice 505-237-2923
Youth non-contact Reggie Clark 505-280-5705

Aztec
High school and youth non-contact Roger Nash 505-334-4187

Carlsbad
High school Richard Brown 505-887-7480

Cimarron
High school Landon Crowell 505-377-6507

El Paso
High school Doug Park 915-833-1322

Los Alamos
High school Kane Fisher 505-672-9659
Youth non-contact Sean French 505-699-0398

Ruidoso
High school Mickey Shannon 505-258-4372

Santa Fe
High school and youth non-contact Richard Morris 505-988-2205

Thoreau
High school Duke Allen 505-862-7538

Additional information about the programs and the NMYAA is available on the website at www.newmexicoyouthrugby.org.

2003-04-20T07:27:00.000-07:00

WEEK 1

PNM Division U-11 (under 11 years of age)
Dougherty Real Estate 35 vs Title Guaranty & Insurance 10

JC Plumbing & Septic Tank Co. 25 vs Cisneros Design 10

Santa Fe Bar & Grill Division U-13 (under 13 years of age)
Trinity Computer Services 56 vs Cookies for Breakfast 10

KSFR 90.7 41 vs Scales of Justice 26

Anasazi Software Division U-16 (under 16 years of age)
The Country Store 63 vs Aspen Copies 24

Red Mountain Engineers 69 vs A.J & S.R. Wells Investmts 26

Wednesday game:

JC Plumbing & Septic Tank Co. 45 vs NMSD 10

WEEK 2

PNM Division U-11 (under 11 years of age)
Dougherty Real Estate 25 vs Cisneros Design 15

JC Plumbing & Septic Tank Co. 30 vs Title Guaranty & Insurance 20

Santa Fe Bar & Grill Division U-13 (under 13 years of age)
Scales of Justice 33 vs Trinity Computer Services 28

KSFR 90.7 40 vs Cookies for Breakfast 7

Anasazi Software Division U-16 (under 16 years of age)
The Country Store 63 vs A.J & S.R. Wells Investmts 33

Red Mountain Engineers 40 vs Aspen Copies 40

2003-04-18T13:12:00.000-07:00

REMINDER

There will be a FREE short course on rugby drills and games that can be used at a youth rugby practice or in the classroom PE setting.

Date: Monday April 21, 2003

Time: 4:00 – 7:00 pm

Place: Genoveva Chavez Community Center

All coaches, parents, teachers and summer recreation instructors are encouraged to attend. The course is FREE of charge and will include classroom and hands on instruction and will include numerous examples of drills and games.

If you are interested in attending, please reply to this e-mail, or call me with questions. H: 988-2205; C: 469-9417

Richard Morris

2003-04-15T17:54:00.000-07:00

New Mexico Youth Athletic Association is offering a short course for teachers, summer recreation directors, coaches and interested parents. The course is entitled

“Rugby as Part of Your PE Curriculum”

Having trouble finding interesting activities to offer your students during PE? Then you should attend this FREE Short Course.

This non-contact rugby program has been developed for use in Physical Education classes for both elementary and middle schools. This course is being offered FREE of Charge, to any interested teachers or parents.

Date: Monday April 21, 2003
Time: 4:00 – 7:00 pm
Place: Genoveva Chavez Community Center

This course will include both classroom
instruction on the game of non-contact rugby and
hands on experience with drills and games that
can be used with the students. Wear comfortable
clothes and tennis shoes, as part of the course will
be conducted on the basketball courts.

Instructors will include the USA Rugby Youth
Development Officer for New Mexico and USA
Certified coaches & instructors. This course is
sponsored by the New Mexico Youth Athletic
Association & Northern New Mexico Youth Rugby.

If you are interested in attending this course please fax this registration form to NMYAA at 473-4865 or call 988-2205 for more information, or you can register on-line at our web site www.newmexicoyouthrugby.org.

Registration Information:
Name: School:

Phone Number: Grade Level taught:

2003-04-12T17:10:00.000-07:00

Los Alamos National Bank
Northern New Mexico Youth Rugby
Week 1 Results
April 12, 2003

Santa Fe, NM – The Los Alamos National Bank/Northern New Mexico Youth Rugby held their first games of the 2003 spring season today April 12, 2003 at the Santa Fe MRC Rugby Fields. The results for the games are as follows:

PNM Division U-11 (under 11 years of age)
Dougherty Real Estate 35 vs Title Guaranty & Insurance 10
JC Plumbing & Septic Tank Co. 25 vs Cisneros Design 10

Santa Fe Bar & Grill Division U-13 (under 13 years of age)
Trinity Computer Services 56 vs Cookies for Breakfast 10
KSFR 90.7 41 vs Scales of Justice 26

Anasazi Software Division U-16 (under 16 years of age)
The Country Store 63 vs Aspen Copies 24
Red Mountain Engineers 69 vs A.J & S.R. Wells Investmts 26

There will be a game for U-11 team JC Plumbing against the New Mexico School for the Deaf next Wednesday the 16th at the NMSD fields beginning at 5:30.

The next league games are next Saturday April 19th. PNM (U-11) Division games begin at 9:30; Santa Fe Bar & Grill (U-13) Division games start at 10:30; Anasazi Software (U-16) games begin at 11:30. All games are played at the Santa Fe MRC Rugby fields. The league is proudly sponsored by Los Alamos National Bank and organized by the New Mexico Youth Athletic Association.