Rugby growing in Saskatchewan

Kids in Saskatchewan can now make rugby a part of their lives before they even enter kindergarten! While the pool of players in the older age categories of the Saskatchewan Rugby Unions rugby programs has always been vast, the sport has had a harder time catching on at the elementary school-age level, said SRU executive director Jordan Astrope. This has all changed at the SRU recently, though, as programs oriented toward including kids as young as three have started to take hold in Saskatchewan. A lot of people dont realize that we have programs for kids as young as three years old, all the way up to adult programs for both male and female, Astrope said. Saskatchewan Mini Rugby teaches kids ages three to 12 the fundamentals of rugby in a non-contact environment. The SRU administers seven- and 15-playerteam programs at the pre-teen, high school, youth provincial team and senior levels, with two elite senior mens teams in Saskatchewan (the Regina Prairie Fire and North Saskatchewan Wolverines). The sport has even taken hold at the university level, with teams at each of the provinces two universities. The tradition of rugby in Saskatchewan is we get the e athletes who have nished their careers in other sports, ts, ts, guys who still want to bump and thump; but now we we are nding at the high school level that there are people ople ople who are dedicating themselves to rugby year-round, he said. And rugby is denitely growing in Saskatchewan with ith ith the expansion of our Minis program. One of the many things rugby has going for it is that playing organized rugby creates a unique kinship between you and thousands of other players worldwide, wide wide, de, Astrope said. The thing about rugby is theres a position for everybody, for boys and girls of every size and speed. d. And theres a lot of camaraderie and a level of respect in t the sport that I havent seen in any other sport, he said. said. said id. The travel opportunities with youth rugby are many, too. In April, the Under-16 Saskatchewan Girls rugby team travelled to Hawaii and played teams from around und und the world at Hawaii Youth Rugby Fest in April. Coming up, Astrope would like to highlight a series of tournaments, or jamborees as they are known in local ocal ocal rugby. The Ultra 7s in Regina on May 12 is the biggest one on the plate, he said. This is a rst-time event and a hybrid game of rugby with modied rules to give it a more North American avour. Instead of the traditional nal nal two seven-minute quarters, well have four 14 minute te quarters and allow substitutions on the y like in hockey. Its going to turn out to be quite a show. The tournament will feature the Prairie Fire against the Wolverines. On May 6, the SRU will host the High gh School 7s Jamboree in Regina, a program that seeks to o expand the talent pool of 12- to-16-year-old male and female Saskatchewan athletes, Astrope said. We want to develop the game of 7s through grassroots ots ots education and skill basics, and the long-term plan is to develop a pathway for these players over a period of time to prepare them for the 2015 Pan Am Games in Toronto and 2016 Olympic games in Rio de Janeiro. We have a pretty vibrant rugby culture growing in Saskatchewan, so were pretty condent we can prepare pare pare some of our players for those elite tournaments in a few ew years time, he said.

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May 6th - 10 am - 4 pm HIGH SCHOOL 7S JAMBOREE - Regina Rugby Club May 12th - 10 a,m - 4 pm ULTRA 7S - Regina Rugby Club 4:30 pm Praire Fire vs.Wolverines

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