Rugby Development Day Returns December 3

Philadelphia, PA, Rugby Pennsylvania, the Mid-Atlantic Rugby Conference, and the Eastern Pennsylvania Rugby Union are thrilled to announce that they have joined forces to present Pennsylvania Rugby Development Day on December 3 at the Spooky Nook in Lancaster, PA. The strategic partnership between these three organizations will enable them to combine resources and ensure that this is a hugely beneficial event for all participants.

There will be several different components to this event, including referee and coaching certification courses but the biggest news is the fact that New Zealand All Blacks and Rugby World Cup Champions Andy Ellis and Kieran Read will be in attendance.

For those of you who are a bit newer to rugby, or don’t follow the professional/international game, Andy Ellis is a scrumhalf made 28 appearances for New Zealand and won the World Cup in 2011. He also played 154 Super Rugby matches for the Crusaders and won the Major League Rugby championship with Rugby New York last season. Kieran Read is a loose forward who earned 128 appearances for the All Blacks and won the 2011 and 2015 Rugby World Cups. He also made 156 appearances in Super Rugby for the Crusaders and was the World Rugby Men’s 15s Player of the Year in 2013.

We are incredibly excited to have both players appearing live at this event and are also currently in the process of booking other guest speakers to round out our panel. No matter what you sign up for – coaching cert, referee cert, development sessions – it is our intention to have Andy and Kieran be part of your programming so that nobody misses out on the opportunity to work with and learn from these legends of the game.

With several conference rooms, and multiple indoor turf fields available this event promises to touch on many different areas of rugby for attendees of all skill and experience levels so that everyone who attends will find it beneficial, learn quite a lot, and have plenty of things to take away back to their home clubs.

As Rugby PA, the MARC, and the EPRU continue to work together it is our goal to provide a diverse array of programming from a diverse array of presenters. We seek to make rugby a welcoming and accessible space to all communities and hope to grow the game by removing barriers to entry and ensuring that those who do give rugby a try find a supportive community that is invested in their growth and success.

We want to encourage new teams to form and new players to join teams while also making sure there are enough referees and coaches available. Additionally, we don’t think that our job ends with certification – we strongly believe that there also needs to be a continuing education component so that we all continue to grow and develop and not stagnate.

Having competent and well-prepared people in place will increase enjoyment of the game for everyone and help with retention so that individuals filter up through the levels as players and then also become more likely to give back as referees, coaches, or volunteers in the future.

Take the first step in joining us on this mission by signing up for Pennsylvania Rugby Development Day today!

For more information and registrations: www.rugbypa.org/developmentday

About the organizations:

Rugby Pennsylvania is the State-Youth-Rugby-Organization (SYRO) that handles all contact rugby in the commonwealth of Pennsylvania for high school and below. Specifically, the organization offers tackle programs for U13, U15, and U19 boys and girls that consists of 7 on 7 rugby in the fall and 15 on 15 rugby in the spring with the hope of implementing a spring 7 on 7 competition to serve as a PIAA emerging sport.

The Eastern Pennsylvania Rugby Union has approximately 20 Small College Women’s Collegiate teams in addition to 11 Senior Women’s Club programs and 21 Senior Men’s Club programs. The EPRU collegiate teams generally play 15s in the fall and 7s in the spring, but there is a fall developmental program with flexible roster sizes to support the smaller teams, while the club programs play 15s in the fall and spring with 7s in the summer.

The Mid-Atlantic Rugby Conference features a wide variety of collegiate rugby programs for men and women competing in Division 1AA, Division 2, and Small College. Their programming consists mostly of fall 15s and spring 7s but also offers fall 7s and 10s on a developmental basis.