LAKEWOOD RANCH — Rugby, famously called a “hooligan game played by gentlemen,” is being introduced to local elementary school children, as a way to encourage physical exercise and fight obesity.
But unlike the game played by big bruisers who engage in a kind of tackle football, without the pads, flag rugby at local schools would be a noncontact sport.
On Tuesday, boys and girls in the physical education classes of coaches Jason Morales and Mary Quinn, at Willis Elementary School, got their first taste of the sport.
Noticeably absent was any hooliganism, but there was plenty of running, passing — sideways and backwards, but never forwards — and fun.
“It’s the most active game we’ve played,” said fifth grader Julian Rivera, 10.
His classmate, Brian Steele, also 10, agreed. “It was fun,” he said.
But another classmate, who after running nonstop most of the period, said, “I feel like I’m going to puke.”
And that’s precisely the point.
Thomas Van Trees, of the Florida Rugby Union, who introduced the students to the new sport, said children are having so much fun that they don’t realize how much running they’ve done.
Quinn, who doubles as cross country coach at Lakewood Ranch High School, was impressed by flag rugby.
“Anything that promotes running and nonstop activity, I’m all for it,” she said.
Van Trees introduced students to rugby gradually.
He had them pair up and run down a field, throwing an elliptical ball back and forth, using an underhand motion. The rugby ball resembles a football, only it’s larger and without the laces.
Later he introduced them to rugby scoring.
“You touch the ball down to ground and say ‘try,’” Van Trees said.
“It you don’t say ‘try,’ it’s not a score.’”
Andy deVilliers, whose son and daughter attend Willis, and who learned the sport in Rhodesia, now called Zimbabwe, helped bring the rugby introduction to the local school.
“Look at them, you can’t wipe the smiles off their faces,” deVilliers said of the children, hard at play with rugby.
Jason Morales said he plans to incorporate rugby into the Willis physical education program.
“I’ve heard so many kids say, ‘I love this game.’ Everyone is participating,” Morales said.
Van Trees estimates he has introduced flag rugby to about 6,000 children in Hillsborough, Osceola and Polk counties, but Tuesday’s visit was his first to a Manatee County school.
For more information, contact Van Trees at (813) 767-4572 or floridaflagrugby@mindspring.com.
Email Story
Printer Friendly 
Quick Job Search
@Nyx.replyAnswerText@