Youth rugby ready to roll in Springdale

Kids 13 years old and up go through rugby drills Wednesday at the Tyson Sports Complex in Springdale. Youth rugby teams have been put together through the Springdale Parks and Recreation Department.
Kids 13 years old and up go through rugby drills Wednesday at the Tyson Sports Complex in Springdale. Youth rugby teams have been put together through the Springdale Parks and Recreation Department.

SPRINGDALE -- Vincent Shepherd took to rugby quickly as he crashed into teammate-held blocking pads and later sprinted up and down the field as he passed and received the oval ball.

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Nathan Clouston, 8, tries to elude the defense during practice Wednesday at the Tyson Sports Complex.

Diana Shepherd watched her 16-year-old son as he participated in the first set of rugby practices in the new Springdale Parks and Recreation Department's youth rugby program Wednesday.

Signup information

All kids in fourth through 12th grades can sign up from 5:30 to 7 p.m. Monday and Wednesday at Randall Tyson Park, 4303 Watkins Ave. in Springdale. Practices also are held during those times. Games will be played on Saturdays in April.

Everyone who signs up must pay a one-time $50 season fee.

Youth rugby signups can also be done online at www.springdalear.go….

Source: Staff report

"I'd rather he played rugby than football," she said. "The attitude is a little different. I feel he is safer playing this than football."

Springdale's youth rugby program is a first for the city, and is open to boys and girls from across Northwest Arkansas. The Bentonville, Fayetteville and Rogers parks and recreation departments don't have rugby for children.

The program kicked off Monday with 40 kids -- half of them 12 and under who showed up for rookie rugby and half who are teens aged 13 to 18 out for the senior teams.

"For a first-time club, 40 kids is a good number to start with," said Chris Gwin, athletic director for Parks and Recreation.

Practices and games for the 12-and-under group are played with no contact and akin to flag football. Games and practices for teenagers, broken up into middle school and high-school divisions, are played with contact, Gwin said.

A discussion last summer between Gwin and the Fayetteville-based Arkansas Gryphons, a semi-pro men's rugby club, got the ball rolling on youth rugby in Springdale. The club approached Gwin about using some fields in Springdale for practices and games.

"I said that would be great, but we're a small department [and that] I'd like to bring rugby in and do a youth program," he said. "We worked out an agreement that they would help us do a youth rugby group."

Rugby: 'Constant Motion'

Rugby is similar to football, but unique in other ways, said Steven Lee Raney, a member of the Gryphons.

"You get a lot of collisions and action like football, but not as many stoppages," Raney said. "You can pass the ball either laterally or backwards and you can advance the ball by either kicking it or running it forward. You have a lot more freedom than you do in football."

Rugby is usually played with 15-member teams. Youth rugby will be played with seven-member teams, with an emphasis on inclusiveness and utilizing every player.

"In rugby, anyone can essentially play any role on the field," Raney said. "Each position can be dynamic and versatile."

Raney has been a member of the Gryphons since 2007, just after the team was formed by University of Arkansas graduates who had played for the university's rugby club team and wanted to keep playing.

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Vincent Shepherd, whose older brother Chris Ross plays for the University of Arkansas men's rugby team, said he enjoys rugby's team dynamic.

"It's a lot of constant motion and a lot of mental activity because you have to think on the spot," he said.

Lawrence Standingwater, another member of the Gryphons, signed up his two daughters, 13-year-old Alyssa Roberts and 11-year-old McKenzie Roberts, to play in the Springdale league.

"They're tough, they'll hold their own, but they wish there were more girls out here," Standingwater said. "They're going to stick with it."

Murdock Clouston, a South African who captains the Gryphons, helped coach the 12-and-under team on Wednesday.

"Rugby has got a lot of the same fundamentals of football -- aggression, speed, strength -- but what comes into it most is camaraderie and teamwork," Clouston said.

David Higgins, who coaches the Gryphons and helped re-establish the University of Arkansas' women's rugby club in fall 2012 after it ran from 1984 to the 2000s, coached the teen players Wednesday and said kids of all shapes and sizes can play rugby. Bigger kids who would traditionally be on the offensive or defensive line in football, actually get to run and pass the ball in rugby, he said.

An Arkansas History

Rugby has a long history in Northwest Arkansas.

The University of Arkansas' club team started in 1971, and there is now a men's and women's club team at the university. John Brown University also has men's and women's teams, said Jason Ayers, a Gryphons player who will help coach and referee in the Springdale league.

Rugby is a popular sport in neighboring states, with a strong presence in Kansas City and Memphis. Youth rugby is popular in Little Rock, Ayers said.

Wilma Keller, chairman of Greater Little Rock Rugby, said Little Rock has a semi-pro men's club, the Little Rock Stormers, and a junior club of the same name that is made up of teens aged 16 to 19 from many cities in central Arkansas. She said there are about 25 players on the Junior Stormers team.

Keller said her goal for youth rugby is to bring the sport to high schools across central Arkansas.

"We are currently working on getting one established at Catholic High in Little Rock and ones in Bryant and North Little Rock," Keller said.

Ayers, who grew up playing rugby in Florida, wants to see rugby take hold in Northwest Arkansas.

"I know once we get the kids out there to practice one or two times, they'll be hooked like I was 25 years ago," Ayers said.

NW News on 03/13/2017

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