This weekend will be a time 21 players and coaches from the Old Greenwich Riverside Community Center U-14 Rugby team won’t soon forget.
For the fifth time, the OGRCC U-14 boys team is going on tour overseas and will be touring Ireland. They left yesterday and will return to Greenwich Nov. 2.
While in Ireland, they will play two games. The first will be a match-up against Shannon Rugby Football Club, a team founded in 1884. The second game will be against Christian Brothers College, one of the most traditional Catholic Schools and rugby teams in Cork.
The team will have also the opportunity to watch a First Division game, and a Heineken (European Cup) Match at Thomond Park. OGRCC will also get to know more about Limerick City and Ireland culture and history.
During the fall season, rugby practice takes place every Saturday at the Civic Center from 4:30 to 6 p.m.
During these practices the coaches, coming from many different countries like the United States, Argentina, England, Ireland, Scotland, South Africa and Australia, share with the players their own experiences and knowledge of the game.
The program has the privilege to have many former players currently playing varsity rugby at the Greenwich High School and other prestigious schools and teams in the Tri-state area, as well as many rugby All Americans.
The rugby program at the OGRCC was founded in 2003 by a group of enthusiastic former players began rugby training sessions with three coaches, 10 boys and one objective, which was to promote the game.
A lot of water ran under the bridge during the last 10 years, and the program has grown since then. Currently the program has more than 120 kids and a full staff of 15 coaches that are mostly former players or ex-program participants.
The program runs during the spring and the fall, and kids participate in one of the four corresponding groups. The touch rugby program is for U-8, junior intermediate contact rugby is U-10, senior intermediate full contact is U-12 and the senior full contact group is U-14.
