Thursday, October 21, 2010

Rugby Starts Training for Spring Season


-By: Allison Wetterauw-

Senior Captains Michael Sawitsky and Sam McCarthy of the DHS Rugby club team are already training for the spring season. They have a lot of strong seniors returning including, Andrew McGarey, James Shanley, Mason Barron, Evan Burns, Ashwin Basu, Taiga Soejima, Jared Murphy, Will Weinstock, Peter McDonough, Chris Brook, Andrew Noujaim and Luke and Jordan Washer.

“I’m excited, we are gonna have a good season, we have a strong senior class” Sawitsky said. They also hope to make up for the loss Class of ’10 grads with new freshmen talent that includes Remy Parsons.

Now that the guys have gotten the unique challenges of the game down it will be a big step forward. “It is hard to learn all the really complex rules and get them down but when you do it is like the funniest sport ever,” Murphy said.

The season starts in March, but they are having weekly practices to make sure they have game for the spring. The schedule is still up in the air with the exception of the Yale tournament, which has been confirmed. “I have no idea who else we will be playing,” Sawitsky said.

There practices now are focusing on conditioning, basic ball handing, tackling and scrimmaging. They hope to be in really good shape for the next couple of months. The goal is to win the Division II state championships again this year. According to Murphy, the Darien team is most concerned about Greenwich because they win national competitions.

Another key concern continues to be avoiding injuries, in particular concussions because of the lack of protection with the uniforms. They were lucky to have none last year and hope that their healthy streak stays strong.

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