The Big Step

The Texas Youth Rugby Association and high school rugby took another big step toward maturation as a accepted sport in the Lone Star state this past July. The Texas High School Rugby Conference was officially formed at a general meeting held in Houston. Although the THSRC operated under a semi-official status last season, the coaches put their seal of approval on the new structure - a foundation for the future growth of the high school game in Texas. The new THSRC will be under the overall authority of TYRA, which is a state-based organization (SBO), but will handle all single-school rugby operations.

Why another structure and layer of administration? There was a growing concern among single-school coaches that TYRA was having a difficult time meeting the "administrative" needs of their teams. Single-school teams have a far different framework in which they work than clubs. They must answer to athletic directors, face UIL and TAPPS athletic and academic rules, and individual school rules. In addition, their field times are usually shared with other varsity sports and are scheduled through the athletic directors office. The THSRC will be able to plan, respond to, and organize the single-schools in a manner that is sensitive to the needs of its constituency.

This is the best possible organization for single-schools as they move into a new era of high school rugby. The new THSRC is modeled after the highly successful soccer and lacrosse leagues that came before it. The new organization provides a sense of stability and legitimacy which will foster more growth for the high school game. The organization is divided into easily recognizable districts with a playoff format very similar to football. The hope of THSRC administrators is the new structure will help them gain traction with recalcitrant ADs who in the past have written off rugby because of its haphazard structure.

Perhaps the most important success of the meeting was the spirit of cooperation and common purpose which manifested itself for the first time. Despite a number of spirited disagreements, the different organizations came together in common cause, providing the groundwork for a solid foundation for the future. Much of the credit goes to TYRA President Rick Marshall who fully supported the new setup. Let us hope that for the sake of the game that this cooperation grows and flourishes. First steps are often the hardest, but once made, walking comes easy - kudos to all of the coaches and administrators for their hard-work and commitment to the stability and growth of the high school game.