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Scrums, tries, and blitzes: Groesbeck embraces the rugby life

Joe Gonzalez |Photographer
Joe Gonzalez |Photographer

“[My favorite memory] was probably going to the national championships in Indiana,” senior David Groesbeck said. “We were there for about a week and got the second best team in the nation.”

Groesbeck was reminiscing a sport that many students at MC don’t think about often: rugby. Although it is not offered at MC, Rugby is still loved and played by a handful of people here.

“I play for Torrey Pines High School and Mustangs wrestling club,” Groesbeck said. “I am graduating soon, but if there was a team here my freshman year, then I would have definitely have played for our school.”

For a while now, Groesbeck has been playing for these teams.

“I’m going on my tenth season,” Groesbeck said, “It’s a really fun sport.”

Throughout the years, he has garnered plenty of bruises and insight, now comparing Rugby to more common American sports.

“It is a mix of American football, soccer, and wrestling,” Groesbeck said. “It is like football, but they are not called touchdown zones, they are called try zones, and when you score a touchdown it is called a try. [A try is worth] five points and you can kick a field goal for two points.”

The game of Rugby has other interesting rules to it, too, besides just the similarities to football, soccer, and wrestling.

If you make a conversion, you get seven points and you can only pass backwards. There is a lot of funky stuff, like if the ball goes out of bounds, [and when] we lift kids up in the air.”

Through the years, Groesbeck has found many good aspects of Rugby that makes his love for the sport even stronger.

“My favorite part is getting to tackle kids really hard,” Groesbeck said. “I don’t think there is a least favorite part. It is a really good sport all around. It is a great brotherhood.”

Groesbeck doesn’t like a taste of his own medicine, however. He later decided that there was one thing that he didn’t like too much about it: when he got tackled. That is only a small issue for him though, and he still really enjoys the sport.

Aside from him, MC’s campus has a small array of Rugby players including past student Nick Williams and our very own Brit Lit and Journalism teacher Mr. Tim Calver.

Rugby is all about the love and thrill of a sport, just as sports are  in America. Overall, it is a relatively hidden part of the sports culture here at MC, but one that does not go without promise.

Written by Tatum Tricarico

Tatum Tricarico is a staff member on the MC Sun and is the unofficial video editor assistant. She is having trouble writing this bio because her awesomeness is so overwhelming and could not possibly fit in such a small space!

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