The boy’s rugby team kicked off the 2015 season with a win against Winnetonka high school 43 to 7. The rugby team consists of 28 boys from freshmen to seniors.

Excitement is an understatement for what the rugby team is feeling about the season this year.

“I’m most excited about being able to play against Park Hill because I know a lot of the teammates that play there so I’m excited to play against them,” freshmen Michael Willet said.

Some people believe rugby and football are a lot alike, but they are actually very different. Besides the shape of the ball and tackling, rugby and football are actually nothing alike.

“We don’t use pads. It’s more like football and soccer put together. You can’t pass the ball forward. If you get tackled, your team can still have possession of the ball and the game is never ending,” Junior Montana Smith said.

Boy’s rugby is actually a club rather than an official sport at LHS. The team basically practices everywhere they can since spring sports started because the team doesn’t have a specific location.

“We practice wherever we can, honestly,” senior Jacob Gilchrist said. “Right now we’re practicing at Canterbury Park around 4:15 every Monday, Wednesday with a conditioning military coach, and Thursday. ”

The boy’s rugby coach, Stacy Davis is a volunteer coach in the Liberty school district. She has been coaching rugby for two years.

“I would want rugby to be an official sport but I say no because our coach is a volunteer and she doesn’t work at the school. If Rugby were an official sport then she wouldn’t be able to be our coach anymore. She’s the one who started the whole thing and she’s an awesome coach.”

Rugby players advertise their sport by talking to their friends and family about the games.

“Since I’m a freshmen, a lot of my friends play rugby and they tried to get me on the team,” Willet said. “I thought about it for a while and finally decided to join.”

Rugby may sound confusing but the coach definitely has practice planned out very well to make sure the team stays organized.

“We start with a game typically just to get warmed up just to get running or a lap around the field then we stretch,” sophomore Cooper Harris said. “Usually we split in two groups: backs and forwards. Then we practice our specific positions and drills.”

A few of the boy’s rugby players believe that rugby is a less appreciated sport than it should be.

“I think less people know about it honestly but I don’t think its any less appreciated than it would have been about five years ago,” Gilchrist said.

Even though some may believe this, it does not stop them from doing what they love.

“I don’t feel like there’s a lot of people that see how rugby is popular in the world and not just in the U.S because I know rugby is not very popular in the United States,” Willet said.

Even though rugby may seem less appreciated in the United States, a few other players wouldn’t have the sport any other way at LHS.

“I would say yes, [Rugby should be an official sport], but I say no because our coach is a volunteer and she doesn’t work at the school,” Smith said. “If rugby was an official sport then she wouldn’t be able to be our coach anymore. She’s the one who started the whole thing and she’s an awesome coach.”

All of the players agreed that LHS should advertise boy’s rugby more and support the team in order to make the sport in general more popular.

“I feel like the school could just advertise more. Instead of football or any other sport, we have to recruit players person to person,” Gilchrist said.

The sport may not be very well known, but everyone should wish boy’s rugby good luck for their season and hope the rest of the games are as good as the first!