No matter the school or the sport, they are almost always built on tradition. However, following the pandemic, many sports were put on hold or just completely gotten rid of. The Millard South Rugby team was one of the victims as the team was disbanded in 2020. Now, the team is arising once again as they prepare to compete for the first time since the program was disbanded.
“I think it is a great opportunity,” freshman Troy Peterson said. “It’s really helped to create bonding which has made this a better team overall.”
“I feel proud to be a part of such an important team and I also feel very excited about the future of rugby at this school,” senior Dillon Stice said.
Prior to the pandemic, there were 15 high school rugby teams across the Omaha Metro, but following 2020, that number was down to 3. Now that number has once again risen as there will be 9 teams competing with each team made up of a few different schools nearby each other. The Patriots will be a part of the Millard United team which includes Millard North High School as well as Skutt Catholic High School.
“I saw joining rugby as a great opportunity to have fun, get physical, make friends while making memories and enjoy something new,” Stice said.
“I like the intensity of rugby and I saw it as a great opportunity to build some friendships with teammates,” Peterson said.
With this sport making a return, the team brings many different experiences and players. This must be met with hard work and dedication in order to combine to make a successful team.
“In terms of numbers, I think we are at a pretty good point,” Peterson said. “Right now, we need to develop a level of consistency but the people that we have are doing really well.”
“Almost our entire team is new to rugby,” Stice said. “So, right now, we’re just covering a lot of the basics and running a lot of scrimmages. We’ve been going over a lot of what to do in certain situations as well as learning the rules and principles of rugby so we can really get a feel for what the sport is like.”
The return of the sport and return of the teams is not the end goal, as players and coaches will look to make sure that rugby will be successful and continue to be around for future players.
“Over the summer I think that we can get involved with leagues around Omaha,” Peterson said. “I think every year we are going to continue to get better and the guys are going to keep improving.”
“We have a really young team so they will be able to keep the team running beyond this season,” Stice said. “But, continuing to recruit not only high school players, but also middle schoolers coming into high school will be really crucial to ensure that rugby is able to continue.”
