Rugby Gains Foothold In Boca Raton

Garth Duff-Gray stood before some 100 boys in the twilight of a glorious March evening and yelled three times, his volume increasing each time.

“What is tonight?!! 

And three times the boys responded, each time with growing enthusiasm.

“Rugby Night!”  

With a thunderous round of applause from all involved, practice for one of Boca Raton's lesser known, yet up-and-coming youth sports programs launched.

Formed in 2011, Boca Raton Youth Rugby now boasts 135 players. A little more than a decade old, it's already producing some of the best players in the nation.

Current Boca Buccaneers players Cooper Patterson and Liam Ishizaki are temporarily in England playing for Rebel Rugby Academy in the Rosslyn Park 7’s - the biggest rugby tournament in the world.

Former Boca Raton High School football players Logan Ballinger and Jordan Vassel converted to rugby and are now members of the United States Under-20 national rugby team – among the first players from South Florida ever chosen for the club.

They've already competed internationally wearing U.S. colors in Kenya and Europe.

“Certainly, we'd like to take a little credit for getting them well trained and improving their rugby IQ, but at the end of the day they're also superb athletes, and more importantly, they had dedication and commitment and a lot of support from their parents,” Duff-Gray said.

When not playing for the national team, Ballinger and Vassel attend Life University in Georgia on a rugby scholarships. The school competes on the collegiate level within the College Rugby Association of America's top division.

“It's one of the premier rugby universities in the country,” Duff-Gray said.

A growing number of Boca Raton Youth Rugby players are being scouted for college scholarships.

Duff-Gray estimates that 10 players were recruited last season and this year several more players could have their college education at least partially paid for.

“That's a big pathway,” Duff-Gray said. “Many colleges that are rugby supporters scout all of these rugby clubs here in South Florida.” 

Boca Raton Youth Rugby plays its home games on the District-funded fields at the Don Estridge High Tech Middle School.

Nearly 20 Boca Raton Rugby Club players have received at least partial college scholarships over the past few years.

Why are so many college recruiters heading to South Florida?

“For the same reason that football is scouted heavily in the state, because we have a lot of very superior athletes here,” Duff-Gray said. “So a lot of them have a pathway into college through rugby.” 

There's no doubting the football connection within the South Florida rugby scene. Young rugby players often play football during rugby's offseason, and vice-versa.

“Rugby players make better football players,” Duff-Gray said. “When we get a football player, when we send them back they know how to tackle, they know how to run in the open field. Rugby is very different from football. Everyone gets to handle the ball. Everyone can score. Anyone and everyone can run with the ball, unlike football, where everyone's highly specialized, highly dedicated.” 

Young football players who try rugby are often drawn to the lack of specified roles and the sport's free flow.

To some, rugby feels more natural than football.

“It's the best sport I've ever played,” said 16-year-old Luke Ballinger, Logan's younger brother. “I watched football. My brother played football when he was younger. I don't like it. I tried it out for a day. I didn't like anything about it. I just didn't get it. It was just confusing. And the padding – I didn't like padding.”

Drawing from a pool of players aged 6-19, Boca Rugby fields teams in six age divisions: Under-8, Under-10, Under-12, Under-14, Under-16, and Under-19.

If Boca Rugby had enough interested players, they would form a girls team. As it is now, girls are welcome to play on the boys teams through age 14.

On the first Saturday of March more than 300 players comprised of Boca Raton teams and other Florida Youth Rugby Union clubs converged on District-funded Estridge fields for a festival of games and all things rugby that Duff-Gray called “ Really, really exciting.”

“I loved to see it,” Luke Ballinger said of the festival. “Everybody's good with each other. All the parents are nice. It's a great sport to just get to know the people and families that play against each other. It's great.”