Rugby Scores a 'Try' With Youth in Mountain View

When is a touchdown not called a touchdown? When it's a "try," and you are playing rugby.

Since mid-November, dozens of Mountain View kids have gathered to learn, train and play rugby with the American Youth Rugby Union (AYRU). Founded by Paul Lynch and Scott Miller, the AYRU, now in its second season, is not what people think about when they think of rugby. According to Lynch, it's actually a safe sport.

"I think rugby is safer than American football," said Lynch, 45, who also coaches in the American Youth Soccer Organization (AYSO). "The ethos is different. You don't go out there to hurt people. There is a lot of respect between players."

When Lynch, an Irishman who lived in England came to the United States, he found rugby only in Cupertino. He wanted to introduce the sport to Mountain View, so he and Miller started the AYRU. He set it up so that the league emulated the organizational structure of the AYSO.

Though rugby players do come into contact with one another, Lynch emphasizes safety, especially at the youth level. The AYRU has three co-ed groups: a U-8, a U-10 and a U-12. The U-8 players play two-hand touch, the U-10 play with flags, and the U-12 do make contact but safely.

Of course, the kids also have fun, and it's good exercise.

"They learn to develop stamina," Lynch said about the program that has grown in participants, from 37 in 2009-10 to 56 this year. "Kids get an aerobic workout and are on the field the entire time."

The fact that rugby play is continuous appealed to 13-year-old Tom Nilsson. 

"I like that it's a lot more active than football, and there is a lot more time that you actually get to be running around," said Nilsson. "It's unlike baseball where you just sit out for half the game. But in rugby, sometimes you sit out, but most of the time you are active."

Nilsson's mom, Kathy, learned about the AYRU from the newspaper. Though she was a little hesitant at first about the safety, she let him play, and then he found out it was a lot of fun.

"The funnest part is scoring a 'try' and winning," Nilsson said modestly. "But there is no point of winning. It doesn't matter if you win or lose. It's just good to know you tried hard."

Kathy shared that when she met Lynch, he stressed that rugby was about kids just having fun and "not where [the teams] were positioned in leagues and who they were playing."

"Geez, I thought, that sounded so different than our general experience of organized sports," she said.

Despite her misgiving about the dangers of the sport, Kathy let Tom jump right in.

"Right from the beginning, I was impressed with Paul and his fellow coaches and how he trained them," she said. "He was as cautious about watching the children and how they reacted and interacted as he was about making sure the coaches were trained and watchful about teaching the kids safety."

After only one season, Tom Nilsson has had great experiences playing every week.

"I've experienced a lot of teamwork and I look up to the coaches," he said. "I see them as role models and my teammates as equals."

For Lynch, the most important lesson in rugby is the teamwork.

"We instill in them that this is the ultimate team sport," he said. "That's something that's missing in soccer, and I coach both."

Lynch's goal is to develop the next generation of American rugby players. He's a little disappointed that rugby is not played at the high school level locally, especially since "there is a very strong college rugby scene."

But one local that he hopes will inspire his young players is Brian McClanahan, a Mountain View resident and member of the U.S. National Rugby team, who often stops by to assist with the AYRU.

Lynch believes that any one of these players could be the next member of the U.S. National team, which could qualify to play in 2016 Olympic Games in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil—the first time rugby is played at the international competition since 1924.

"We want one of our kids to be a gold medalist in rugby for the country one day," he said.

For More information on AYRU visit www.ayru.net