Rugby Making Its Pitch in Piedmont

To this day, local resident and veteran coach John Cullom still hears the same statements about the town he calls home.

"Having grown up in Piedmont and actually taking biology classes in high school from Leonard J. Waxdeck, it's not uncommon for people -- thanks to Johnny Carson and David Letterman and the annual contest dedicated to a beloved teacher -- to say, 'Oh, that's the bird-calling town,'" Cullom explained. "That's neat. I think it's a wonderful thing that the town is known for that."

Now, in part thanks to Cullom, Piedmont is starting to make a mark around the country for another reason.

Rugby.

The Piedmont International Touring Side, or "PITS", has been the number one stop for kids in Piedmont who want to play the sport of rugby.

While not well known in America, rugby is a sport that has become popular in various parts of the world, including Australia and Canada.

Here in the states, the sport has certainly picked up interest in the past decade. A big reason is PITS and similar programs around the country.

"Fifteen years ago, the game in California itself became more established and less disorganized," said Cullom, who founded PITS in 1978. "As a result, parents and kids are figuring out that it is a very popular sport. It's nice when we travel around the country, people associate the rugby program with Piedmont."

As , the PITS program has tallied tremendous success on the playing field, especially lately. From standout athletes such as Travis Moscone and Carl Hendrickson, who are both playing at Cal, to current standouts such as Mike Garrett and Gabe Sober, the PITS crew has established a reputation both in the Bay Area and around the country.

"I started out as a freshman," said the senior Sober, co-captain of the squad along with Garrett. "I had to choose between rugby and lacrosse. I like rugby because it's just a really good team sport. You really have to trust your fellow players."

With Piedmont itself in the midst of a  among the town's various public playing fields, rugby has been thrust in the middle of the discussion on more than one occasion.

As interest in the sport grows among young athletes, PITS is the program that is leading the charge.

"About 15 years ago, the program in Lamorinda really started taking off and our program really started becoming more of an established athletic program," said Cullom. "While we still don't have complete school support, we are getting more and more. We are getting more field time than we have in the past and the kids are being more responsible around campus than they have in the past."

And the results are showing on the field.

Regarded as a "small" squad in comparison to the Lamo Rugby and Jesuit-Sacramento program, insiders with the PITS program are quick to admit that they have a tough time competing with the bigger squads -- at least from a numbers and financial standpoint.

On the field, however, PITS has and continues to perform at a tremendous level.

"We have players that never even picked up a rugby ball before this year," said Garrett, the other co-captain of the team. "We struggle with numbers. What's actually really popular [in Piedmont] is lacrosse and that's really frustrating to me. We lost to Lamorinda last week, but we played very well. A lot of the parents were there and I was very pleased that we showed we could hold our ground in the gold division."

With more success on the field, the interest in joining PITS in the coming future will likely increase.

While that means a need for more space and time on public playing fields in Piedmont, the chance for athletes like Sober and Garrett to compete at a high level in a sport they enjoy extends well beyond wins and losses.

"We started what is now known as PITS Rugby in 1978," said Cullom, whose daughter marked the third generation of the Cullom family to go from K-through-12 in the Piedmont school system. "Our first year, we hosted a team from Canada and a team from Wales.  We've had seven to eight kids on the Cal roster. That's not bad for a small school."