Rugby

I figured I would step away from the post about me and a certain person right now and get back to some other things in my life... I watched a rugby game the other night when I was just chillen with a buddy after FHE and it brought back a lot of memories. It was my senior year at Lone Peak the Football season was over and I went from being busy every day practicing till Fridays when we had our Games to doing nothing. The season was over and we had a great one, even if it was cut short in the semi finals. I had no idea what I was gonna do lol. I had been in a routine for the last almost 9 months and it had suddenly gone away and I wasn't quite sure what I was gonna fill it with. A buddy of mine brought up playing Lacrosse and we were pretty stoked about trying out when we saw a poster stating that Lone Peak would be putting together a rugby team. We really didn't have much of an idea of what rugby was but it sounded fun so we figured lets go for that instead. Little did we know what we were really getting into. We went to the first meeting at the school and were told that we would have a coaches parents meeting that following Monday and unless we had our parents there we would not be allowed to play. Something about the importance of realizing what we were getting into lol. So I went home told my parents that I wanted to play and that I needed one of them for the next Monday to come with me. They both kinda chuckled when I told them that I wanted to play the sport, but they remembered how much I had learned and how well football was for me. So my dad decided to go to the meeting. We got there about 20 minutes early because that is how my dad works and got our seats right up front, oh yea because we were the only ones there. More people started to flow in, and I was getting a look at what the team would be like if some of these guys played. We had tall guys, short guys, some pretty buff guys and some just out of shape fatt people. A kid about twice my size and his mom took their seats next to me and a man we soon leanred would be one of our coaches came into the room and began to introduce himself and the rest of the coaching staff. He then started out by telling us how dangerous the game is and that we would be spending a good amount of time preparing. The rest of the coached introduced themselves then they talked to the parents and let them know the dangers as well. They showed us a video next of my now favorite team The All Blacks. They showed us how the game is played then showed us a video of some injuries in the game. Which were awesome! What was even mor funny was the mother next to me of the giant telling her son that she will not let him play this game, and my dad telling me how much I'm going to love this game. Super funny. We were then told that those of us that wanted to play, the practices were to begin that following week and we needed to bring our hundred dollars for fees and uniforms and so on. I was stoked! The game looked so fun! Also pretty crazy. My dad went home told my mom I was gonna die, and she just laughed. Yes my parents love me so much haha. That following week came and Cam and I were pretty stoked to see how many people showed up. It was pretty surprising to see around 80 guys there. Little did we know that, that number would greatly drop in the next couple months as the practices move along. Basically practices consisted of, running, tackling drills, more running, more drills and then a scrimmage. We practiced this way the whole entire season. I remember after the first one going home and not being able to move the next day. The game was just like playing football without pads when I was a kid but so much more. The following months went along and we had weeded out more kids. We got close to game time and the coaches were pretty sure of who was gonna be there and who wasn't. So they had a positioning practice. You see the months prior were basically just to weed out people and pansies as said by the coaches and we mainly just played wherever they wanted us to during the scrimmage games. So it was pretty exciting to hear that we would finally be put in a place. I knew that mine would be not a forward position cause those guys needed to be fat and big lol. So I was gonna be one of 8 other spots. I was eventually put as a fullback because I was quick and a good kicker(I spent almost 3 years practicing that as a kicker) so it made sense. The day came finally for our first game and wow we were pretty stoked. My family couldn't come, they were on a trip so I went with Cams mom and him. We showed up it was in a blizzard and we were playing Highland High, Well here is why we crapped our pants. Highland High was and still is ranked number one in the nation and number three in the world for high school teams. They are basically huge and crazy and were breed to play the game. Their team is made up of all Tongans and One White guy. lol. So needless to say we were pretty freaked out. The game went well we lost, but only by a few tries. We also put points on the board with a field goal, and we were told at the end of the game that no first year team ever scored against them and we and the coaches should be proud that they and their team played so well. I was in so much pain the next day lol. I was cleated crushed and pounded into the ground by people that out weighed me by at least 100lbs the whole game.....and I loved every minute of it! My grandma came to one game and it was probably one of the funniest things I have ever seen. She was freaking out the whole game. I finished out the season with a new group of friends and a new found respect for a game that can teach you so much, while at the same time beat the crap out of you. We had many players get hurt and because of their injuries they were not allowed to play anymore...that just gave us more fire to play harder. We ended the season really well and actually won a lot of our games. I learned so much about respect and trust playing this game and could go on forever about it, but I wont to spare you all non rugby people....all in all it was a great game, that I love and always will love.