Future USA Rugby Olympians!

From the Sandy Spring Location – Enjoy!

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Rugby vs. Football – Is Rugby Safe?

I have heard many so many people in the United States refer to Rugby as “Football without pads” – something that couldn’t be further from the truth, that I wanted to share some information regarding this topic.  It is true that rugby players don’t where much padding and that most individuals who are new to the game would simply see it as a “violent” sport and certainly wouldn’t want their son or daughter involved in something this “brutal” opting rather for the “safer” option in football since they wear pads. BUT, I challenge you to review the information below that outlines the regularity and severity of injuries when comparing it to football related injuries. Hopefully this information sets your mind at ease and encourages you to let your son or daughter give this wonderful sport a “try” whether they are between football season, want to try another sport, or simply want to stay in shape while having fun!

Dr. Lyle Micheli is director of the Division of Sports Medicine at Boston Children’s Hospital and an Associate Clinical Professor of Orthopaedic Surgery at Harvard Medical School. He is a past president of the American College of Sports Medicine and currently serves as chairman of the Massachusetts Governor’s Council on Physical Fitness and Sports. Dr. Micheli is chairman of USA Rugby’s Medical & Risk Management Committee.

Why rugby is a safe sport – paradoxically

The main reason rugby players have a relatively low risk of injury compared to football players is paradoxical – rugby players don’t wear protective equipment. Thus the rugby player doesn’t have the same disregard for the safety of his or her head, neck, and shoulders when tackling or trying to break through a tackle. The other reason is that unlike football, rugby is a game of possession, not yardage. Consequently rugby players don’t tackle by “driving through the numbers,” as football players are taught to do with their heads when tackling a player. In rugby, players are taught to use their arms to wrap a player’s legs and let the momentum of that player cause him to go to ground. Furthermore, in rugby there is no blocking, and so players who don’t have the ball don’t get hit when they’re not expecting it.

One of the reasons rugby has a reputation for being “dangerous” in the United States is because when the average American sees rugby being played, he or she sees a free-flowing contact sport. Because it doesn’t have the familiar stop-and-start character of football and other TV-shaped sports, to the uninitiated rugby can appear confusing and “scary.”

Rugby – Fastest Growing Sport in America!

From USA Today!

In terms of sports Americans play, wrestling, softball, football, hockey and baseball are long-term losers.

The latest authoritative Sporting Goods Manufacturers Association annual report on U.S. sports participation, based on about 15,000 individual surveys and 24,000 households surveys, found that about 2.1 million Americans say they competed in wrestling last year — down 44% from 2000.

CAPTION

By Nikki Carlson, AP

Other drops in total participants over the past decade even as the U.S. population steadily expanded: slow-pitch softball (-38%), football (-16%), ice hockey (-12%), fast-pitch softball (-11%) and baseball (-8%).

Basketball held steady as the most-played team sport, ending the decade with about as many participants as it had in 2000 — 26.3 million. (That easily topped soccer, which had a total of about 20 million for its outdoor and indoor games.)

Part of the ongoing declines in traditional sport comes from participant growth in niche sports. Between 2009 and 2010, lacrosse had a 38% gain — albeit to a diminutive 1.6 million total players — while rugby jumped 51% to 1.1 million.

Article Link Below
http://content.usatoday.com/communities/gameon/post/2011/09/what-us-plays-softball-football-hockey-baseball-down-over-decade/1