Youth Rugby in Hobe Sound, Jupiter and Stuart, Florida!

After a successful launch in Atlanta, GA, ACE Rugby Academy’s founder relocated due to work and will be hitting Florida’s Treasure coast in 2014!!! Read ABOUT COACH here!

2014 marks a very important time period in the Stuart/Hobe Sound, Fl. Rugby world with the opening of our first Youth Rugby Academy partnering with The Pine School (two campuses, Hobe Sound and Stuart). ACE Rugby Academy will be looking to register as their own 501(c)(3) in the near future.

In addition to the youth rugby (everything U18) ACE will be looking to form a competitive travel Men’s Rugby 7’s program that will be able to compete at a national level earning recognition and the opportunity to try out for the Men’s  U.S.A. National 7’s team. Rugby is now a viable professional sports option for exceptional athletes. Here is just one example of a track star who recently made a successful switch to Rugby and will be in line for a spot on the USA Olympic Rugby team for 2016. Fastest man in Rugby – Carlin Isles. Olympic Dream!

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.”

How Rugby makes Football Players better!

How Rugby Makes Better Football Players (This First Appeared in Gridiron Coach Magazine)

By Alex Goff

Your High School season is over. Your players are already making plans to play other sports during the winter and the spring. What should they play?

In the spring, especially, football coaches find themselves at odds with their players’ choices. But what if your players could play a sport that not only keeps them in shape for football, but actually makes them better football players? The sports is out there, it’s called rugby, and strangely enough some football coaches won’t let their athletes play the game.

High-school age rugby is played throughout the USA, culminating in a national championship tournament in late May. The game itself is an ancestor of football, and is similar to a no-huddle, wishbone gridiron game with all two-way players. Forward passing is not allowed, so the ball must be advanced by hard running and intricate lateral passing. After a tackle, play continues as teams for essentially a compacted line of scrimmage and try to drive each other off the ball. Players and football coaches who have been involved in both sports agree that playing rugby can make for better football players, and more dedicated athletes.

The improvement in fitness, hand-eye coordination, and tackling technique after a season of rugby is phenomenal,” said Mark Bullock, who served as head football coach and head rugby coach for Kentwood High School in Kent, Washington before becoming the USA Under-19 rugby coach. “I always recommended my football players to play rugby is they weren’t playing a spring sport.

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

Youth Rugby Academy in Atlanta!!

ACE Rugby Academy of Atlanta (ARAA) and ACE Rugby Academy of Kennesaw (ARAK) will be opening soon!

An announcement about a FREE session in your area will be made soon!!

2011-2012 marks a very important time period in the Atlanta Rugby world with the opening of Atlanta’s first Youth Rugby Academy in two locations, ACE Rugby Academy of Atlanta (ARAA) and ACE Rugby Academy of Kennesaw (ARAK). We will look to open in the Fall of 2011 or no later than Spring 2012. ACE Rugby Academy will fall under the umbrella of the non-profit, Atlanta Athletic Ministries until such a time when they will register as their own 501(c)(3).

Rugby is the fastest growing sport in the United States. Today the game of rugby is played by 4.4 million people in over 100 countries across 6 continents – 200,000 of these players are female! Why not join the fun! Rugby is estimated to be the third largest participation sport in the world! Rugby boasts over 4 million players, 1.9 million spectators and a global TV audience estimated at 3.8 billion for the last Rugby World Cup, in France, 2007. In America there are over 2000 Rugby Clubs, and nearly 100,000 registered participants. Over 350,000 young people have started playing Rookie Rugby, a USA Rugby initiative, in schools nation-wide. It is perhaps therefore no surprise that the Sporting Goods Manufacturers Association declared Rugby as the fastest growing sport in America in 2010. According to Rugby Magazine (the journal of record for US Rugby) a recent National Sporting Goods Manufacturers Association survey reported that the number of US Rugby enthusiasts was 600,000. Further, youth and college rugby is growing rapidly making up over 50% of registered participation nationally with 750 High School and Youth teams and over 600 University teams.This safe, team game for boys and girls promotes skills and values found in all types of sport. Rugby is simple to understand, great fun to play and promotes a healthy lifestyle in your youth.In the United States, some associate rugby with aggression, as it looks like “a crazy game resembling football without padding.” In fact, it is a game of strategy, decision making, finesse, agility and teamwork and if coached professionally has proven to be safer than many other contact sports (refer to study by Dr. Lyle J. Micheli, MD). ACE Ruggers are professionally coached in a safe and enjoyable environment which prepares the young ruggers well to play High School and/or College rugby. ACE will introduce the non-contact version of rugby, which will eventually lead to the introduction of contact rugby if the demand/skill level presents itself with the long term vision of creating a complete youth rugby league similar in structure to “little league football”.