Blacksburg Rugby

The Blacksburg Rugby Club's match against nearby rival Roanoke on 20 March has been moved from Roanoke to Blacksburg after a match ground in Roanoke became unavailable.

The clubs will now play at Blacksburg's "Rose Garden" match ground, located on Country Club Drive SW near the South Main Street Kroger supermarket, at 1:00 p.m. Saturday, 20 March. The match is a "friendly" in preparation for both sides' appearance next month in the Mid-Atlantic Rugby Football Union Senior Men's Division III territorial playoff rounds, and will mark Blacksburg's first hit-out of 2010.

Blacksburg's Spring 2010 opener, originally scheduled for this Saturday against Radford University, has been postponed due to weather conditions. Although temperatures have warmed considerably in the Blacksburg area in the past week, uncertain match ground conditions have prompted club president Chuck Rockwell to delay the match.

An alternate date for the match has not yet been established, leaving the start of the Blacksburg season unclear. At present, Blacksburg's next match will most likely be at Roanokeon 20 March, but keep watching Blacksburgrugby.com for updates.

After a Fall 2009 season that saw Blacksburg finish in a draw for second place in the Virginia Rugby Union's Senior Mens Division III competition, It's almost time to get started again. The bulk of Blacksburg's Spring 2010 match schedule has now been established by match secretary Craig Bucher and can be viewed at Blacksburg's fixtures page.

Blacksburg will begin the spring with a series of "friendly" matches, starting with a home tie against Radford. After that, Blacksburg will go to Roanoke and attempt to extend a winning streak against their nearby rivals. Blacksburg will also make a trip to Pennsylvania on 3 April for a special match against the Philadelphia College of Ostepathic Medicine that is planned to feature primarily Blacksburg players affiliated with the Edward Via Virginia College of Osteopathic Medicine and other Virginia Tech-related programs.

A trip to Johnson City, Tennessee, on 10 April will close out Blacksburg's friendly series for the season before the side kicks off its charge to defend the 2009 Mid-Atlantic Senior Mens Division III title with a MARFU quarterfinal match at Old Gaelic in Pennsylvania.

Blacksburg is the only side from Virginia to have won the MARFU DIII territorial title (in 2002 and 2009), which is contested among smaller clubs from Virginia, Maryland, Pennsylvania, and the Washington, D. C., region. In 2009, Blacksburg advanced to the USA Rugby Senior Mens National Quarterfinals before losing by three points to miss out on the semifinals.

The spring schedule also includes at least one intrasquad match. More fixtures may be added in the near future, so please check for updates at Blacksburgrugby.com.

Blacksburg's 2010 offseason training schedule begins this Thursday with indoor sessions from 8:00-9:30 p.m. Thursdays in Gym 2/B at the Blacksburg Community Center on 725 Patrick Henry Drive. There is no fee or membership required for the sessions, and new potential players are welcome.

The indoor sessions include both fitness and skills training element. Attendees should wear shorts or workout pants, a training shirt, and running shoes. Cleated shoes are not allowed. Contact gear is not necessary, though a mouth guard is optional for some sessions that may involve accidental contact.

Players who are unable to attend the sessions due to timing or location are encouraged to train on their own or in groups elsewhere.

Players are also encouraged to join Crossfit NRV to raise their fitness levels substantially during the offseason. Blacksburg Rugby members who join Crossfit NRV will participate in workouts that are tailored for rugby union and coordinated by top-quality professional staff.

Outdoor training sessions are postponed until further notice due to weather and ground conditions, but outdoor training sessions will be announced soon. Blacksburg's Spring 2010 match schedule will also be announced later this month. Check Blacksburgrugby.com for updates.

Elliot Sally, one of a large group of students from the Edward Via Virginia College of Ostopathic Medicine (VCOM) who has stepped up to the mark this season for Blacksburg Rugby, has written about his experiences in the latest newsletter of the Undergraduate American Academy of Ostepathy.

In the article, which can be found on Page Six of the Fall 2009 issue, Sally recounts his experience with insight from both the perspective of a player and that of an osteopathic student treating other club members. Blacksburg Rugby is deeply grateful for the contributions of its VCOM students, both inside and outside of the white lines.

This autumn, second seems to be the magic number for Blacksburg. After finishing in a draw for second place in the 2009 Virginia Rugby Union (VRU) Senior Men's Division III standings, Blacksburg hauled home three second-place finishes in today's offseason James River Christmas 7s Tournament in Richmond, VA.

Blacksburg entered three sides in the tournament, and the sides were placed in each of the three men's divisions (Red, Gold, and Green) created for the tournament. The three separate men's divisions were created to accommodate the 18 men's teams entered on the day, allowing each division group to compete for separate championships because there would not have been time to establish one champion from all sides during the one-day tournament event. Each division was set up to function at the same competitive level, without deliberate differences in performance or age group across divisions.

Blacksburg's representatives put together a consistently strong day, making the grand final in each division to earn second in each competition. More importantly, the Blacksburg representatives were able to have a good time in the wintry atmosphere of the annual event.

With the seven-a-side event complete, Blacksburg now shifts its focus back to offseason skills and fitness training in preparation for the 2010 Mid-Atlantic Rugby Football Union (MARFU) knockout rounds. Last year, Blacksburg won the MARFU title and advanced to the USA Rugby Senior Men's Division III national quarterfinals, and the club will be working hard to repeat as the only side from the VRU to have won the MARFU tournament and appear at the national playoff rounds.

Blacksburg's 2009 awards dinner has been scheduled for Saturday, 12 December, 2009, from 5:00 to 8:00 p.m. at the London Underground. Players, coaches, and regular supporters are welcome to attend the event to spend time with club members and patronize the club's sponsoring establishment. Attendees are also encouraged to bring a date. The event costs $10 per person to cover food and drink costs.

Award winners will be honored at the event and some special recognition will be granted to some mid-season retirees who are closing long and successful careers with the club. Club officers for 2010 will also be elected.

In the meantime, Blacksburg players are encouraged to keep attending offseason training and enjoy the upcoming James River Christmas Sevens Tournament in Richmond.

This week will mark one final week of preparation for Blacksburg's participation in the annual James River Christmas 7s Tournament, which will be held Saturday in Richmond, VA.

Many of Blacksburg's players have opted to skip the tournament for an offseason rest, but there is a strong contingent eager to play. Blacksburg has registered three sides for the tournament, which should ensure that all interested players have the chance to get involved with the offseason event.

The tournament will be played under the abbreviated seven-a-side version of the rugby union code, allowing for several short matches to be played by fewer players compared to the standard rugby union format. For many of the Blacksburg entrants, this will be a first encounter with the sevens format.

After the tournament, Blacksburg's offseason training focus will return to the fifteen-a-side code in preparation for the Spring 2010 season. That schedule will be announced in the coming weeks.

Blacksburg may not have another formal competitive match until after the New Year, but the club isn't spending the winter break idle. Today marked one of several intrasquad events to be played during the idel period leading up to the Spring 2010 schedule.

Today's intrasquad session, played at Blacksburg's "Rose Garden" match ground, featured 10-a-side variation matches as part of a transition from the Fall 2009 season and the upcoming James River Christmas Sevens tournament. Developing Blacksburg players, including a large contingent of students from the Edward Via Virginia College of Osteopathic Medicine, made up a substantial portion of the players who made themselves available for the intrasquad event.

Although the intrasquad matches were friendly and formally unscored, play was lively and intense. It is hoped that such enthusiasm will continue through the midseason break as Blacksburg maintains an active slate of offseason training and intrasquad scrimmage sessions. Players and supporters are asked to keep an eye on the BlacksburgRugby.com site to keep up with the schedule of events because it will be influenced by shortened days and cooler weather in the months to come.

The last of Blacksburg's Fall 2009 Virginia Rugby Union (VRU) Senior Men's Division III matches was played last Saturday, but there were still room for a few late and unpleasany surprises for Blacksburg as the VRU opted to shuffle its final standings after their initial release this week.

As Blacksburgrugby.com reported earlier, Blacksburg finished in a three-way draw for second place in the VRU and was intially awarded a second-place finish based on tiebreaker procedures. This led to Blacksburg originally being officially listed as the second seed from the VRU for the upcoming Spring 2010 Mid-Atlantic Rugby Football Union (MARFU) playoffs.

Apparently, however, a midweek appeal by another VRU member club has led to a standings reshuffle. Based on a late score dispute and an explanation of the VRU tiebreaker procedure that differs from the interpretation reported here last month, Blacksburg will now enter the MARFU knockout rounds as the VRU's third seed.

Although a surprised by the lateness of the standings change, Blacksburg is happy to be entering the MARFU quarterfinals for a fourth straight year and will spend the winter preparing to play whoever is put in front of them. To that end, Blacksburg will play an intrasquad match at its home ground next Satruday, and training sessions will continue twice a week through November. Players and interested recruits are encouraged to come out and get a run.