When talking about sports, college students normally tend to ruminate on basketball, softball, football, and other mainstream college sports.
Very few times do you hear about club sports, but here at ETSU, the Rugby team is putting that to an end.
“We try to get our name out there,” said ETSU Rugby President Jaylen Grimes. “We’re going to try to do more community service to get our name out and for the campus we’re going to try to get more games scheduled on campus.”
Even though the team hasn’t been at ETSU for very long, they have accomplished a lot. The team has added more players, and they’ve also performed well in tournament play.
The season is split into two parts: In the fall they play default play which is 15 men versus 15 men, and in spring, they play Olympic style which is seven on seven.
Last season, the club played against teams from Appalachian State University, Emory & Henry College, Eastern Carolina University, the Johnson City men’s club and more.
Grimes said that last fall the team gained new players so there was a lot of “getting used to it.”
“It was pretty much a growing process,” Grimes said. “A lot of us were first time players. A lot of us played football, so we were athletic. It was just a lot of getting used to the rules and playing smarter.”
Things got better for the team when crossing over to the spring semester. The team played in four tournaments, one in which the team finished third overall. This was the first time the club brought hardware back to the university.
The team missed qualifications for the finals by one spot — the tournament only took the top eight. ETSU tied for ninth with Western Carolina.
“Overall the season went pretty well,” Grimes said. “It was our first time in the conference, so it was something to adjust to and something new that we have never done before, but it was a good showcase overall.”
The first game of the 2016-2017 season will start on Sept. 17, and Grimes said the team is ready.
