The Wellington Wizards Rugby Club hosted a mini-camp and scrimmage with the Boynton Beach Rugby Club on Saturday, July 16. It was a combined effort between the coaches to get the players acclimated with sevens rugby.
Sevens rugby features teams playing with seven on a side, as opposed to the typical 15. The field size remains the same in dimension, however, and the game is much faster. Players have to cover more ground during play, which makes it difficult, with only seven on each team, which usually results in more scoring.
The Palm Beach Phoenix are a subdivision of the Wizards that participate in the sevens rugby series. Head coach Ron Vargo conducted the camp with Boynton Beach head coach Sean Simon. “Sevens is played a little bit differently, so we just wanted to show them those principles,” Vargo said. “We wanted to get the Boynton kids some experience as well.”
Boynton Beach rugby is a newer program but continues to grow, according to Simon. “The boys are up to about 50 bodies,” he said. “We’ve made our way into four different high schools, and it will take some time to build that momentum.”
The girls teams just started two months ago, Simon added. “We already have between 30 to 50 bodies,” he explained.
Boynton has also started a touch rugby team within the club and believes that since the Wellington club is their closest neighbor, it only makes sense to cooperate to grow both programs.
The rugby community offers a family-type atmosphere and encourages a brotherhood culture, promoting respect and unity. The coaches on hand during the camp mentor that philosophy among the players. Both clubs concluded the training sessions and participated in short scrimmages with the sevens rules.
The Phoenix will field two teams in the 2018 Surfin’ Sevens Rugby Tournament, one boys team and one girls team. Simon hopes to have select players eligible to participate in their first tournament. The tournament will be held Saturday, June 23 at Lake Lytal Park, kicking off at 10 a.m. For more information, visit www.floridarugby.org.
