The NYRC U-19 boys' and girls' teams

We Rugby enthusiasts know the passion players bring to the sport (just watch this video of the New Zealand All-Blacks’ pre-game rituals and tell us you don’t feel a bit intimidated). And since 2006, members of the New York Rugby Club (NYRC) have been channeling that same energy and drive into improving the lives of teens in the metropolitan area through their Under 19 boys’ and girls’ teams.

In 2006, while teaching at Sports Professions High School in the Bronx, former women’s national team member Lisa Lake decided to rectify the school’s after-school sports problem (which was that, despite its name, the school had no after-school sports) by forming a rugby team and affiliating it with her own Division I club. The initial squad consisted of six players and zero experience, but it has since grown to about 40 boys and girls who excell both on the pitch – the girls won last year’s New York division tournament in the seven-player format – and off. “Ninety percent of our seniors last year graduated on to higher education institutions,” says Lake, “which is incredible given some of these kids’ circumstances.” Lake notes that many of NYRC’s 100-plus members and affiliates “have tremendous resources to help these kids,” and have come through by providing college counseling, recruiting trips, summer jobs, tutoring, nutritional education and life coaching. They even raised enough money to send a few players to the Natal Sharks’ rugby camp in South Africa, home of several NYRC men’s club ruggers who are in the States on a player exchange program, this past summer.

To learn more or get involved, visit the NYRC website.