There is a new sport gaining popularity among local youth.
This spring, thanks to the dedication and enthusiasm of a Bonnyville teacher, rugby was started up in town. After coaching rugby in Cold Lake for the past couple of years, Cassaundra Noyes decided to bring the sport to her new school, Dr. Brosseau.
“My principal was really supportive when I asked if I could start a team. We had an insane amount of support, especially from parents and kids wanting to come out and try it,” said Noyes. “As far as I know, this is probably the first rugby club we’ve had in Bonnyville.”
The formation of a rugby squad at the junior high level corresponds with an ongoing push by the Penguins Rugby Club to attract more youth to the sport. Though based out of Cold Lake, the adult team sees players from across the Lakeland. This season, the city’s high school teams marked a decade of operation under the guidance of educators Jared Nichol and Brett Todd.
With an uptick of interest in recent years, Penguins president Dave Brown said they’re working on further expanding the sport to young athletes.
“The current executive with the Cold Lake Penguins recognize that if we’re going to expand our future and our club’s sustainability, we recognize the significance of youth development. We started making an initiative to invest in that development,” explained Brown. “At the junior high level, we had a lot of expressed interest. Coincidentally, we had some alumni and parents that stepped up and wanted to contribute. This year, we brought in Rugby Canada and coached up 15 coaches so that we could have qualified coaches at all levels.”
A Penguins alumna herself, Noyes was overwhelmed with the interest that students showed in rugby.
“It was awesome to see; I had a lot more kids than I knew what to do with. Even now I’ve got kids asking about if they can play when they go to high school, and their older and younger siblings asking if there’s a spot for them. The demand definitely surpasses supply.”
Currently, the rugby program is run at Dr. Brosseau School for students in Grades 5 to 8. On any given day, Noyes has approximately 25 students between the boys and girls teams.
While pleased with what they’ve been able to accomplish so far, she hopes to see the sport continue to grow.
“I would love to see high school teams in Bonnyville, or a club development like we have in Cold Lake. It’d be really nice to give those kids an opportunity to play,” expressed Noyes. “We’ve had a lot of success with our high school girls and boys heading off to university and playing with the University of Alberta Pandas rugby program. Some of our players have even travelled internationally and taught rugby in Africa. It’s kind of in the baby stages right now and we just want to expose everybody to the sport. Hopefully more kids will want to play, we’ll maybe start bridging the Catholic board and the public board, or forming a club team.”
The response the sport of rugby received in Bonnyville also has got the Penguins executive thinking about the future. Brown noted that they don’t have a definitive plan in place, but will be looking into how they can expand to make rugby more accessible in Bonnyville and, in particular, to youth.
To get kids started at a young age, the club is continuing their annual mini program this summer for ages five to 11. Run over four sessions, Rookie Rugby provides smaller balls and flags no-contact play to allow children to get a feel for the sport and gain the necessary skills.
“It’s one of those beautiful sports where you don’t necessarily have to be athletic. You don’t have to be a certain body type or have certain skills, you just have to want to play,” said Noyes. “It’s a sport that anybody can play at any time.”
