March Date, 2003 - Brentwood "A" Emerge as Conference Champions

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April 26, 2003 - MTRC All Conference Team Selected

Coaches: Phillip Maddox - Dusty Brown - Dara "Cowboy" Smith

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April 26, 2003 - MTRC's Brentwood "A" defeats SMAC's West for Dual State Championship

Brentwood A side wins State defeating Knoxville's West High School on a sunny afternoon at Brentwood, Tennessee's Crocket Park. This is Brentwood's second state championship row and third straight trip to the state finals. Brentwood's Kevin Hartley, the Tournament MVP, scored five tries leading Brentwood. Scoring started out in the first minute when Kevin Hartley takes a pass in loose play and rambles 30 yards around the West pack and scores right of post. Three minutes later Jon Deavue takes a pass at outside center and splits the West backs for a try under the post and makes the conversion kick making the score 12-0. West stiffens throughout the half which ends without further scoring.

Brentwood opens the second half when Hartley again takes the ball and moves to his left around the left side to put the ball down left of post. Deavue kicks the conversion to make it 19-0. Hartley will score again in the 6th, 24th, and the 27 minute. Deavoe scores in the 12th minute. West got on the board with a try of their own in the 15th minute on a push over with the pack.

Final score: Brentwood A - 52 (vs) West - 5
Referee: Jerry McLemore; TJ

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April 26, 2003 - Brentwood "B" Repeats as Bowl State Champs

Brentwood B defeated the Fighting Irish to repeat as the Bowl Champion of the Tennessee High School Rugby League. Brentwood B claimed the championship with a 22-5 victory over the Fighting Irish, a team of Father Ryan High School students.

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April 26, 2003 - Tennessee All StateTeam Selected

Coach: Butch Robertson

Names Here

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May 3, 2003 - MTRC Wins First Inaugral High School South Rugby Championships

Nashville Claims Inaugural Championship

Nashville claimed the inaugural USA Rugby South High School Championship held on May 3 in Knoxville, Tennessee. This event was hosted jointly by the University of Tennessee Rugby Club and the Smoky Mountain Athletic Club. Nashville, a collection of players from the Middle Tennessee area, defeated the Smoky Mountain Athletic Club and Pineville-Matthews High School in earning the first ever high school championship of the South.

11:00 AM - Nashville 21, SMAC 0
12:30 PM - Exhibition Match - Powell (SMAC) 7, Upperman (Nashville) 7
2:00 PM - Nashville 29, Pineville-Matthews Hoggs 12
3:30 PM - Exhibition Match - Pineville-Matthews B 17, Carter (SMAC) 5
5: 00 PM - Pineville-Matthews Hoggs 19, SMAC 15

Pineville-Matthews Advances to National Tournament. Siting a schedule conflict with high school graduation and travel concerns, Nashville forfeited the right to advance to the USA Rugby National Championship Tournament. PIneville-Matthews will advance to the USA Rugby High School National Championship to be held on May 18 & 19 in Dallas, Texas.

Acknowledgements:
Special thanks to Tennessee Orthopaedic Clinic for providing excellent on the field medical support throughout the day; the MidSouth Referee's Society for providing the officiating; The Smoky Mountain Athletic Club and the University of Tennessee Mens Rugby Club for venue preparation and facility management for the event.
As youth rugby grows throughout the South, this tournament will be expanded to include all areas that have compliant and established high school rugby programs.

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July 12, 2003 - Local U19 Ruggers Win State Sevens Championship

High School rugby in Middle Tennessee reached a new plateau when the MID-TN team won the Tennessee State Sevens Championship held in Knoxville. The team was comprised of players from Franklin, Brentwood and Oakland High Schools.

MID-TN and Knoxville West High School battled for the championship following a full day of rugby. Both teams were undefeated coming into the championship game. The atmosphere was charged as the spectators gathered to watch this monumental struggle.

The Middle Tennessee boys scored first and often to seal the victory. The final score was 33-10 which doesn’t do justice to the fine effort put forward by West High side. In the end however, MID-TN was much too strong on both sides of the ball and the victory was sealed.

U-19 teams participating in the tournament were Maryville, Pellissippi, West I, West II, Catholic, MID-TN, and Farragut.
Coach Mike Haverstick who coaches the Brentwood rugby team during the regular season, put together a great group of athletes. He also constructed a devastating game plan that was executed to perfection.

Many of the boys have been practicing with Coach Mike Rayburn at Franklin’s Jim Warren Park on Tuesday nights. The practices are open to any boy wishing to learn Sevens Rugby. Currently there are boys from Brentwood, Franklin and the University of Tennessee participating. Practices are from 6:30 until 9:00 and will continue the remainder of July.

Sevens Rugby is played on a full sized rugby field with only seven players on a side. The game is incredibly fast paced. A single mistake will lead to a score by the opponent. For the spectator this is a very exciting game to watch. With bruising tackles, blazing runs, and incredible ball handling, this game has it all. No wonder rugby is the fastest growing High School sport in Tennessee.

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October 10, 2003 - Website Launched

Thanks, This is a great way to start our season. Every team has responded to the request. Now I will put together a tentative schedule for review by 11-1-03 and distribute. Our 11-18-03 meeting at a place yet to be determined will among other things revolve around the schedule. Some other news of interest so that you don't think we've been sleeping all summer are as follows:

1. Our web-site is up and although has much work to be done, has some great features on it that will be of help to all of us. Special thanks to Cowboy for initiating this plan with the help of Jay Blandford and Rich Forbes, the site is www.mtrugby.com . These features will be discussed at the 11-18-03 meeting. We also wish to thank our first corporate sponsor for donating 750.00 worth of services to our site
 
2. Parents- The first of this month we met with the parent reps and had what I thought was excellent dialogue with good input for all in attendance. Coaches know that these parents are will and able to help expand your programs.
 
3. Rich Forbes has developed a code of conduct plan that closely follows both SMAC and USA Rugby policies that is to be implemented this year.
 
4. Possibilities exist in adding Overton to our list of teams and Warren County looks to field a team again this year. This sets us up to have 12 teams.
 
5. Home fields for Green Hills and Fighting Irish at Percy Warner Park will be finalized in December
 
6. Jim Elks has accepted the Role of Medical Coordinator, which will provide and Coordinate trainers for all games.
 
7. Joe Franklin has accepted an administrative position and as soon as I can figure out his scope of work he will join our staff.
 
8. A date for the Referee Clinic has not been set but are looking at 1st two weeks in November and the Coaches clinic is set up for January 25th and 26th.
 
9. Jay Blandford and I are working on this years Coaches Start up Package that will be displayed on the web-site.
 
10. Although I have done nothing in this area our High School girls program is beginning to get a foothold in our area.
 
This is just a brief update, if we can follow through now things will be better organized in the spring which will allow us to concentrate on teaching the game of rugby to our young men and enjoying a good safe season. I look forward to hearing from all of you in the near future as we have much to accomplish.

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November 17, 2003 - Coaches & Parents Meeting

To All:
The MTRC is calling all old, new, and potential coaches to the annual coaches conference. The meeting will be held at Middle Tennessee State University's (MTSU) John Bragg Mass Communication Building. The room number is 101 and will be opened at 6:30 pm. The meeting will start promptly at 7:00 pm. Below is the agenda to be covered; so come prepared. Remember to mark your calendars and to be on time as we will have very much to discuss and new things to cover. *Agenda Below.*

MTRC Coaches and Parent Representatives 11-18-03 Meeting
Our annual meeting is scheduled for 11-18-03 at the Mass Communications Bldg room 101 at MTSU from 7:00 to 9:30. We will need a voting member of each team and encourage your team’s parent rep to attend as well. It would also be helpful to bring a laptop and someone proficient in its use as we have some new and exciting changes to implement in this meeting. Enclosed is a map of the campus and general location of the meeting site. Some of the business that must be handled is as follows:

1. Election of Officers
2. Administration
3. Schedule
4. Budget review and voting
5. Merchandize purchase policy
6. Training for coaches, Referees and Parents
7. Our new Safety program
8. Media and Sponsorship Campaign
9. Rolling out our new Web-site and the interactive features of this program
10. Review of State Tournament Bid Request form

For directions got to http://www.mapquest.com/. Click on the driving directions icon (it's blue with a blue car). The address you are trying to get to is: 1301 East Main St. / Murfreesboro, TN / 37132. Once here, turn left at the memorial (a grey pointed statue) entrance and go two stop signs, turn left. Then go to the stop sign right before you get to the Recreation Center. The Recreation Center will be on your right hand side at a 45 degree angle. Turn left at this stop sign and take the last right into a gravel parking lot and park there. You will then be looking at the John Bragg Mass Communication Building with two double set of glass doors. Go thru these doors and all the way to the last room on your right - room 101.

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November 21, 2003 - Referee Clinic

To All:
Thanks to Jim Snell we will be holding our Referee Clinic on 12-13-03 at Vanderbilt Athletic Facility starting at 8:30 AM to 4:30 PM. The cost of this clinic is 75.00. The first part will be classroom instruction lasting from 8:30- 2:00. The second part will be practical field instruction from 2:30 - 4:30. Come ready to run around. Lunch will be furnished. Please notify myself or David Haines by 11-30-03 so we can get head counts. Instructors are David Haines, Jerry McLemore and Mark Williams. We also would like to have two teams help with our field instruction portion, any teams wanting to help out please contact us.

As stated before all High Schools must have two certified adult touch judges and begin training one Referee. Enhancing this area of our sport is absolutely the most important vehicle we have to make sure we grow properly. When I get exact direction to the Facility I will send that out as well.

Our 1-24-04 Coaching clinic will also be held at Vanderbilt Athletic complex starting at 9:00 AM to 5:00 PM. Contact either myself or Mark Williams by 12-30-03 to sign up. Again all Middle Tennessee Conference coaches are required to be at least a level one coach. Cost of this clinic varies depending on which level you are signing up for. More information will be updated to our website when it becomes available. Lunch is also served and there will be an outside portion to this program as well.

Feel free to send this information to any interested party and it will also be displayed on website www.mtrugby.com .

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December 23, 2003 - Coaching Clinic

To All:
*REMEMBER* This coaching clinic is sponsored by the THSRL and will help to raise our standard of play as well as serve as a major function as a fundraiser. This will help pull money into our league and to keep costs down low! So, each club should send at least one person to get their Level I or II certification and a second person if at all possible. It can be a parent, player, former player, etc. Remember, our league, our conference is only as good as you make it; after all it is YOUR league and conference. So, what you going do to improve it?
Coaches Clinic -- Below is some basic info -- Complete information should be available on USA page and you can now register online <www.usarugby.org> and follow the instructions below.

NASHVILLE, TENNESSEE
LEVELS I & II
JANUARY 24-25, 2004

SCHEDULE
Check-in will be from 8:00 am to 8:30 am on Saturday at the Vanderbilt Student Recreational Center. All courses will begin at 8:30 am and continue until 6:00 pm on Saturday. The courses conclude at 3:30 pm on Sunday.

REGISTRATION
To register online go <www.usarugby.org> from the website: click "Resources" then "Clinics & Camps" and use the link "2004 Registration." Pre-registration concludes at midnight on Monday prior to the clinic. For questions about registration or to register by telephone, please call USA Rugby at 719-637-1022, ext. 221.

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