Philippine Volcanoes: Rugby is for everybody

Every Filipino child can be a Volcano, according to the Philippine National Rugby Team.

 

"Go on Youtube, watch Rugby 101. It's a great way to stay in shape. And there's a great program here in the Philippines if you wanna play rugby. There are plenty of things out there for you," said Filipino-Spanish Jaime Zobel Urquijo. Urquijo, a grandson of businessman Jaime Zobel de Ayala, has been playing for the Philippines since 2010.

Urquijo is referring to the Philippine Rugby Football Union's (PRFU) Rugby 101 program held at the PhilSports Complex (formerly ULTRA) in Pasig City every Mondays and Wednesdays. Those interested in rugby can visit the sessions and start training.

"I think it's a fantastic game for Filipinos because it's open to all ages, all sizes. You can be small. Some players on the team aren't very big but they're very fast. Filipinos are fast. You do get big Filipinos as well. Think of the basketball players. (They're) perfect for this game. We wanna grow this game for Filipinos," said Justin "The Flying Jeepney" Coveney.

"We've got the rugby 101 sessions from 6 to 8 p.m.," said Letts, who expects more and more people to get into the sport.

"We want to develop rugby in all aspects. We have the corporate, we have the universities. We started with the street kids. We have orphanages that we support and so we teach them. We have a separate thing in the office which is the development side of PRFU. That's how we develop rugby in the country," said PRFU Development Officer Nikki Lira.

Two days before the culminating matches in the Asian 5 Nations Division 1 tournament, players from the Philippine national team were joined by their Sri Lankan, Singaporean and Chinese Taipei counterparts in teaching rugby to street children from Childhope Asia (Philippines).

 

"Meron diyang galing Morayta, Monumento and Balintawak. Ang Childhope kasi, working with the street children so may on-going program na kami sa kanila. Happy sila. Iba ngayon e. Hindi siya bilog na bola. Most of them nagsasabi nga na nag-enjoy sila at natutunan nila kung pano maglaro ng rugby. They will get in touch with us para magkaroon ng development program," said Mylene Lagman, Childhope's Resource Mobilization Officer.

Lira believes that locally-grown kids have the skills to do well in rugby.

 

"These kids are very athletic. They're fast, they're agile, they're used to quick movements. I think this sport is going to be good for them. With these kids, we don't start at tackle rugby. We teach them touch (rugby)," said Lira. "We have universities such as UMak (University of Makati), Pamantasan ng Lungson ng Maynila, QC Polytechnic University, and we're trying to get more colleges to learn and join touch rugby. We recently played touch rugby games in ALCO (Association of Local Colleges)." "We played touch rugby as an exhibition sport and they want to put it in as a regular sport. We're trying top get more universities para madami ding naglalaro," added Lira.

 

Watch and learn

One of the first steps in appreciating the sport aside from learning it is actually watching. Most of the members of the Philippine Volcanoes may be gone, but there's still a lot of rugby going on all year round in the Philippines. On May 5, the JML 15s league will kick-off in Cebu at the Cebu International School. Round 2 will be on May 12 at the Nomads Sports Club in Parañaque. The finals will be on June 9, again in Nomads. — JVP, GMA News