Budd Bay Rugby Football Club

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Budd Bay Rugby Club - A Brief Overview

 

Budd Bay Buffaloes

Senior Men - PNRFU Div III

Established 1998

Head Coach Chris Cousins

Leading member of PNRFU DIII, #1 Team in Washington State.

Budd Bay Bandits

Senior Women - PNRFU Div. I

Re-Established 2004

Head Coach Dan Smith

 

Budd Bay Barbarians

Boys U19

Established 2000

Head Coach Trevor Anderson

Four members selected to USA U19 team.

Nationally ranked in 2000 (13th), 2001 (5th), 2005 (15th), 2006 (7th)

Made PNW Championship game in 2000, 2001, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007. Won PNW in 2001, 2006

Budd Bay Steelheads

Girls U19

Established 2002

Head Coach Tim Housh

Four members selected to USA U19 team. Nationally ranked in 2004 (7th), 2006 (6th)

Made PNW semifinals or better 2003, 2004, 2006, 2007

In 2006, Budd Bay sported the highest combined national ranking of any U19 rugby program with both a boys and a girls team. No other program had two teams ranked in the top 16 in the nation!

Players of Note:

Skylar Pond, Pacific Coast Grizzlies men's senior all-star team

Trevor Anderson, Pacific Northwest Loggers men's senior all-star team

Jeff Macke, USA U19 boys2001-2002

David Soles, USA U19 boys (2002)

Gavin Secker, USA U19 boys (2004-2005)

Scott Lavalla, USA U19 boys (2005-2006, captain in 2006)

Eddie Haigh, USA All American national collegiate team (2005)

Maggie Nelson, USA U19 girls (2003-2004, later captain of MIT)

Megan Thompson, USA U19s girls (2003-2006, vice captain)

Sonya Cifuentes-Hiss, USA U19 girls (2004)

Mitra Akhavan, USA U19 girls (2006)

 

Budd Bay RFC gives back!

As a charitable organization, Budd Bay RFC prides itself on its community partnerships and continuing to advance youth rugby through various clinics and camps. Budd Bay RFC is proud to have worked with: Boys & Girls Club, Girls Scouts of America, Olympia YMCA, Briggs Community YMCA, Summer and Winter Sports Camps VAC, Roosevelt Elementary School, City of Lacey, City of Olympia

Other Community Activities: Adopt-a-Highway Program, Campaigning for City of Lacey Parks Funding and Initiatives, Friends of the Olympia Library, Thurston County Food Bank

 

A Little Club History

It all started during the fall of 1997, when a bunch of us started showing up at rugby practice at The Evergreen State College. Some of us were much older than the students, but that didn't seem to matter - we were playing rugby.

As we practiced and played with the "Greeners," a few more experienced players came out, and pretty soon we thought about forming a club free of the administrative bonds of the school. Under the tutelage of Evergreen coach Trevor Anderson, the Olympia Rugby Club was unofficially born.

Our first foray into playing as a club came at various seven-a-side tournaments during the summer. Playing some of the top clubs in the Pacific Northwest, we learned a lot about teamwork and our opponents, while finishing 4-10 in four events.

We entered the schedule for the Pacific Northwest Rugby Football Union Div. II 1998/1999 season with four other clubs, and we were in business.

 

I thought you were Olympia Rugby? Why the name change?

Well, it really all goes back to the launch of our U-19 team, the Capital Cougars.

In 2000, Mr. Matt Hudson approached his teammates of the Olympia Rugby Club and stated he wanted to start a U-19 team. The club was more then happy to help. Matt decided to call the team the Capital Cougars, the team name of his high school, Capital High School in Olympia. We would rather it be Olympia U-19, but hey, this was Matt's baby. We agreed, and the Capital Cougars Rugby Club was born.

We assumed that our U-19 team, much like all other teams, would struggle to get going, and to gain members. That was until Mr. Pete Sullivan agreed to coach the side. The numbers grew quickly thanks to great recruiting by Matt, and the town being blanketed with announcements by the Men's Side. We soon had kids from all of the cities high schools, as well as a few from Shelton.

It became an issue almost immediately. Kids from other high schools did not want to play for a rival school's team, even though there was no affiliation with the school.

So a few members of the Men's side sat down to address this issue. We quickly realized that changing the U-19's side to Olympia Rugby U-19 was not a great solution since there is an Olympia High School, and we would be facing the same problem. We brainstormed. It was tough and painful, but we did it.

And so, Budd Bay RFC was born, named after the stretch of Puget Sound that flows into Olympia.

 

The Birth of the Buffalo

At the beginning of 2002 fall season, the Men's side decided a mascot was needed. After all, the boys U-19 were the Barbarians, the U-19 girls were the Steelheads, and the senior club had none.

Well...if anyone has ever been out to the pubs with the men after a match, they would know the tradition of the Buffalo. Whenever a new player joins the senior teams, they enter into a social contract with the other member to follow the rules of an old tradition, dating back to the ancient nordic times with the vikings, in a game they called Buffalo. Well, since the Men needed a mascot...and every Budd Bay senior-side member is an inducted buffalo....it was only fitting for the Men to become the Budd Bay Buffaloes. To this very day, you may here a wild call of the buffalo at a pub one night. TATUNKA!