Everything had been coming together quickly for the full revival of the sport in the city, and now organizers Trevor Dawe and Curtis Dumont are hoping they’ll regain that momentum over the next month.
To that end, the MJRFC has launched their male and female adult programs in addition to their Mini-Rugby program for youngsters age 6-12.
“It’s all getting going, now that we can finally play sports,” Dawe said on Friday afternoon. “We were kind of in the same boat as everybody, a mad rush when they bumped up allowing outdoor sports. But it’s a good problem to have, we’ve been working hard to get the adult program working and we just launched registration for the mini program as well to get kids out of the house.”
The plan for Mini-Rugby is to run a quick six-week program with sessions from 5:30 p.m. to 7 p.m. every Tuesday night beginning June 8 at Moose Square Park (600 Block Ominica West).
The focus will be on fun in the sun while learning the basics of the game and ideally fostering a lifelong love for the game.
“Two summers ago we did run something from May to June, and this is kind of a continuation of that,” said Dumont, who runs the Mini-Rugby program. “We just want kids to get out and get active and maybe introduce them to a new sport, build things that way.”
You can register for Mini-Rugby online, with the cost only $35 for the full six-week session.
That low price extends into the adult side of the game, too: the MJRFC received grant money through Sask Lotteries and the City of Moose Jaw, allowing them to offer extremely low registration fees.
How low? Only $90 per player for a full campaign of practices and games.
“We definitely have to thank them for that, being able to secure funding even when we couldn’t play due to COVID,” Dawe said.
The return to play in the adult game will mark the first action on the men’s side since 2014 when the Moose Jaw Nads program closed up. The women’s team, meanwhile, will be the first of its kind in the city.
“When you look at the number of sports for women, you’re either playing ball or that’s about it,” Dawe said. “So this is another option on the table that wasn’t there before and we’re hoping it’ll really grow.”
The teams held their first practice last Thursday and will be going every Wednesday night from 7 p.m. to 9 p.m. also at Moose Square Park.
Based on the early response, there will be little difficulty fielding both teams, to the point that they even have their first games on tap — July 5 for the women, July 10 for the men.
It certainly hasn’t hurt to have several former Nads stalwarts helping with the program as they join in the effort to get the game they once dominated in the province back off the ground.
“We’ve had a lot of support from them, there are quite a few guys who are still playing and helping us in the background getting the club going and helping us walk through everything,” Dawe said. “There’s definitely a community still out there and we’ll looking forward to see it continue to grow.”
For more information and to register for the adult teams, visit the MJRFC website at www.facebook.com/MooseJawRugby.
