Overview
Founded in 1999, Rugby Oregon is a State Youth Rugby Organization (SYRO) charged with developing youth and high school rugby in Oregon and SW Washington. Currently headquartered in Bend, OR, Rugby Oregon oversees high school and middle school contact 7’s and 15’s leagues, and youth non-contact leagues. Rugby Oregon is a member of USA Rugby, the national governing body for the sport of rugby in America, and Full Sport Member of the United States Olympic Committee (USOC) and the International Rugby Board (IRB).
History
Jeff Arker, founder and Chairman of the Board of Rugby Oregon, is a retired rugby player who wanted to be able to introduce the game and its strong sense of sportsmanship and camaraderie to his son and friends. From the first series of clinics for elementary and middle-schoolers in the summer of 1999 the organization has grown to include hundreds of student athletes who participate on youth non-contact, middle school and high school teams and in skills camps and clinics throughout the year.
While we have seen significant growth, safety remains our number one priority along with providing a positive, FUN and supportive environment in which our athletes can successfully participate and our coaches and referees can thrive in.
Sportsmanship and Honoring the Game are key elements of our culture. We ask our players and parents to Honor the Game through ROOTS, showing respect for the Rules, Opponents, Officials, Teammates and one’s Self. At the same time, we ask our coaches to commit to principles of the Positive Coaching Alliance and the Double-Goal Coach, who strives to win (one goal), while pursuing the more important goal of teaching life lessons through sports.
Spirit of the Game
Rugby owes much of its appeal to its traditions which dictate that the game is played both to the letter and within the spirit of the Laws. It is the responsibility of coaches, captains, players, referees, administrators, and fans to create an environment where the highest possible standards are promoted and maintained at all times on and off the field of play.
It is through discipline, control, and mutual respect that the Game flourishes and, in the context of a game as physically challenging as rugby, these are the qualities which forge the fellowship and sense of fair play so essential to the Game’s ongoing success and survival.
These traditional values remain as important to rugby’s future as they have been throughout its long and distinguished past. The principles of rugby are the fundamentals elements upon which the Games is based and they enable participants to immediately identify the Game’s character and what makes it distinctive as a sport.
Commitment to Diversity
A Game For All
USA Rugby is proud to serve a diverse membership of players, coaches, officials and fans and is committed to creating and promoting a culture of inclusion and mutual respect, regardless of race, color, creed, national origin, religious beliefs, sex, age, gender identity, disability or sexual orientation.
We celebrate the differences that make our members unique and special and do not tolerate discrimination, bullying or exclusion in any form.
USA Rugby expects its leadership, coaches, officials, teams, players, administrators and fans to promote a culture of acceptance and support through their actions and through the recruitment of members without regard to sex, race, physical disability, or sexual orientation.
Through our commitment to diversity and mutual respect, we believe that the sport of rugby will continue to grow and become a powerful voice of change in the world of sport.
