Views On Vassar | More rugby coaches needed to improve perfomance

Tendai Musakwa Opinions Editor

“Beast of the East” is the name of one of the tournaments that both of Vassar’s rugby teams have won in their long and successful histories. The teams can certainly be described as “beasts” of east coast collegiate rugby: According to cstv.com, the women’s team ranked 11th in the nation as of Feb. 20. Similarly successful, the men’s team finished their season last semester ranked as Division II champions of the Metropolitan New York Collegiate Rugby Union. The College’s rugby teams are certainly two of the most, if not the most, accomplished athletic teams on campus. However, more could be done to improve the two teams.

In order to fully cater to the varying interests of the student population, the College should be more oriented toward student-athlete success. In particular, according to members of the rugby team, hiring new coaches to assist Tony Brown, currently Vassar’s only rugby coach, would ensure that team members receive more individualized training and thus improve the performance of the teams as a whole.

Almost 100 people make up the men and women’s rugby teams. The two teams are both coached by Brown and Mark Griffiths, a 29-year-old former professional English player, who assists him during the fall season. This places an enormous amount of responsibility on Brown, who must cater to the needs of each and every team member when Griffiths is not present. Other Vassar athletic teams typically have full-time head and assistant coaches attending to far fewer people than those coached by Brown. The rugby teams should not be discriminated against in coach allocation just because they are not Division III sports. There is a gross discrepancy in the level of coaching received by other teams in relation to the rugby team. Nevertheless, both rugby teams have managed to flourish, with the two teams winning the Metro New York Division I championship at different moments in time.

Maintaining such accomplishments in light of the ever-increasing number of students playing rugby each year requires a new coach. The most successful collegiate rugby teams in the nation, Stanford women’s rugby and the University of California, Berkeley’s Golden Bears (men) both have three full-time coaches and roughly the same number of members our team has. Evidently, success also depends on the number of instructors attending to the needs of individual team members. Therefore, to improve the performance of our players and possibly make them match or even surpass these top teams, we need more coaches to assist in the instruction of our rugby squad.

Some people would argue that perhaps the rugby teams should reduce the number of members in their teams instead of asking for additional coaches. For example, other teams cap the number of people in their teams. Brown, however, states that he will not prevent anyone who wants to join the teams from doing so. “We’re not about cutting members or preventing people who want to play from playing,” he said. Athletic teams should not only emphasize success, but rather participation, as well. If a person is willing to work hard to improve him/herself through practice, they should be allowed to be members of the team.

One could also ask whether hiring additional coaches would improve the performance of the teams, or actually decrease it, seeing as they are already successful under Brown’s instruction. As has been explained earlier, however, having more coaches would help improve the action of the team as a whole by having a specialist focusing on the individual performance of members of the rugby team. It must also be noted that the additional coaches would still be working under the direction of Brown and would be chosen for their coaching expertise and experience.

According to Brown and members of the rugby team, a large factor in the success of Vassar’s rugby team has been the work of Griffiths. The players stated that they found that Griffiths’ coaching complemented Brown’s, leading to more fulfilling practice sessions. Up until last year when the team used its endowment to pay him, Griffiths had been coaching on a voluntary basis. If the school were to hire a coach like Griffiths on a permanent basis,, the standing of the rugby team could be improved.

For the almost 100 students who devote a lot of time and effort into representing their college by playing rugby for it, achieving this success can only come if Vassar employs a supplementary rugby coach.