Pygmies Open Season In Santa Fe This Weekend

Mountain Mail Reports

For the faithful few, the waiting is over. The influx of students for New Mexico Tech’s fall 2010 semester includes some reinforcements for a cadre of rugby players who have kept the Pygmy flame burning all summer.
For a small group of Tech ruggers taking classes, summer meant not only bookwork but also some select opportunities to hit the road to play some rugby.
Led by team captain and civil engineering senior Royce Beaudry, the abbreviated Tech team held practices throughout the heat of summer, concentrating on the seven-man version of rugby that dominates the summer scene. Occasionally meeting up with teammates summering away from Socorro, Tech ruggers played in tournaments in Las Vegas, Nev., (June 19); Steamboat Springs, Colo., (July 10); and in Denver on two separate occasions (July 24 and August 21 and 22).
Getting in on the summer action were Beaudry, fellow captains Isaiah Sanchez and Jerod Aragon, Dustin Webb, James Chavez, Joaquin Roibal, Marshall Spradley, Roosevelt Theodore, Zach Speer, Joe Tyson, Enrique Koerdell, James Fallt and Pablo Laight. While they didn’t bring home any hardware, the footloose Pygmies played some solid rugby, stayed in shape, and deepened their understanding of the multi-faceted sport they’ve chosen.
As with each year since 1974, the first day of classes on August 23 has signaled the opening of Pygmy Rugby training camp, and as in previous years the team will open its 2010-11 rugby campaign at the Santa Fe Tens Tournament on Sunday, Sept. 5.
Sunday, Sept. 5: Santa Fe Tens Tournament
Sept. 11: At Santa Fe Santos RFC, 1 p.m.
Sept. 18: Clovis Nomads RFC in Socorro
Oct. 2-3: N. Arizona Tens Tournament, Flagstaff
Oct. 16-17: High Desert Classic in Albuquerque
Friday, Oct. 22 : Black & Blue (Alumni Match), 4 p.m.
Sat., Oct. 30: at New Mexico State University, 1 p.m.
Nov. 13: New Mexico Brujos in Socorro, 1 p.m.

Pygmies Open Season In Santa Fe This Weekend