News

1. You Love Rugby - If you have played the sport, it has shaped you. The rugby ball is oval; its central design is about chaos. You became more enterprising because of that chaos. You learned how to work as part of a team, capitalizing together on the chaos to create opportunity. You learned that the game is on the pitch and at the post-game we're all rugby players. By investing in CORE, you help provide more people with the many benefits you have already experienced from our sport.
2. You Love Rugby For Kids - Rugby builds character. It has deep-rooted traditions of respect, resilience, sportsmanship, self-management, and unselfishness. All types of rugby develop physical skills and fitness through playful activity - basic skills like balance, hand-eye coordination, running, passing, and catching. Contact rugby develops additional qualities for going into contact, kicking a ball, evasive running/passing, courage, perseverence, and overall strength and coordination. Rugby encourages team play. Except at very young ages, progress is seldom achieved on your own. Teamwork and supporting each other are vital for success. What parent does not want all of this for their children?

BC Rugby has announced the Club Sevens Series for the summer of 2018. The first stop has already been determined - it will be at the Center of Gravity event in Kelowna on July 28 and 29. Two or three other tournaments will be sanctioned in August and a provincial club champion will be determined. At the Centre of Gravity Sevens, three 8-team tourna...

"May the 4th be with you." It's been a good calendar joke since Star Wars exploded into our culture in 1977. Hosts of a senior high sevens tournament in Kelowna are challenging teams to dress for galactic domination on May 4th, when the tournament plays out at UBC Okanagan. Will tournament officials allow Darth helmets on the pitch? Will Obi-Two Kenobi (Obi-Wan's twin brother) make an appearance? How many people will say, "Yoda man!" to passing strangers? You can only know by attending this competitive and fun-focused tournament on May 4.

325 young rugby athletes participated last weekend in Week One of Central Okanagan spring touch rugby programs at the Parkinson Rec Centre.  This is a 39% jump in enrollments over 2017.  333 boys and girls in 16 local elementary schools are also getting ready for their first week of touch rugby play; league play begins this Wednesday.  This rapid growth has not surprised local touch rugby enthusiasts.

The BC Secondary Schools Rugby provincial organization has announced Round Two of their provincial Stadium Series. The series promotes cross-regional play in the run-up to the provincial finals. 19 games have been scheduled for May 4th, 5th, and 6th. Four of them feature schools from the Fraser Valley travelling to Kelowna Secondary School to take on four interior schools.

On May 12, the Kelowna Crows rugby club, in conjunction with TORA, CORE, Therugbyshop.com and the Priest Valley Vicars, is hosting a large rugby day at Parkinson rec center. All rugby groups, teams, clubs, players, supporters and ruggers of other categories are invited to join us for all or part of the festivities.

The Okanagan Rugby Union (ORU) has been around since the 1970's. In recent years, it has focused on operating a summer league for men's teams in the Okanagan. Penticton, Vernon, and Salmon Arm have been the mainstays of this league. Kelowna's focus has been on lower mainland leagues, where rugby is played for 8 months (September to April) and long-distance travel is part of the game.

16 local elementary schools will participate in the SD23 Elementary Touch Rugby program this spring, up from 14 schools in 2017. An estimated 300 boys and girls in grade 4 - 6 will enjoy the fast, fitness-oriented game of touch rugby.

In touch rugby, teams get six 'touches' to move the ball down the field to score a 'try'. Defensive players must be back five yards to be able to make a touch. The team with the most tries wins.

A projected 800 Central Okanagan rugby athletes from 4 to Over-40 will enjoy touch, sevens, or XVs rugby over the next two months. Add another 200 adult touch rugby players this summer, 50 men’s and women’s UBCO rugby XVs sides, and around 150 in the fall-operated Grade 7/8 league, and we project that over 1200 athletes will enjoy some form of rugby in the Central Okanagan in 2018.

As young rugby players prepare for another great spring season of play, we would like to recognize those local businesses that make the game affordable for kids.

Touch Rugby
For the fourth year in a row, three local businesses will contribute $3,000 to fund the local mini-rugby, elementary touch, and community touch sevens programs. Their contributions have made the mini-rugby, elementary touch, and community touch programs very affordable for over 500 young players. Local rugby thanks the following businesses for their touch rugby support: