Observations From a Rugby Tournament

No English teaching this weekend because of the Bangkok International 10's Rugby Tournament: the highlight and biggest event and fundraiser of the year for Nak Suu.  I decided to drop in for a bit this morning to cheer on the kids.  To a certain extent, sports tournaments are all the same. There's an energy and buzz about them, and for those who don't know how the sport works, a definite amount of confusion as well.  I, being used to skating competitions, was wondering what the schedule was so I wouldn't miss the kids games.  At this giant round robin tournament however, there are cycles of 15 minute games playing all over all the time, so you just kind of have to go and see what you see.  Since Nak Suu had three youth teams going (U-11, U-12, and U-16) I was able to see lots of games and each team play at least once.  Don't know that we scored in any games, but we almost did in one U-12 game I was watching :)  It made me miss skating competitions to an extent: the glory of participating, the merchandise tents, food vendors, and the like.  Our kids played hard against much larger opponents.  Thais are small to start with, and our kids are often even smaller due to the rough circumstances and poor nutrition in their lives. As the program continues and they learn more about the game they'll get better.  At this point they looked a lot like a lot of youth teams in soccer or basketball who haven't yet figured out that passing is the real key to the game.  I was impressed with how hard they played, even when they were outplayed or the other team didn't play real clean.  And rugby is definitely a fun sport to watch, even if I don't understand it at all.  It's fast paced and exciting and you can get the general gist of it fairly easily. 

U-16 scrum

U-12's in action.  Love how the coaches are right on the field in the youth games, yelling and coaching all the way.

The U-11's watch the older kids play

Biggest fundraiser of the year for our program. 

I love the Thai numerals on their jerseys.

U-11's lined up and ready for the equivalent of the kickoff.

Yes, those are grown men rugby players in those outfits...

My friend and I decided only a non-native English speaker would put PMS Club on the back of a red rugby shirt.

Nak Suu fielded a men's team in the tournament as well. These guys actually won the game I saw :)