About a week ago, I interviewed the head of the Rugby Club at Mesa College, Dave Mason, and the advisor of the program, David Warczakowski. Mason is a former rugby player, and hopes to bring rugby to community colleges to enhance student life. He believes that rugby is an underserved sport and hopes that the sport can somehow better the students experience here on campus.
We all know that community college sports don’t give players a chance to have the same connection to their campus that student athletes at some four year colleges may have, mainly because you are only allowed to play two years under the current junior college ruling.
During the first couple days of recruitment, Mason and Warczakowski signed up 104 men, and 32 women to play!
With this club sport, Mason wants to make sure everyone is included. He vowed to make sure that anyone willing to sign up and practice will have a spot on the team. It does not matter if you are special needs, or have any other disability or illness, Mason will find a spot for you and make sure you play. His dreams to create a pipeline of sorts to San Diego Mesa College and get teens from nearby high schools to want to come here to play rugby.
Although the majority of the players are from Mesa College, and this is a club sport, they will still play against nearby four year colleges, including San Diego State, Point Loma of Nazarene, Cal State Northridge, Fullerton, as well as junior colleges like Whittier.
We here at the Mesa Press wish nothing but the best for Dave and his dreams of making Mesa a rugby powerhouse in Southern California.
If you have any interest at all of joining the rugby club here at Mesa, feel free to contact Mason via email (bigdave@bigdavemason.com), or simply go and like the San Diego Junior College Rugby page on Facebook.
