Match kicks-off at 1:00pm so just get there for around 12:30pm. There will be a keg and cookout at the pitch following the game – everyone is encouraged to bring something along.

All the information is below - please sign up for a slot and let Julian know. If we get full coverage this is very easy and a lot of fun. Having more than the minimum number of people is NOT a bad thing! Helping out for 2-3 hours is easy - I think I did 4 hours last year - so please feel free to sign up for a block! Cheers and thanks for your help with this.

July 4th Beer Garden Fundraiser Basics:
The beer garden will be on Wednesday July 4th at the usual spot behind the old armory in Baker Park. We start selling at 11:00am and run through 9:00pm or whenever the beer runs out. We are paid $300 by the 4th of July Committee and keep all tips. This has amounted to $500+ in past years.

Staffing Sign Up (one hour shifts, but you can/should do a block of hours):
11:00am - 12:00 noon: 3 people
12:00 noon - 1:00pm: 3 people
1:00pm - 2:00pm: 3 people
2:00pm - 3:00pm: 3 people
3:00pm - 4:00pm: 3 people
4:00pm - 5:00pm: 3 people
5:00pm - 6:00pm: 5 people
6:00pm - 7:00pm: 5 people
7:00pm - 8:00pm: 6 people
8:00pm - 9:00pm: 6 people

Frederick Rugby has grown from two men’s teams to a six-team association including a women’s team and three youth teams. As well as rugby other youth and adult sports have expanded including lacrosse, football and soccer. Frederick City just doesn’t have enough multipurpose fields for everyone.

We will operate in a private/public partnership to construct the field which will be run by the City of Frederick, open to all sports programs that apply for permits with the parks and recreation department, including rugby. This is not a rugby-only field, nor is it ours. We are performing a community service and promoting activity through youth and adult sports programs in the City of Frederick.

Walnut Ridge Park is on Rocky Springs Road, just off Rosemont Avenue (directions below). The park will comprise of a multipurpose field with an additional baseball diamond and pavilion. The rest of the park is scheduled for completion in 2008.

Construction will commence in July 2007 with grass seed going down before the winter. Depending upon weather the field will be ready in summer or fall 2008. We are waiting for final approval of the site plans and anticipate grading, dispersing topsoil on the playing surface and gravel on the parking area in July. This should take just two weekends. A quick-growing grass seed will be put down to prevent soil erosion over the summer then the athletic surface grass seed mix will be seeded in the fall and over seeded in the spring. This will take involvement from everyone, the construction professionals can acquire equipment and material and the rest of us can give our time and enthusiasm.

Pete Ireland will set out the actual schedule once he has been cleared to move forward.

Directions to the Walnut Ridge Rugby Pitch:
• Take Rt-15 north to Rosemont Avenue.
• Turn right/west (away from downtown Frederick and towards Ft. Detrick), pass Ft. Detrick on your right and Montevue Road on your left.
• Turn left onto Rocky Springs Road, just before the McDonalds and drive for about ½ a mile.
• The large space on your right is where the park will be – opposite a National Guard building.
• The far end of the park is where the road veers right and you go over a small bridge.

The club has to send someone to these meetings year round – they are generally in the Washington DC area – and obviously with this meeting being in our home town we need a good showing. If any of you are interested in seeing what goes on behind the scenes at these meetings make the effort to attend. It’s in a bar so you can have a few beers during the proceedings to help things progress!

Directions to Krug’s Place:
• Take Rt-15 to 7th Street and head east (away from Ft. Detrick)
• After you cross Market Street, 7th Street dead-ends at East Street
• Turn left and drive for about a mile
• On the right is a big parking area and bowling alley Krug’s Place is next to the bowling alley (yellow sign)

The plan is to get there for 7:00pm for few beers and try to get dinner started around 8:00pm (prime rib, chicken etc). It always seems to be a bit later than that – but try to get there early! Then the captain hands out the fall 2006 player awards, the Governor will present the Pat O’Connell award and this year we’ll be sending someone to the Frederick Rugby Hall of Fame – first time in a while! Then the evening rounds out with the DJ and after that the bars on Market Street await.

The cost per person is $40 (that includes dinner, beer and the DJ) so please get the money into Stu Levine – either mail it to Stu (248 Winter Brook Drive, Walkersville, MD 21793), get it to Julian at training or do it via the website on Pay Pal (see below - $41.50 when paid online to cover handling fees).

Everyone is welcome – this is just a fun way of cheering the successes of the fall season – we qualified for the MARFU play-offs – and a chance to look forward to the challenges of the spring. The banquet is a good way to get your wives or girlfriends into the rugby club and hopefully we’ll have a good number of our new recruits (Chad’s web site never sleeps!) in attendance.

Directions to the Red Horse:
• Take Rt-15 to Rt-40 west in Frederick.
• If coming from the north, you’ll need to get all the way over to the far left lane and turn left at the light just before the gas station.
• If coming from the south, get over into the far left lane (but you have a bit more time) and turn left at the light just before the gas station.
• The Red Horse Restaurant is on your immediate left.
• The banquet is in the downstairs party room – easiest to get to it from the back of the restaurant.

Pay for the banquet online using your credit or checkcard ---

The clinic costs $10 per youth player and includes lunch. Coaches will be able to purchase lunch in the college cafeteria (costs about $5). For more information on the clinic please contact Mount Saint Mary’s Head Coach Don Briggs (tepeyac@adelphia.net).

Clinic Schedule:
8:00am – 8:30am: Registration and Warm-up
8:30am – 9:30am: Passing skills and the off-load
9:30am – 10:30am: Coaching the tackle
10:30am – 11:30am: Rucking and pods
11:45am – 12:45pm: Lunch
12:45pm – 1:30pm: Current warm-up and warm-down techniques
1:30pm – 3:00pm: Lineouts and kicking

Directions to Mount Saint Mary’s College:
• Take Rt-15 north to Emmitsburg.
  
• Turn left into the main College campus.
  
• Take your first left and follow signs to the gymnasium.
  
• Use any of the nearby parking areas. (25 minutes north of Frederick).

Time: 5:00pm
Place: 715 N. Market St. Frederick, MD
Details: Food, Drinks, and Holiday Cheer.

Start Time: 8:30pm
Where: Canal Bar South Market St. Frederick, MD
Details: Get your Santa Gear, Elves Attire, Reindeer Horns, or Snowman Scarf ready. Last year we at at least 40 Santas and many of his friends. $10.00/person gets you entrance to all bars along the tour as well as a shot or drink special. All proceeds will go to the Frederick Soup Kitchen.

The plan will be to get to Guido's for 7:00pm for a couple of beers (I'll have the England verses New Zealand tape from Sunday - I may not be watching it but it'll be there!) and get the business taken care of at 8:00pm. Should be all done by 9:00pm.

The Club has reserved 3 rooms for Friday 18th and Saturday 19th at the Sea Esta IV motel right by the bars in Dewey Beach (may be a bad idea from a coaching perspective but at least nobody needs to drive in the evening!). With 4 in a room, it works out to about $80 per person for the weekend. If you are bringing someone you will need to make your own booking. If you want to reserve space in one of the rugby rooms let me know (jreading@erols.com).

We usually leave after work on Friday and meet up in the bars in Dewey (more information will be sent out closer to the time).

Hotel Information:
SEA ESTA IV:
3101 Highway One
Dewey Beach, DE. 19971
(302) 227-5882
Four rooms reserved under Julian Reading (#52623)

Directions to Hotel
(150 miles, 2.5 to 3 hours – depending on traffic)

• Take I-70 East towards Baltimore.
• Take Exit 87A Rt-29 South to Columbia/Washington.
• Take Exit 22 MD-100E to Glen Burnie, go SE.
• Take Exit 13A-B I-97 to Annapolis.
• Take Rt-50 east towards Annapolis/Bay Bridge.
• Keep on Rt-50 after the bridge (need to bear right to stay on Rt-50 and avoid Rt-301).
• Turn left on Rt-404.
• Stay on Rt-404/Rt-9 through Bridgeville and Georgetown (follow directions to Rehoboth and Lewes/Cape May Ferry).
• Turn right on Rt-1 (Coastal Hwy).
• Hotel is 6 miles in Dewey Beach (on right).

Directions to Tournament:

• Take Rt-1 to Rt-9.
• Take Rt-9 north towards Lewes/Cape Henlopen Ferry.
• Pass the ferry terminal and you will run into Cape Henlopen State Park.

Obviously this is all very exciting for James and reflects very positively on our club, Frederick Rugby.

James is currently away at an NA4 mini-camp in Canada in preparation for matches and will send in stories every now and then to keep us updated as his adventure unfolds. These stories will be post here.

• Angus NA4 Report - May 27^th - posted 05/27/2006
• Canada West Edges US Falcons - posted 05/27/2006
• Angus NA4 Report - May 25^th - posted 05/25/2006
• Angus NA4 Report - May 18^th - posted 05/19/2006
• About the NA4 - posted 05/12/2006
• 2006 NA4 Schedule - posted 05/12/2006

Thursday, April 6, 2006

by Ian Quillen
Staff Writer

Their new jerseys are still in the mail. Their home games are few and far between. And their first-ever win is still looming somewhere in the future. But to hear players, coaches and parents of the Frederick Youth Rugby club tell it, their inaugural season is the stuff of dreams.

What was the brainchild of a few rugby-playing fathers just a year ago is now a living, breathing organization. Not only that, but it’s a club stocked with players who genuinely love and understand a sport that many of their friends have never even seen.

Despite a winless start to this first year, the Frederick U17s are turning the heads of their competition—primarily Baltimore-Washington area private schools with a rich rugby tradition.

Read the full article - PDF Copy

Obviously this is the third version of a session for this weekend so some of you may not be able to make it - fully understood - for the rest of us we can work on some back line combinations, lineouts and basic skills/fitness. This will be a light session geared on skill work, team work and fun - so please do your best to make it. If you know of players that don't check e-mail please give them a call. I will do the rounds tomorrow too - but I'm not at work so if you have questions you can reach me, Julian, here or at (301) 473-4823.

Note on Welcoming Party from Angus: As Dave and Greg arrive this Saturday afternoon, and as we have just bought a house out on Rocky Springs Road, we would like to have a small open house this Sunday afternoon. Here are the details:

Time: 2:00pm onwards
Address: 7836 Rocky Springs Road Frederick MD (directions below)
Other: Wives and kids are more than welcome. We will provide food and some beer but please let me know if you intend to drop by so I can make the necessary preparations. Cheers...James

Directions
• Take 15 from either direction to the Rosemount Ave exit #14 and head towards Ft Detrick
• Travel along Rosemount for 1 mile
• Turn left onto Rocky Springs Road
• After a 1 mile or so you will come to an intersection and take another left to stay on Rocky Springs Road
• Our house is about 0.3 miles on the left

Stax has squared away a great looking hotel for us (see details and links below). The hotel is right on I-95, about 8 miles from downtown Savannah and about 3 miles from Savannah airport. We have 5 rooms reserved and with 4 players per room the weekend will cost just $70 a person. Some players will fly, some drive independently – we will firm these details up over the next few weeks to ensure that everyone gets down and back safely.

Travelodge Suites Pooler
130 Continental Blvd, Pooler, GA 31322
615 miles, 10 hours
$140 per night (4 people to a room)

Directions to Savannah Hotel:
• Get to I-95 south - Either I-270 to I-495 to I-95 or Rt-15 to Rt-17 to I-495 from Frederick
• Take I-95 south to Georgia
• About 15 miles into Georgia take exit #102 and turn left/east onto Hwy 80
• Turn right at the second light onto Continental Blvd – hotel is on the left

Directions to Daffin Park from the hotel (where we play):

• Get back onto I-95 south (2 miles)
• Take I-16 East (exit 99A) towards Savannah (8 miles)
• Take GA-204 exit 165 towards 37th Street/Abercorn Street Merge onto GA-204 (1 mile)
• Turn right onto Martin Luther King Jr Blvd (0.3 miles)
• Turn left on E. Victory Drive (2 miles)
• Turn right on Waters Avenue and turn left into Daffin Park

This trip is open to any player who wishes to travel – if you would like to join the squad just e-mail me at (jreading@erols.com).