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NEWS
The Sporting Life: My practice with Nashville's gay rugby team
Team coach Shannon Bustillos showed Matt the ins and outs of rugby.
By Matt Gale
Published: Thursday, 05/03/07
Nashville has a gay rugby team? This was my first question when I
ran into Shannon Bustillos, an old friend who happens to coach the
Nashville Grizzlies rugby club. Yes we do, as it turns out, and
they're part of an entire gay rugby league.
At first, I thought the whole concept of gay rugby sounded like a
bit of an oxymoron. The stereotype I had of the typical rugby player
is a stocky, beer-swilling hooligan violently chasing an odd-shaped
ball around a pitch. The stereotypes of gay culture put forward by
Bravo, the E! channel and much of the rest of the popular media?
They're not that.
In the spirit of trying things that are ''out of my league,'' I
decided to give it a shot ?Ķ the rugby, that is. I asked Shannon if I
could join in on a practice sometime, and she said the team would be
glad to have me.
Arriving at practice, I noticed a tiny flutter of butterflies in my
stomach. I played rugby for a couple of weeks in college, but quit
because I was nervous about injuring myself. Some of the old anxiety
was starting to return, but I forced it out of my head. The
Grizzlies were all very friendly and eager to help out an obvious
newbie.
Practice was just as tough as I remember it from college. We started
with the typical routine of stretching, push-ups and Indian
sprinting a few laps. I try to keep in decent shape, so I had no
trouble with the general warm-up. The drills we ran, however, were a
different story.
In rugby, there are specific rules for how to do everything. There
is a correct way to hit, there is a correct way to fall, and there
is a correct way to pass. My near-total ignorance of the rules and
lingo had me at a huge disadvantage. A player would point at me and
say, ''Want to take the tail on this run?'' and I would offer a
confused stare in reply. Eventually, the team learned to give me
more specific instructions. ''I'll pass the ball to you, you hit the
guy in the red shirt, you'll fall on the ground and hand the ball to
the guy in the blue shirt.'' Once I had specific A-to-B-to-C
instructions, I did OK. Additional tips like ''try to hit with your
shoulder instead of your head'' were especially helpful.
Shannon invited a guest coach named Toby Florek, a player from the
Nashville Outlaws, to demonstrate a special tactic called the Rocket
Pod. In it, four players line up in a diamond formation. This gives
the lead player, the ''rocket,'' an automatic support system as he
runs down the field. If he gets in trouble, he has three players
behind him to whom he can pass the ball. (In rugby, all passes must
be lateral.) The trick? Once you get the ball, you become the
Rocket, and the remaining three players fall in formation behind
you. Sounds easy, right? To an experienced player, it probably is.
I, on the other hand, was the only person at practice who collided
with members of his own team. I probably would have felt some
embarrassment if not for the fact that I was pretty punch-drunk by
that point anyway.
Next we worked on a drill for lineouts. Similar to the rules of
soccer, once the ball goes out of bounds, a player must throw it
back in-bounds, preferably to a member of his own team. To increase
the chances of accomplishing this, two players grab a third by the
shorts and hoist him into the air, thus putting the ball out of
reach of the other team. By this point in the practice, the coaching
staff realized how inept I was, so I got to pretend to be an
opposing team member. Finally, my niche! It was just like trying to
block jump shots in basketball. In my lifetime, I have played a wide
variety of sports, ranging from soccer to tae-kwon-do. Rugby
combines talents I've learned over the years from all.
In terms of exercise, the game provides an incredible workout. While
many sports yield opportunities for a player to zone out and simply
go through the motions, if you take your mind off of what you're
doing for a split second on the rugby pitch, you will collide with
someone. As a result, the workout was very focused.
At the end of practice, we played a short scrimmage. Again, the many
rules of the game are a still a mystery to me, so I relied on two of
my own: If someone on the other team has the ball, try to tackle
him. If I have the ball, run like hell. It seemed to get me through.
Overall, my experience was great, and I would recommend rugby to
anyone looking for an aggressive athletic outlet. A final word on
the Nashville Grizzlies: First and foremost, they are a rugby team.
They take their devotion to bettering themselves as such very
seriously. The fact that they are predominantly gay is simply one of
many details. All men who want to learn and compete in the sport are
welcome. For more info, visit www.grizzliesrugby.org
Published: Thursday, 05/03/07
Team coach Shannon Bustillos showed Matt the ins and outs of rugby.
By Matt Gale
Published: Thursday, 05/03/07
Nashville has a gay rugby team? This was my first question when I
ran into Shannon Bustillos, an old friend who happens to coach the
Nashville Grizzlies rugby club. Yes we do, as it turns out, and
they're part of an entire gay rugby league.
At first, I thought the whole concept of gay rugby sounded like a
bit of an oxymoron. The stereotype I had of the typical rugby player
is a stocky, beer-swilling hooligan violently chasing an odd-shaped
ball around a pitch. The stereotypes of gay culture put forward by
Bravo, the E! channel and much of the rest of the popular media?
They're not that.
In the spirit of trying things that are ''out of my league,'' I
decided to give it a shot ?Ķ the rugby, that is. I asked Shannon if I
could join in on a practice sometime, and she said the team would be
glad to have me.
Arriving at practice, I noticed a tiny flutter of butterflies in my
stomach. I played rugby for a couple of weeks in college, but quit
because I was nervous about injuring myself. Some of the old anxiety
was starting to return, but I forced it out of my head. The
Grizzlies were all very friendly and eager to help out an obvious
newbie.
Practice was just as tough as I remember it from college. We started
with the typical routine of stretching, push-ups and Indian
sprinting a few laps. I try to keep in decent shape, so I had no
trouble with the general warm-up. The drills we ran, however, were a
different story.
In rugby, there are specific rules for how to do everything. There
is a correct way to hit, there is a correct way to fall, and there
is a correct way to pass. My near-total ignorance of the rules and
lingo had me at a huge disadvantage. A player would point at me and
say, ''Want to take the tail on this run?'' and I would offer a
confused stare in reply. Eventually, the team learned to give me
more specific instructions. ''I'll pass the ball to you, you hit the
guy in the red shirt, you'll fall on the ground and hand the ball to
the guy in the blue shirt.'' Once I had specific A-to-B-to-C
instructions, I did OK. Additional tips like ''try to hit with your
shoulder instead of your head'' were especially helpful.
Shannon invited a guest coach named Toby Florek, a player from the
Nashville Outlaws, to demonstrate a special tactic called the Rocket
Pod. In it, four players line up in a diamond formation. This gives
the lead player, the ''rocket,'' an automatic support system as he
runs down the field. If he gets in trouble, he has three players
behind him to whom he can pass the ball. (In rugby, all passes must
be lateral.) The trick? Once you get the ball, you become the
Rocket, and the remaining three players fall in formation behind
you. Sounds easy, right? To an experienced player, it probably is.
I, on the other hand, was the only person at practice who collided
with members of his own team. I probably would have felt some
embarrassment if not for the fact that I was pretty punch-drunk by
that point anyway.
Next we worked on a drill for lineouts. Similar to the rules of
soccer, once the ball goes out of bounds, a player must throw it
back in-bounds, preferably to a member of his own team. To increase
the chances of accomplishing this, two players grab a third by the
shorts and hoist him into the air, thus putting the ball out of
reach of the other team. By this point in the practice, the coaching
staff realized how inept I was, so I got to pretend to be an
opposing team member. Finally, my niche! It was just like trying to
block jump shots in basketball. In my lifetime, I have played a wide
variety of sports, ranging from soccer to tae-kwon-do. Rugby
combines talents I've learned over the years from all.
In terms of exercise, the game provides an incredible workout. While
many sports yield opportunities for a player to zone out and simply
go through the motions, if you take your mind off of what you're
doing for a split second on the rugby pitch, you will collide with
someone. As a result, the workout was very focused.
At the end of practice, we played a short scrimmage. Again, the many
rules of the game are a still a mystery to me, so I relied on two of
my own: If someone on the other team has the ball, try to tackle
him. If I have the ball, run like hell. It seemed to get me through.
Overall, my experience was great, and I would recommend rugby to
anyone looking for an aggressive athletic outlet. A final word on
the Nashville Grizzlies: First and foremost, they are a rugby team.
They take their devotion to bettering themselves as such very
seriously. The fact that they are predominantly gay is simply one of
many details. All men who want to learn and compete in the sport are
welcome. For more info, visit www.grizzliesrugby.org
Published: Thursday, 05/03/07
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