This is an Opinion Column by Alex Goff. As a follow-up to our earlier article about conflict over Varsity and JV, already we’ve received questions and comments and insights about the topic and the fact, apparently, the problem is bigger than initially reported.

Along with girls teams being unable to field a full all-star team because they aren't allowed to let sophomores fill out the ranks, boys teams are getting nailed by USA Rugby’s rule that you have to be in 9th or 10th grade to be on a JV select side, and 11th or 12th grade to be on a Varsity select side. In some areas where there isn’t a lot of high school rugby, there just aren’t enough top-notch players to fill out two teams. In other areas, it’s about talented youngsters being told they can’t play with the Varsity team.

Arguments have been forwards to USA Rugby’s head of Youth & High School, Kurt Weaver, regarding players who played at the varsity select level as freshmen, but are now not able to, or players who were able to play for the USA U20s while still 17, but now an exceptional 16-year-old is barred from playing with 17-year-old.

It is a huge source of frustration for coaches. 

Weaver, however, has made his stance very clear. He says it’s bad for the players to play up a level (even if they are very good or simply good and also big). He says moving a young player up takes away a spot on an all-star team that an older player could have - a spot that might inspire said older player to greater involvement in the game. However, keeping the younger player on the JV team costs another talented youngster a spot. 

Several coaches and those connected with select-side age-grade rugby have asked Weaver to explain or reconsider his (or the Committee's) stance. He has basically given the same response - we allowed playing up last year, but that was against what we want to do - we'd rather have motley teams formed on-site than sophomores playing with juniors - and there is no data supporting the benefits of players playing up in contact sports.

There are several obvious problems, inconsistencies, and issues with this stance. 

• As mentioned by many coaches, including USA Rugby High Performance Director, players develop at different rates. A 15-year-old can be 6-2, 215, or 5-3, 125. It is not always the age that determines where an athlete is in his or her development timeline.
   
• Keeping a move accomplished young player with young players could hurt that player’s opponents, and certain detracts from the development and learning aspect of the JV select-side competitions.
   
• There is no scientific basis to support dividing Varsity and JV teams solely on academic grade. Other sports, and rugby organizations in other nations, have a process that allows especially talented or fast-growing young athletes to play up an age group.
   
• Freshmen are allowed to play high school football all over the country. 
   
• World Rugby repeatedly accepts and approves waiver applications for players to play up a level (17-year-olds playing for the U20 team, or even a senior national team). Weaver says this is wrong, but he appears to be the only one saying it.
   
• USA Rugby accepts and approves waivers for players under 18 to play senior club rugby, and yet now USA Rugby is banning players in 10th grade from playing on a Varsity select-side. 
   
• The RCTs can use the term Varsity and JV, and even use grades as guideline, but age should be the first divider.
   
• Why is it that a 9th-grader playing with and against 10th-graders is OK, but 10th-graders playing with and against 11th-graders is a disaster? Puts us in mind of this.
   

The USA Rugby Youth & High School Committee, according to the USA Rugby website, exists to make recommendations on the following:     

Laws of the Game, Risk Management (Health, Safety, etc.), Discipline, Fundraising, Development of the Game, Youth, High School, State-Based Rugby Organizations (SBRO), High Performance, Competition structures, National Championships, Eligibility, High Performance, Any other matters pertinent to the development of the High School and Youth Game in the USA

(Sic) 

This is far too broad and, as you can see, mentions High Performance twice. The list shouldn’t include that term even once.

Whether it is the Committee, with Weaver acting as the Committee’s voice, or this is Weaver pushing his views onto the Committee, making judgments on where players should play in an elite, or high-performance setting

This country suffers from far too many blanket rules that don’t take into account the ability to smart people to make a judgment call. What we need is the return of judgment calls. For the select sides, it seems fairly simple: you might have a waiver as a freshman or sophomore in order to play on a Varsity select-side team. You also need a waiver for a 7th- or 8th-grader to play on a JV team.

That waiver application should include: Statement by the player saying he or she wants to play up; statement by the player’s regular school/club coach saying why he or she should play up; statement by the select-side coach requesting the move; statement by the player’s parents approving the move; possibly statement by a doctor approving the move.

If you don’t have all those, request denied. If you do, then who is USA Rugby to stop the kid from playing at the appropriate level?

USA Rugby took over oversight of these Regional Cup Tournaments, which sprang up on their own because kids and coaches wanted them. Now the regulations - regulations no other rugby organization supports - are preventing players from playing and teams from taking the field. 

The Upshot

USA Rugby’s Youth & High School should not be making new law regarding High Performance rugby. USA Rugby instead should be providing a service to these select teams, making judgments on the small but important number of kids who want to play up a level. A waiver policy exists in every other aspect of play in USA Rugby, so it would be easy to implement now. If we’re going to limit what team players play on based on age, why are we using academic grade, when a 10th-grader can be anywhere from 14 to 17?

This is not about regular school rugby. This is about select-side, all-star rugby. This is about opening the door for the very talented and letting them blossom on merit. The Committee is missing the point. When we talk about youth non-contact rugby, we stress participation and fun. As the players get older we build on those ideas to also teach skills, and bring in the contact aspect. Then as they get older still we start talking more about winning and losing, and we develop leagues and championships. The next stage is training these players to be champions, to be great.

But somehow the Committee doesn’t want to take that step.

They should.