The United States Rugby Foundation's Ball-4-All program will be announcing its 2025 recipients and at GRR we thought it would be fun to see what impact those awards have had on their program.
One of the teams that the ball grant really helped was HCYA. The Houston-area school team is Homeschool Christian Youth Association. Formed partly thanks to team director Gambrill Wagner's son, HCYA is a program that supports sports teams for homeschooling high-schoolers. They run PE, soccer, basketball, swimming, volleyball, softball, and baseball.
Learn More About the Ball-4-All Program Here>>
Wagner asked if they wanted to support a rugby team and, a bit shockingly, they did.
"They were wonderful," she said. "They provide a website, and insurance, and help with admin things that aren't so fun. And we went under their umbrella."
Houston Sabercat Hunter Blanchard was found to coach the team, and he channeled his knowledge of ancient history to bring a Roman Legion theme to his trainings. The kids, almost all of whom had never played rugby, ate it up.
