Writer Mike Kils has published a new book about Rob Holder’s work with East Palo Alto youth rugby and the men’s club that spawned.

The book’s title, Crossing the 101, refers to the fact that the 101 Freeway splits the Palo Alto region, with Palo Alto on the west being the up-market home of Stanford University and many well-off resident, while East Palo Alto is a town struggling with crime and poverty.

And yet, out of this, Holder, who coached at Air Force and then Stanford, used rugby to reach the tough kids, and along the way, produced some special players.

Holder’s son, Will, was on that team, and earned his bones by taking the physical tests he was put through, and making friends for life. Folau Niua, USA 7s team star, was another member of the program, and so was former USA7s player Mile Pulu.

“It’s a great story,” Holder told Goff Rugby Report. “But me and my family got so much more out of it than we put in. We went into this believing strongly that you give these kids a fair shot, and the sky’s the limit.”

It all started when Holder held a rugby camp at Stanford and needed some kids to bolster the numbers. He connected with someone in East Palo Alto and every day Holder would drive to town to pick up kids for the camp. They weren’t aways the same kids, but a lot came more than once, and eventually Holder decided that maybe they could play some rugby as a team.

Along the way there were sad stories of kids who fell victim to violence, or ended up in prison, but there were many more success stories - young men who got good jobs and started something positive. 

“We used rugby to do some good,” said Holder. “Sure the kids were rough, but they deserved a chance. I learned very quickly not to judge. I understood that for some kids, the things they did was a way of live. When dealing drugs is basically your family business, you don’t know anything else. But we had kids who said they weren’t in jail or not in trouble because of rugby. That’s what we were trying to do.”

The story of Crossing the 101 can be purchased here: https://www.smashwords.com/books/view/624839