The Rugby Summit in Oshkosh, Wisconsin Jan 21-23 was a massive success, outstripping expectations for the first-ever event.

The Summit was the brainchild of the leadership group at Wisconsin Youth Rugby, which in itself is a relatively new organization—for years youth and high school rugby in the Badger State had been run by the overall union, with different conferences running their own competitions. 

The Rugby Summit brought coaches and experts from around the country to present on aspects of play, refereeing, media, college prospects, and professional rugby. About 200 players, coaches, parents, refs, and administrators attended the two-day session, with 40 different presentations.

(Full disclosure: GRR Editor Alex Goff was a presenter.)

What the event showed was a strong desire among all members of the youth and high school rugby community in Wisconsin and nearby states to learn and develop the game. That this event came on the heels of a massive slowdown in the sport due to COVID certainly helped the enthusiasm, but the event, run by Richard Bergemann, Todd Prochniak, and Matthew Goetsch, with much support from a large number of others, exceeded expectations.

USA 7s and 15s Eagle Brett Thompson gave the keynote speech at the Saturday night dinner, going through the ups and downs of his career, which included some significant triumphs along with a series of heartbreaking injuries. The story was one of resilience and love for the game. That dinner also served as an awards banquet for Wisconsin Youth Rugby, with several awards given out, including Coach of the Year to JJ Rose at Green Bay.

JJ Rose gets the nod as HS Coach of the Year in Wisconsin. We talk to him about the rise of the @GBYouthRugby program from flag all the way to a state HS champion. pic.twitter.com/paRgfNnKtd

— Alex Goff (@goffrugbyreport) January 26, 2022

Goetsch received the president's award for his tireless work in youth rugby. And in fact the Green Bay program as a whole was recognized repeatedly for how it had grown to produce a state boys HS champion starting with flag rugby, and building from the ground up.

The third day of the event was a combine and clinic for youth, HS Boys, HS Girls, and adult players at UW-Oshkosh's excellent covered athletic field. over 100 players attended, with the high school and youth players receiving free Next Phase Rugby T-shirts to help jump-start their college rugby search.

Other organizations were there, including college programs such as Aquinas, Drury, Iowa Central CC, University of Health Science and Pharmacy out of Missouri, Rio Grande, Illinois, Wisconsin, Trine, Wheeling, Marian, Castleton, Purdue, UW-Stevens Points, UW-Platteville, Palmer College, Minnesota, Indiana, and Davenport. In addition, Karen Fong Donoghue of The Rugger's Edge presented and provided personalized college advice that complements the more general approach of Next Phase Rugby app.

The enthusiasm within the event warmed up the frigid temperatures and kick-started the year for Wisconsin.