Great Falls Village in Virginia was a busy place this past Sunday as Great Falls Youth Rugby hosted its sixth annual tournament to benefit the spinal cord injury Adaptive Sports programs at MedStar National Rehabilitation Network.

This annual charity event is dear to the heart of Gary Coetzee, president of Great Falls Rugby and himself a spinal cord injury survivor.

For more on the MedStar Adaptive Sports programs go here>>

The event is a youth tournament for all age groups from U7s through High School. A number of DC, Maryland, and Virginia youth, middle school, and high school teams played in the event.

The HS Varsity bracket was the most competitive, with teams from Gonzaga HS, Springfield, Maryland Exiles, DC Warriors, Vienna, The Roosters (Bethesda HS Club), Frederick MD, and a DC Barbarians team.

The day-long event, played across three separate fields at the same time in the village, hosted a total of 30 teams across the different age groups, and 48 games of rugby 7s.

To support the event, new Major League Rugby team Old Glory DC was on hand to cheer on the teams. For more on the Old Glory team go to www.oldglory.com. 

The tournament was a huge success, said Coetzee. "It was probably our best year yet. Admittedly the milder weather helped; we've had terrible luck in the past. With all the hard work and generosity of our [rugby] family, this one was a keeper”

Nando's Restaurant in Reston, Va. donated massive amounts of South African chicken, rice, and peri-peri sauce for the players. Kiwi Kuisine Pies also supported the tournament, and sponsors Cuisine Solutions and Indigo IT also helped out.

Gonzaga HS won the Varsity bracket, getting by a very good Roosters team.

Great Falls won the JV Division and also the U15 Division, while Western Suburbs took the U13 bracket.

The TAG event was also a great success. There were competitive games with teams from Great Falls, Alexandria, and Loudoun/SYA.