My First Beach Rugby Tournament

“MY FIRST BEACH RUGBY TOURNAMENT”

I woke up at 7:00 am this morning to make breakfast and to take a shower only to find that there were no matches to light the stove and no towels to dry off with. I saw one of the owners walking around outside and asked him for the things that I needed. He almost seemed bothered by it it. If you don’t want to interact with people then don’t work in the service industry. The cabaña lacked the proper supplies for hosting guests and wasn’t worth the price per night to stay there. Anyways, I made a veggie omelette and then got ready for the tournament.  . . .

Eventually, the guys woke up from thier night out on the town and we were on our way to Playa San Ignacio (a beach). It was about a good forty-five minute to one hour drive. On the way, Carlos and I had decided that we were going to play in the tournament for the invitational team. I was excited about this decision because I had never played beach rugby before. After photographing three beach rugby tournaments, I wanted to PLAY! Let me tel you right now, it may look easy, but it is harder than you think. Here are some basic of beach rugby as I understand it at this moment:

• Field – thirty meters long by twenty meters wide.
• Players – five versus five with a max of ten players per team.
• Time (Regular Games) – five minutes per half with a two minute half time.
• Time (Championship Games) – seven minute halves.
• Rules – No kicking, no rucking, no mauling, and no line outs.

What? Wait! Really? How are we suppose to play rugby? It is possible and these rules allow the game to flow much faster which is why I said it is harder than it looks. Not to mention you are running on sand. Have you ever tried running around on sand? It’s not easy, but it sure is FUN!

As the tournament gets underway, I’m running around trying to find players to put my team together for the invitational side. Carlos decides to back out and I went from three to five to four to three again. Eventually, I noticed a team only had six players. I asked if we could merge with them. It was okay with them, the tournament director, as well as the other teams. What happened was they could play for us (the invitational side) and we could play for them (Lions). I was excited because now I was going to play beach rugby!

Game 1: I’m the captain of the invitational team and was excited and nervous at the same time. I hadn’t played in about two years since I had played sevens with the Linces en Limache. I learned that it was tough running in sand and spent the rest of the game trying to make sure I understood the rules.

Game 2: My confidence rose and I scored a try! What a great feeling! Later on, I scored anoter try in the corner, but it was declared no good because apparently I went out of bounds during the tackle while scoring. So close.

Game 3: We played a game of four versus four against the team that was helping us out, the Lions. More space, more running, no substitutions. I was dead after that game.

Game 4: I played with the Lion in the game for third place in the bronze division. I almost scored a try in the first half when I picked the ball up from a tackled teammate. I launched over hime to make a diving try and was help back by about two or three players. I broke the try plane, but I just wasn´t able to touch it down. However, in the second half of the game I intercepted a pass from the opposing team to score what would be the last try of the game. As I scored, I heard lots of people cheering because the gringo got a try and in nice fashion too. . . .

After all was said and done, I was dead tired. Like I said before, I had’t played in two years, but I have recently started doing a program called FREELETICS. I seriously think this program is what saved me today. I walked away with some war wounds. I had two big brusies on my biceps (one on each arm), bloody scrape on one ankle along with a huge welt on the inside of my left foot, and I though maybe I had fractured some ribs. The pain on the back lower left ribs was pretty intense. . . .

I ended the day in a photo with five beautiful Chilean women and two beach rugby jerseys as souvenirs. How could I have forgotten to ask if any of them wanted a photo session? Later that night, I actually managed to go out for a while and socialize.

pix of girls and jerseys