Portal:2018 Spring Men/Intro
One of the highlights of the Season was a rugby tour to England. The trip had a significant impact on every player and the team as a whole both professionally and as a member of the rugby community. The support from the RAF was simply outstanding and their hosting, as expected, was first class. The RAF’s 100th Anniversary was celebrated during our visit which only magnified the sense of history for the visit. The attached report contains a few pages that include some pictures and an overview of the trip which will hopefully give you some idea of the experiences of the young men on the trip.
The performance on the pitch exceeded our expectations and garnered a great deal of praise from our opponents, their coaches, referees and spectators. In the face of far more experienced teams our players grit and determination never wavered throughout 80 minutes of play in both matches. Winning against RAF College Cranwell at the 80th minute capped off an excellent first match. One of the spectators, USAF Vice Chief of Staff Stephen Wilson, sent a personal message to the USAF Superintendent praising the “outstanding USAFA Rugby Team” for the match. 48 hours later the team took to the pitch against a very experienced and talented RAF U-23 team. You would have been proud to see our young men launch into the match with an intensity and energy as if they had not played for a week! By halftime the score was essentially 12 to 0 in favor of the U-23s and at the end of the match the U-23s had pulled ahead to win by a score of 42 to 3. However, our players went the distance in driving rain and wind and gave their all until the final whistle. The U-23 coaches and players stated that our team played at a skill level far beyond that expected for the number of years of rugby experience. That coupled with the intensity and tenacity truly made for an exciting match. In a tweet from the U-23 coach he said that “I think this photo really sums up rugby for me. It rained constantly, players put their bodies on the line for 80 minutes and yet there’s always time for a photo with everyone involved, smiling from ear to ear. Thanks Zoomie Rugby!” Summing it up, your team did you proud on the pitch, without question!
Off the pitch the team enhanced their cohesion through a number of events and briefings. RAF leadership at the matches and briefings commented how the well the team represented the Academy and the USAF. Even the cook at RAF Halton made it a point to reach out to me and stated that the team literally was the best he had ever seen at the dining facility at Halton which is where teams from all over the world are hosted by RAF teams of every sport. The report has most of the events and briefings from the trip.
The trip was successful obviously as a result of outstanding cadets but also in large part due to our trip OIC (Maj Carman Leone), our trip Alikadoo (Trulan Eyre), our Associate Head Coach (Paul Emerick) and RAF Group Captain Blythe Crawford who was instrumental in making sure the trip was well coordinated and received superb support at every location.
