University of Denver Rugby Club

Club President Nate Ellert has been having a busy off-season in helping get the DU Rugby program organized and prepared for the upcoming season. One of the important off-season items was setting a clear direction and goals for the club for the 2012-13 season.

Ellert shared, "We have been building a strong foundation for our club and I believe that our 10-3 record last season showed how we have progressed on the field. It was disappointing to lose our opening two games by 3 points and that is something we'll be looking to correct this fall."

The club outlined five key goals for the upcoming season:

Goal #1: Win the NSCRO National Championship.

"We don't want to come across as being arrogant, but we believe it is important to target the highest result we can achieve", said Ellert, "We have a strong core group of players and are looking to recruit new players this fall that can make an immediate impact. This is the most athletic group of student-athletes that we have had in a number of years and we really believe that this goal is attainable."

Goal #2: Recruitment of players and consistent practice attendance.

"I believe our club is building a culture that former athletes want to be a part of", said Ellert, "We are attracting former hockey, lacrosse, soccer, and football players who can join this program with no rugby experience and can really continue a truly competitive experience. Our goal is to continue to find those athletes and bring them into our culture."

Practice times and locations have always been a challenge for the program due to the limited field space on campus, but this fall will see the program practice from 6-8pm Monday through Thursday.

Goal #3: Make our home contests an event on campus to draw students and fans.

"With our continued growth of presence on the DU Campus and with the new Rocky Mountain Collegiate Rugby Conference, we believe it is a great time to really promote our home games and gather support", Ellert said, "We want to make our events a professional standard that can attract fans to understand and participate in the rugby experience."

DU Rugby's game schedule can be found here.

Goal #4: Achieve $15,000 fundraising target to fulfill 25% of operating budget.

"As our competitiveness has improved, our requirements around travel, equipment, and safety have continued to escalate", said Ellert, "We can cover 75% of operating expenses through funding we receive and players paying $450 dues for the season. However, we continue to need the support of parents, alumni, and sponsors to help us fulfill our key obligations."

Goal #5: Improved communication and better utilization of our website as a vehicle to communicate our message to key stakeholders.

"We have to organize our various stakeholders and be able to communicate to them regularly," shared Ellert, "We share a great deal of information such as events we are hosting, match reports, pre-game summaries, video highlights and more. Our website has the capability to be the hub of this information and we will be working to get all of stakeholders registered to the site."

The 2012-13 season promises to be an exciting one for DU Rugby and we look forward to achieving all of the goals laid out.