Starting in 2016, rugby will be an olympic sport. We just may see some of the athletes that will be competing that year getting their start here in Pelham.

Pelham Rugby Club finished another successful season by having both the elementary and middle school teams win their respective divisions at the 4th annual NYC Rugby Cup, the largest flag rugby tournament in North America. Over 60 teams competed in this tournament on June 11, 2011, at Randall’s Island’s dedicated rugby fields. This is the fourth year in a row that Pelham has won its divisions at this tournament.

This followed the Pelham U13 tackle team winning its division just a month ago.

The middle school team was coached by Matthew Persanis and the elementary school team by Thomas Klienberger.

During the season, the Pelham teams were coached by current USA national team players Troy Hall and Lara Vivolo, former professional players Tim Leneve and BJ Hall, two-time U.S. Rugby Super League winner Alex Willen and Persanis, the current NYAC coach.

This year, Pelham Rugby had over 80 children register for flag rugby.