UTSA Giving Day 2022

Did you know that Rugby is one of the most popular sports, globally?                                  

UTSA Men’s and Women’s Rugby is a club sport organization on campus that brings joy and camaraderie of rugby to the students and campus of UTSA.  Our Men’s team has been able to achieve high levels of success by making it to the Sweet 16 this year that was held in Lawrence, Kansas plus we have made it to the National Playoffs in past years. Additionally, we are one of the Top Teams in the Lone Star Conference and have had multiple players qualify for the All-Star Team, which tours all around the world! Our Women’s team has competed at the highest levels in state and national competitions, placing 4th in the state this past fall with multiple players involved in the All-Stars teams for the State of Texas.  

In addition to teaching rugby, our club also helps to give students the life skills they need through the network of older players, alumni and coaching staff. Currently, our coaching staff and volunteers dedicate 3 nights a week for practice and countless weekends traveling to games. Much of this time and money comes out of their free time and pockets. In many ways, we play ourselves out of our budget. We qualify for certain nationals or playoffs every year, then scramble to fundraise because of just how expensive the trip will actually be. It is hard to compete with schools that have full funding and huge support from years of alumni and their schools. To continue to provide this opportunity to our students and players, we have to operate and give them the resources similar to other sports teams on campus. Although we have made due in the past, we are looking forward to having a solid financial foundation so that the burden of many of our travel and equipment costs no longer fall on our players and coaches.

Through this Giving Day fundraiser we hope to raise money for:

1. Equipment for practice 
2. Travel to and from out of town games
3. Recruiting and marketing the team on and around campus
4. Club Camaraderie and team-building activities and support for students in crisis situations.   

All of this is to recognize the sheer effort that our players and coaches have put into this sport and organization. We, as a club, would benefit greatly from some financial security going into these next years. We would no longer have the added stress of wondering how we’ll get places along with actually winning to get there. UTSA Men’s and Women’s Rugby seeks financial support to consistently grow our reputation nationally. Thank you in advance for any contributions made, or even if you would like to support the club in other ways this upcoming semester, we greatly appreciate it.

Peter and Annette Lewis are matching all donations up to $1,000 total for the UTSA Men’s and Women’s Rugby Team.