Fox Valley Predators Finish 3rd in State for Rugby 7s

Talk to any sports program and the last two years has put a damper on enrollment and player development.  The 2022 year has been a year of where we are back to playing one of the fastest growing sports in rugby and for the youth level this was a time of re-building.

Rugby sevens (commonly known as simply sevens), and originally known as seven-a-side rugby, is a variant of rugby union in which teams are made up of seven players playing seven minute halves, instead of the usual 15 players playing 40 minute halves.

The game is popular at all levels, with amateur and club tournaments generally held in the summer months.  Fox Valley Predators offer summer 7s programs for our High School (U19) and Middle School teams for U15 and U13.

Rugby Illinois 7s State Finals was held in St. Charles at the beautiful rugby fields at James O’ Breen Community park.  Fox Valley’s U19s won 3rd in State ultimately losing out to Naperville in the Semi-finals with a close fought match where the Predators were down going into the 2nd half but made a huge come back early in the second but was scored on as time ran out.

I’m extremely proud of the way these boys improved and persevered throughout this 7s season.  Playing four tournaments in four weeks with 4-5 matches in each tournament becomes a test on your abilities, physically and mentally.  This team never gave up, their ability to improve is truly amazing, week in and week out we worked on ways to better implement our offensive and defensive strategies and this group rose to the occasion every time.  This culmination of determination and hard work became evident in the final few games of the season.  Their execution of game play and presence on the pitch was truly a delight to be seen.

Coach Lance Wojcik