It’s been a long road, since we were shut down in March of 2020!
Here is a quick update on where we’ve been, and where we are going!
MIGHTY OAKS
At the time of the shutdown, the Chico Mighty Oaks were on track for another successful playoff run. Going into that season they knew they had a few guys on the verge of making some life altering decisions, whether that was moving away, retiring from play, taking other rugby opportunities such as coaching or whatever! To those, we thank them for their commitment to the Oaks program and remind them they are ALWAYS welcome!
The new regime of the Mighty Oaks are young and hungry. I’m proud to say that many of the current players are Black Oak (high school boys) alumni!
The Mighty Oaks kick off their season THIS SATURDAY in the 25th Annual Holiday Classic Rugby Tournament at Pleasant Valley High School. This is a full day of rugby, both men’s and women’s teams to play! The tournament is scheduled to kick-off the first round at 10:00am!
KNOTTY OAKS
WHO? Exactly! For the first time in a long time Chico Rugby will be fielding a women’s club team! We are so excited for this to happen!!! There are quite a few people to thank for the beginning stages of the organization of the club, but a HUGE thank you goes out to Billy Luden and Tim Bushard (Coach Cheese) for taking on the coaching duties of these amazing ladies! While the Black Oak boys high school team (and ME even more so) are going to miss their coaching and personalities out there, it’s incredibly important to provide the women the coaching and fundamentals they deserve.
The Naughty Oaks will be taking the field for the first time this weekend as well, participating in the Holiday Classic! Good luck ladies! We are all super excited to watch you guys progress in the game!
CSU WILDCAT WOMEN
Over the course of the past 20 months this incredibly successful women’s program took a huge hit, as their founding AND ONLY coaches in their existence, Alex and Mary Triantafyllou, decided to step away as the head coaching team. Alex and Mary have given countless hours to not only the women’s team but to rugby in Chico as a whole. Outside of their women’s coaching activities, Mary has organized a ton of fundraisers for all programs in the Chico Rugby Foundation! Alex has been instrumental in the creation and continued success of the Chico Oaks Rugby Football Club youth and continues to do so today.
In their “retirement”, Alex and Mary are continuing to be involved with multiple duties such as coaching their son Jonah on the boys Black Oaks high school team, to helping mentor the new coaches on the women’s side and admin work with the youth program!
The number of young adult lives that Alex and Mary have helped form over the years is incredible!! We, the Chico Rugby Foundation and rugby community of Chico, couldn’t be more thankful for what they have accomplished and proud of the fact they are still active members! THANK YOU, ALEX AND MARY T!
So enough of that! Out with the old and in with the new! HAHA!
We are so excited to introduce the new coaches for the Women’s Wildcat team! Robin Cranston and Stacy Espinoza are both Chico State Women’s Rugby Alumni and had the pleasure of playing for Alex and Mary. We can’t wait to see the mark they leave on this group of young women!
While the season is brand new, we are being told this group is very young and athletic. We are looking for great things out of these ladies!
OAKS YOUTH PROGRAM
BLACK OAKS HIGH SCHOOL RUGBY
It’s hard to believe that this will be the TENTH season of the Chico Oaks Rugby Football Club Youth!! So many thanks “you’ s” to be put out there! We are going to plan a “homecoming” of sort for the spring, so keep your eyes and ears open for that!
Much like the Mighty Oaks when the world shut down, the Black Oaks were on a roll! The roster included 19 of 31 seniors and the teams was 4-0 with an average match score of 54-8! With the 2019 season ending in a last-minute defeat for the Rugby NorCal Championship, we were on track to win it all! Then, well, it’s over! To those boys, from your coaching staff, thank you for the years you put in. You will ALWAYS be champions to us!
RED OAKS MIDDLE SCHOOL BOYS
The Red Oak boys (middle school) team’s season never got to finish because the end of the year tourney was cancelled. I’ll tell you though, this group progressed more and quicker than any we’ve had. They were playing such good rugby! It was a shame to have lost that last weekend!
Most of these ruggers are in high school now and we are looking forward to seeing them wear the jerseys of the Black Oaks this winter!
RED OAKS MIDDLE SCHOOL GIRLS
Much like the Naughty Oaks above, the 2019/2020 season saw the first “true” middle school girls’ team! The beauty of this, is most of these young ladies were super young then and are now in 8th grade and ready to hit the pitch running!! We are so excited to see these players on the pitch, we simply can’t get there fast enough!!!!!
WHITE AND GRAY OAKS (U-10 and U-12 co-ed teams)
The White and Gray Oaks were able to finish their season and had a great time! Both groups had a ton of “newbies” and a great time playing under the coaches they had out! We can’t wait to see the physical and mental growth these ruggers have had since we last saw them!
UP NEXT
Here’s a list of upcoming important dates:
Saturday November 20th – Chico Rugby Holiday Classic – Pleasant Valley High School 10-5pm
Saturday December 4th – Chico Rugby Youth Clinic – Pleasant Valley High School 8:30-11:00am
Tuesday December 7th – Chico Oaks Rugby Football Club – start practicing. More info TBA
CONTACT US – For more info on the programs available please go to the website and look up in the “CONTACT US” tab for the club info!
With the 2021/2022 season upon us, we are super excited to get back on the pitch! Thank you all for your support over the past 20 months or so!
See you on the pitch!