Level the playing field for your team

Coaches ... if your interested in leveling the playing field for your team, to avoid a 50,60,70 or 100 points to (?) drubbing by the HR machine, please consider this collective and unified pre game line of questions.

1. Do you have any import players from New Zealand on your team this year?
2. May we see their exchange student visas and insurance cards?
3. May we have the name and phone number of the school that they are attending full time?
4. Have they paid tuition?
   
5. Will they be returning to New Zealand at the end of the season?
6. In the interest of fairness and good sportsmanship, will you limit the number of these players on the field to one or two at any one time?

Hyde-DC Rugby Players Focus of Special Fox Sports Documentary

Hyde-DC Rugby Players Focus of Special Fox Sports Documentary

Half-Hour Show Airs Nationwide During Black History Month

[Washington, DC, February 8, 2009] – The rugby team at Hyde Leadership Public Charter School of DC is the subject of a special Fox Sports News (FSN) Documentary airing nationwide throughout February, Black History Month.

Entitled Hyde Rugby: A New World, the half-hour documentary is narrated by Oscar-nominated actor, Terrence Howard, and chronicles “the extraordinary efforts and determination of students at a D.C. charter school.”

Fox Sports producers interviewed Hyde-DC student-athletes and alumni, parents, school administrators, teachers and coaches over a two-month period. Camera crews filmed school rugby scrimmages and games, attended classroom sessions, and visited athletes’ homes, churches and other community venues.

FSN is the nation’s leading provider of local sports. Its regional networks and affiliated networks reach more than 80 million homes across the U.S.

“This is fantastic exposure for the entire Hyde community,” said Dr. JoAnn “Doc” Cason, head of school at Hyde-DC. “We’re so proud of our rugby players! Athletics reinforces important Hyde concepts, like Courage, Concern, Curiosity, Integrity and Leadership.”

The Hyde-DC documentary is airing in the Washington, DC area on ComCast SportsNet channels. To find local show times and stations, visit http://comcastsportsnet.tv/pages/main and enter your zip code. If you have Fox Sports packages please check with your service provider.

“Hyde emphasizes character development. Rugby provides our students with the perfect opportunity to develop and test their strength of character,” said Tal Bayer, Hyde-DC’s head rugby coach and director of development.

Fox Sports is the latest national media to give positive attention to the “Pride of Hyde” for its noteworthy accomplishments, on and off the playing field.

· The New York Times featured a story last November about Hyde’s team, entitled The Unlikely Scrum. Reporter Will Bardenwerper described how rugby is “breaking down barriers and opening up new possibilities for this all-African-American high school team.”

· Hyde-DC Alumni P.J. Komongnan, a top-notch rugby player hoping to turn professional, was profiled by the Associated Press during a recent trip to the UK to promote Ultimate Rugby Sevens.

· CBS Evening News filmed interviews with Hyde-DC rugby players and coaches for a segment that is scheduled to air this winter.

# # #

Located in NE Washington, Hyde Leadership Public Charter School of DC (www.hydedc.org) is a college-preparatory school (PreK-12) that combines character education and family renewal with an intense academic program. It opened in 1999 as one of the District’s first charter schools, and today serves more than 700 students from throughout the city. Each year, 100% of Hyde-DC’s graduating seniors are accepted to four-year colleges.

Utah Board of Education Letter - 2005

There have been several downloads of the memo from the Utah Board of Education attorney Carol Lear in 2005. Be sure to also download Ed Hughes USA Rugby report on Highland done in May of 2005.

Put these letters side by side and connect the dots. Remember that Ed's report was done a few days before nationals by telephone. He was given the phone numbers of the Granite School District and others to call in Utah.

Ed was told, on the phone, that the import players had paid their tuition at Olympus High School.
They did not pay any tuition because they were kicked out of Olympus High School for masquerading as pretend students, one month before nationals. See the letter, under downloads from the attorney at the State Board of Education.

The USA Rugby report also clearly establishes the fact that the import players were not in the country as exchange students.

...from Ed's report

"The first issue is that each of these young men is presently in the country
illegally. All of these men have overstayed their tourist visas and, upon
leaving the United States to return home, if they aren't deported first, these
boys/men will not be permitted to return. "

Here is the USA Rugby rule from 2005

f) No more than four non-resident (as defined in the National Club Championships section above) exchange students may play for a club.

WHAT DO YOU THINK HAPPENED???

Hyde Rugby - More than winning

The Unlikely Scrum

Hyde Charter School Rugby Video

For the love of the game, brotherhood and building character.

A great story about an inner city high school rugby program in Washington DC.

Lessons for all of us to learn.

Kia Kaha! Hyde Rugby!