Rugby’s roots are beginning to bear fruit in Cochrane.
From meagre beginnings three seasons ago, the Bow Valley Bears’ junior programs are turning out more players for higher levels as the headwaters for Cochrane rugby’s stream feed the sport in town. Bears’ under-15-year-old (U15) and U13 programs are starting to develop players for Corina Bauer’s Cochrane high school program, which features athletes from both Cochrane and Bow Valley high schools combined on boy’s and girl’s teams playing in the recently-completed Big Sky Rugby Union season. Those players will then graduate high school and step back into the Grizzlies club program, where players can move on to elite rugby at provincial, regional and national levels.
At least, that’s the plan.
“Very, very pleased with the development,” says Bears U15 head coach Adrian Turner. His son, Cam, got a bad break in a match three weeks ago, fracturing his leg. But that doesn’t dampen Turner’s outlook at all. The junior program began with a combined U13-U15 side. There are now more than 40 kids spread across the two teams, more than enough to field a first 15. “The exciting thing is what we’re seeing year on year. We’re getting increasing numbers. The quality’s improving because we’re getting that consistent coaching message from a young age, true to that age group.”
The Grizzlies have their paws all over Cochrane rugby. Grizz head coach/player Ty Hawes helps coach the Cochrane Rugby high school boy’s team, Karl Bauer and former Grizz player Scott Megraw coach Cochrane Rugby girl’s high school side. Grizz second-row pillar Ash Nicholls coached Springbank Community High School Phoenix boy’s rugby this season.
There is a defined path for rugby in Cochrane now, starting with nine-year-olds, working up through the junior ranks and high school, and then to elite men’s and women’s programs with the Prairie Wolf Pack.
“I think, all in all, it’s very exciting. There are lots of things happening,” Turner says. “The thing is, a couple of years ago, we may have been short one or two players.”
Now the U13s and U15s have 20 players per team.
“The focus is not win at all costs,” he says of the younger Bears development groups. “It’s about development first and foremost. As we get to the older ages, we want to be more competitive.”
He hopes to take his U15 team on a tour to B.C. in the fall, including a friendly against rugby powerhouse Shawnigan Lake on Vancouver Island.
