Referees

Referee Advancement & Training Organization (RATO)

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New referee training initiative launched in Texas

Referee Advancement & Training Organization (RATO) steps in to the ring officially today in Texas. Referee centered, tech friendly and broad based, the new training initiative will replace the current top down model (RDO) and will, we believe, increase opportunities and cast a wider training net across the board at the local (up to L-1) level

We will post the Referee Development Officer (RDO) position for interview if RATO deems necessary.

RATO mission:

Advance referees by skills training and review the maximum number of Texas referees in the shortest reasonable time frame and prepare those willing and able for further advancement.

  • Develop and maintain a short list and long list of potential territorial referees and work through exchanges and interactions with domestic and foreign sources to provide them with opportunities and intensive training.
  • Use film and technology to exponentially expand numbers of reviews.
  • Train more coaches and mentors (targets set by RATO)
  • Exclude no referee for age, sex or ethnicity from the opportunity to be reviewed and advanced
  • Develop a cadre of young referees
  • Train and develop a cadre of trained AR’s
  • Link training of referees and team coaches to promote best practices and advance the game here in Texas
  • Revise and refine mission statement and work with schedulers to execute plan.

RATO Staff:

Group leader: Traci Schmidtke – TRRA Vice Chairman

Head of TRRA: James Wolfinger

Head of TRU R&L: Greg Varnell

Regional RDO’s:

South: Chris Callan & Rich Prim

North: John McConnell

Central: TBA

High performance advisor: Bryan Arciero

Statewide RDO: If deemed appropriate

Teams/coach representative: If deemed appropriate by RATO

IT manager: If deemed appropriate by RATO

Changes/additions/subtractions as group feels necessary. Group leader retains veto power. Veto may be overridden by unanimous vote of the organization staff.

Please feel free to contact me with questions or comments. We hope to use this a feature in the proposed Conference on the Game here in Texas. Hopefully we can pull in some top flight referee talent from the USA/IRB ranks and promote the “way forward” for rugby in Texas.

All the best,
James F. Wolfinger
Head Coach
STHS Varsity Rugby
TRRA Chairman
President
HYRA
713-823-1901

 

Western RFU Playoffs (April 30 & May 1)

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Austin Rugby Club will be hosting the Western Rugby Football Union Territorial Championships the weekend of April 30 & May 1 (SAT & SUN).

A draft schedule is published on the TRU Calendar and the official schedule is posted on the WRFU.ORG website:

https://wrfu.org/2011/04/club-high-school-championship-informtion/

Our Texas teams start the tournament off with Austin II playing Sioux Falls Crow at 930am on Field One to be followed by defending champion Northern State versus DARC at 1100am, also on Field One.

Fort Worth will be playing a team TBD from Eastern Rockies @ 1230pm on Field Two.

The Rugby Texas winners will also be playing with two sides from U19 Club and two sides from U19 Single school. Teams to be confirmed and update.

The Texas Rugby Referee Association will be working with the Western Rugby Referee Association to coordinate teams of 4 on all matches. Thanks to Jim Wolfinger, James Summers, Chris Kelly and Richard Zdunkewicz for all their help during the year as well as the efforts to coordinate and staff this event.

TOLA Sevens 2011 Update

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Good Day,

It is with great pleasure that I introduce David Yeoman and co-chair for the 2011 TOLA Sevens Series. Due to feedback we have received from many of the participants, we are going to experiment with a condensed season by moving the finals to the last week of July.

Tentatively, the TOLA schedule is as follows:

Men’s (see current standings here)

  • 6/4         Denton, TX
  • 6/11       Open
  • 6/18       Austin, TX (Bloodfest)
  • 6/25       Black out Weekend (West Qualifier in Dallas)
  • 7/2         Black Out weekend (Independence Day)
  • 7/9         Baton Rouge, LA (Redfish 7s)
  • 7/16       Norman, OK (Tornado Alley)
  • 7/23       Woodlands, TX (Cherrybone 7s)
  • 7/30       Shreveport, LA (Horseshoe 7s)

We are still accepting nominations for a north co-chair so if anyone is interested please email filip.keuppens@fox.com or david.yeoman@gmail.com .

Other tournaments to be aware of (more to come) are Liberty  Fest (formerly Lone Star Classic) being played on 5/28 (Farmers Branch, TX), The West Qualifier #1 on 6/25 (Dallas, TX – #2 is on 7/9 in KC & #3 is on 7/23 in Denver) and Mudfish (Dallas, TX) on 8/6.

Women’s (see current standings here)

  • 6/18       Austin, TX (Bloodfest)
  • 6/25       Black out Weekend (West Qualifier in Dallas)
  • 7/2         Black Out weekend (Independence Day)
  • 7/9         Baton Rouge, LA (Redfish 7s)
  • 7/16       Norman, OK (Tornado Alley)
  • 7/30       Shreveport, LA (Horseshoe 7s)

The Women’s Chair is Wendy Young, please email her at wendy@scrumhalfconnection.com if you have any questions or concerns.

 

Division Three Quarter-Finals

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Match up’s for division three first round of playoff’s:

The April 9 Div.3 Quarterfinal matchups are as follows:
·         North#4 at South#1
·         North#3 at South#2
·         South#4 at North#1
·         South#3 at North#2
 
Alan

Daylight Savings Next Weekend

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All –

Please inform/remind all parties that day light savings comes into play next weekend.

We have the following items scheduled for Sunday:
1. TRU Winter Board Meeting in Fort Worth, TX starting at 10am.
2. Jesuit Dallas Tournament
3. Plano U19 match with Norman U19

Please adjust your clocks accordingly so that we don’t have any issues.

Reminder – TRU Winter Meeting

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note: corrected Hotel phone: 817-847-8484

This is a reminder of the upcoming meeting. Unfortunately, the response has been next to non-existant from our member clubs. Club Presidents are encouraged to RSVP immediately and send in any new business and/or agenda items at your earliest convenience.

Regards,
David McPhail

*****

The TRU will be holding its Winter General Meeting on Sunday, March 13th in Fort Worth, TX.
Meeting tentatively scheduled from 10am to 4pm.

A handful of rooms have been reserved at the rate of $79.99 per night for those spending the night.

Location:
Best Western Inn and Suites
6700 Fossil Bluff, Fort Worth, TX
817.847.8484

All TRU member club Presidents (in good standing) are invited to attend but need to RSVP in advance to ensure adequate room size and lunch reservations.

Officers, Directors, Program Directors and Divisional Secretaries are requested to provide written reports by no later than 5pm on March-5th (SUN) in advance of the meeting in the interest of time and efficiency.

Agenda items will be posted to the web accordingly and new business items and/or discussion item requests can be sent to tru.president@gmail.com for addition to the meeting agenda.

TRRA Promotion – Scott Green

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I am pleased to announce, on behalf of the TRRA and the TRU R&L, that referee Scott Green has been promoted to L2. Scott has quickly moved up the ranks in Texas and has a very bright future as a referee.

Greg Varnell

Mens Collegiate Playoff’s (D2 & D3)

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The first round of playoffs for the Mens D2 and D3 playoffs have been set. The teams and scheduled matches are detailed below. Congrats to all the teams.

Division II
1. Rice
2. Baylor
3. Univ. of Dallas
4. Univ. of North Texas

The Division II Playoffs and Championship will be held at Rice University on Saturday 2/26:
* The 1st Semi Final will be UD vs Baylor – Kick Off at 1:00pm.
* The 2nd Semi Final will be UNT vs Rice – Kick Off at 3:00pm.
** Championship Match on Sunday 2/27 – Kick Off at 1:00pm.

Division III
North
1. St. Edwards
2. Midwestern Stateu Univ.
South
1. Univ. Houston
2. Sul Ross

* The 1st Semi Final will be Sul Ross @ St. Edwards – Kick Off at 2:00pm.
* The 2nd Semi Final will be Midwestern State Univ. @ Univ. Houston – Kick Off at 2:00pm.

TRU Winter AGM – Sunday, March 13th

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The TRU will be holding its Winter General Meeting on Sunday, March 13th in Fort Worth, TX.
Meeting tentatively scheduled from 10am to 4pm.

A handful of rooms have been reserved at the rate of $79.99 per night for those spending the night.

Location:
Best Western Inn and Suites
6700 Fossil Bluff, Fort Worth, TX
817.848.8484

All TRU member club Presidents (in good standing) are invited to attend but need to RSVP in advance to ensure adequate room size and lunch reservations.

Officers, Directors, Program Directors and Divisional Secretaries are requested to provide written reports by no later than 5pm on March-5th (SUN) in advance of the meeting in the interest of time and efficiency.

Agenda items will be posted to the web accordingly and new business items and/or discussion item requests can be sent to tru.president@gmail.com for addition to the meeting agenda.