Great Falls Village was a busy place Sunday, Nov. 17, as Great Falls Youth Rugby hosted its sixth annual tournament to benefit the spinal cord injury Adaptive Sports programs at MedStar National Rehabilitation Network. This annual charity event is dear to the heart of Gary Coetzee, president of Great Falls Rugby and himself a spinal cord injury survivor.

The event is a youth tournament for all age groups U7 through High School. A number of D.C., Maryland and Virginia youth, middle school and high school teams registered. The HS Varsity bracket was the most competitive, with teams from Gonzaga HS, Springfield, Maryland Exiles, DC Warriors, Vienna, The Roosters (Bethesda HS Club), Frederick Md., and a DC Barbarians team. The whole-day event, played across 3 separate fields at the same time in the village, hosted a total of 30 teams across the different age groups, and 48 games of rugby (7-a-side format). Busy day.

The Washington DC Major League Rugby Pro team (Old Glory) was on hand to share the excitement of the upcoming first season of Pro rugby in our area. For more info go to www.oldglory.com

The Club President was very happy with the event: “Thank you all so much for making our MedStar rugby tournament a huge success. It was probably our best year yet. Admittedly the milder weather helped: we've had terrible luck in the past, with all the hard work and generosity of 'our family' this one was a keeper!”

Special thanks go to Nando's Restaurant in Reston who donated a huge amount of chicken, rice, and peri-peri sauce.

Great Falls Youth Rugby is further grateful for the continued support of the community, including sponsors Cuisine Solutions and Indigo IT. All this participation, activity and support allows Great Falls Youth Rugby to make an annual, meaningful donation to the Adaptive Sports programs at MedStar.

Congratulations to the Gonzaga HS boys for winning the Varsity Bracket, pipping a good Roosters outfit. Great Falls won the JV and U15 divisions, and the Western Suburbs group the U13.

The TAG event was also a great success. There were competitive games with teams from Great Falls, Alexandria, and Loudoun/SYA.

Rugby takes a short break until the Spring session in January. Looking for a Northern Virginia youth club? The Eagles are always looking for opportunities to promote the club throughout the Herndon, Great Falls, Reston, McLean and Sterling areas. For more information, visit www.greatfallsrugby.com