Retired Navy SEAL Santos Trujillo has been coaching rugby for eight years and is starting his fourth season coaching at Coronado High School. After moving to San Diego, Coach Trujillo played in a local rugby team with OMBAC, a rugby club in San Diego, as well as in the military. He has brought his experience to Coronado, once again, after a big win by the girls’ team last year.
A modified version of soccer, rugby is played all over the world and began almost two centuries ago. Due to the physical demands needed for the sport, Coach Trujillo has been working his teams hard over the long Thanksgiving recess. The first thing on the agenda, says Trujillo, was introductory fundamentals. This included a Level 1 Tackle Test for safe and effective tackling, using a robot as shown below. “There is a certain technique when tackling. We use a tackle robot to make sure they tackle safely so that the head is away from the tackle.” Other technique training included basic passing, running plays, and kicking.
In addition to the technique training, there has been plenty of conditioning, as rugby is a continuous game. The use of the Bulgarian bag is quite common when doing core training, which is essential to preventing injury and for strong tackling. This bag is a leather crescent with two handles on the ends. The boys use ones that weigh twenty-five to thirty-five pounds, while the girls’ bags weigh twenty to thirty pounds. On Tuesdays, the team has a two-hour beach session for harder training on the soft sand. Collectively, this training will prepare them for the upcoming season.
As Coach Trujillo coaches both the boys’ and girls’ division, he must instruct two different styles of playing. In a girls’ rugby game, there are seven players from each team playing on the field, as opposed to the classic fifteen players per team. These games are much shorter, playing only seven-minute halves, as opposed to forty-minute halves. The girls’ division will begin games in January, giving them enough time to learn the unique system.
Although differences exist between the two divisions, positions are still very similar. “In rugby, there isn’t exactly one quarterback like in football, but multiple quarterbacks on the field,” says Coach Trujillo. “Any player can create their own opportunities.” Typically, the scrum-half and fly-half positions dictate in which direction the play will go after a scrum. The eight-man, however, receives the ball immediately after the scrum and can choose whether or not to run the ball.
At the end of the season, Coach Trujillo designates the accolade of the “Kraken” to the player who was a driving force for the team. Last year, Cal Frank and Kate Buzby were both given this title, as people who were difficult to take down. The following video shows them in action:
With all the strengths Coronado had last season, kicking was a major weakness that they will be working on this year. The girls’ team will be moving up a division and, therefore, must also develop new tactics. Both teams are very strong in tackling with all of the core training that they do. Since both teams need to work on tactics, more time will be dedicated to running plays as a team. Even with all this preparation and training, it all comes down to the players’ creativity on the field in making their own plays.
While the girls start their season in January, the boys kick off theirs in two weeks against La Jolla High School.
Upcoming Game:
Saturday, December 9 vs. La Jolla High School (Boys’ Division) at La Jolla
