Aztec Rugby Foundation

Save the Date!

The year 2007 marks the 20 year reunion of the 1987 National Champion Aztec Rugby Team. The current team will host an alumni reunion during Homecoming weekend of October 20, 2007. Included in the Alumni events will be a golf outing, dinner and match featuring the returning players of the 1987 team. Mark this date on your calendars now for a truly memorable experience.

Additionally, during the Homecoming week of 2008 the team will celebrate it's 50 year anniversary. Details will be posted as this event nears.

WE NEED YOUR HELP!

Fellow Aztec's your help is needed. The database of players and Aztec supporters totals a mere 225 at this time.

PLEASE get involved by forwarding this email and contacting ALL alumni you know. This is one area where your help is crucial.

Greetings!

Hello and welcome to the first edition of the San Diego State Rugby Foundation Newsletter. Hopefully, you have heard of us by now but you may be asking yourself 'What is the SDSU Rugby Foundation?'

We are a newly formed Public Benefit Corporation, Incorporated in the State of California. The Foundation is organized under the Nonprofit Corporation Law for charitable purposes.

The Foundation's mission is to develop, foster and support rugby at San Diego State University. Our specific purposes stated in our bylaws are:

1. Development and management of resources for the support of the San Diego State University Rugby Program.

2. Development and management of scholarship, networking and academic enhancement programs for the benefit of the San Diego State University Rugby Program.

3. Promotion and protection of Rugby at San Diego State University.

4. The implementation and monitoring of fundraising to assure the continuation of the San Diego State Rugby Foundation.

This newsletter's purpose is to serve as a communication vehicle to bring the Aztec Rugby Community, located throughout the world, up to date with the current status of San Diego State Rugby.

From Humble Beginnings

The Foundation was formed in theory, in 2006 by the 1987 Hall of Fame Induction Organizing Committee. Discussions at that event led to the basis of an action plan, a draft of our bylaws and election of the governing board. Additionally, each officer has made a financial commitment of $1000.00 to the organization to spearhead initial fundraising and cover startup costs. Year to date we have received pledges from the officers and former Aztecs totaling more than $20,000.00. Our goal is to eventually build the financial resources of the Foundation to sponsor scholarships and supplement operating expenses for teams for years to come.

At this time we are still pending our final Internal Revenue Service designation as a nonprofit organization. However, we have received notice of a ruling providing us with the ability to accept donations. We believe the IRS will grant our request for full rights as a nonprofit organization within the next 90 days. We will keep you posted!

Developments to Date

In a relatively short period of time the Foundation has pressed forward. We have drafted, amended and adopted the Bylaws of the San Diego State Rugby Foundation. The officers and directors were elected and banking relationships established. The Foundation is currently working with Citibank, who graciously wavived all fess associated with the establishment and maintenance of our bank account. (Thank you Ryan).

As noted above, we have begun fundraising and set our initial financial goals. Communication via this newsletter was our next step and lastly the Foundation is moving forward with new stationary and creation of our website. It is our goal by September to have our website up and running. We plan to provide links from the newsletter to the website as well as to the student's website.

Meet the Foundation Officers:

In November of 2006, six former Aztecs were elected to sit on the inaugural board of the Foundation. We believe this group of officers and directors bring a unique blend of professional experience including engineering, finance, legal, nonprofit and entrepreneurship to help lead the Foundation forward. The officers and directors are:

David Crist, President 85-87*

Jimmy Parker, Vice President 81-87*

Steven Marshall, Treasurer 84-88*

Chris Morris, Secretary 86-89*

Dwayne Parker, Director 82-87*

Chris Prell, Director

*Aztec Rugby

Team Update

What a year it was!! The team installed a new coaching staff this year and additionally developed a committment to rugby that invigorated the team to levels of former glory. The team appointed Dan Payne, former OMBAC Super League Captain #8 and current United States World Cup Pool select side member as head coach. Dan, recruited additional coaches including Dave DiSorbo, (Backs Coach), Miguel Berthet, (Front Row), Brian Kennedy, (Locks), Jeff Christianson, (Hookers), Jim Wilson, (Deep Three Backs), and Dave Crist (Inside Backs).

Following their direction and style of play the club went on to post impressive wins over Southern California powerhouses, UC Santa Barbara and California Polytechnic University, San Luis Obispo, ranked 12th and 8th respectively. With those impressive wins the team catapulted through the National rankings from unranked to being ranked as high as 6th in the country. Unfortunately, the team incurred one loss during a low week to cross town rival University of San Diego.

Based on the point system this loss cost the Aztecs first place in the Southern California League Standings.

The second place finish created a rematch against arch rival UC Santa Barbara. On the line for the winner was the Southern California second seed to the National Sweet 16's. However, at our home pitch, under the lights and in front of one of the largest crowds to ever see an Aztec game the team pushed forward to an impressive win.

The SC second seed placed the Aztecs as the number 11 team in the Sweet 16s tournament and faced us against Harvard. The number 10 seed, Harvard had been relatively unknown during the year but quietly went about winning the Ivy League tournament and earning the second seed from the Northeast. The Crimson vs. Red & Black match would place two of only four former Collegiate Rugby National Champions against each other.

The stage for the Sweet 16's was at Cal Berkely's home field. A large Aztec crowd gathered for the match and gave the team a feeling of home field advantage. However, Harvard struck first and with the wind continued to put the Aztecs on defense behind their 50 meter line. As haltime drew near the score was 14-10 with Harvard on top. Signs of weakness started to show though. Fitness for Harvard saw them transgressing from making tackles to catching tackles and their big pack was unable to keep pace with the nimble Aztecs. The second half developed into a scoring frenzy with several Aztecs scoring tries to finish the match with an impressive victory and entrance into the Elite 8.

Final Score: Aztecs 46 Harvard 14

The next day proved to be quite a challenge as the young Aztec team faced off against #1 ranked UC Berkeley on their home pitch. Cal struck early and consistently while working the nuances of their home field advantage. Final score was 78-0 with the Aztecs coming up on the short end of a benchmark match.

With this loss the young team witnessed a caliber of rugby at the collegiate level that they had not seen before. In addition, the team witnessed the spirit and pride of Aztec supporters as both days alumni flilled the crowds providing energy that was superior to every other teams fans during the tournament. The entire weekend served as a wonderful learning opportunity for the team to gauge their skills against the best in the country. The team is young and will return 11 of the 15 starters, including two freshman starters. The team is committed to use this year's success as a springboard into next year.

The team finished the year ranked 8th Nationally.

Donation Request

Fellow Aztec's your financial help is needed. As when you played, the current team operates on a minimal budget. Even though the team conducts fundraising events throughout the year the results are not enough to secure the status and image of Aztec Rugby as a premier team in Southern California. You can be a part of a positive change for future young men for years to come. As mentioned earlier all Officers have pledged initial donations to spearhead the establishment of the Foundation.

Moving forward we need your financial support as well. We will accept all donation levels via check or credit card. Premium donation packages are being assembled with details to follow in a later newsletter. These packages will include, Aztec gear, Letterhead Listing, Newsletter Recognition, Website Recognition and more.

The Foundation would like to thank those sponsors, directors and alumni who have already donated including our largest donation pledge received to date. Matt Eshoo ('87) has graciously doanted $1,000.00 to the Foundation with an additional $2,000.00 to follow for the next 5 years. Way to go Matt!

The Foundation would like to also thank the following for their financial contributions:

Alumni let's keep adding to this list and make the team aware of the community and sponsors behind them. Please mail your donations to:

San Diego State Rugby Foundation

PO Box 910682

San Diego, CA 92191

Aztec Select Side

A remarkable amount of eight Aztecs were selected for postseason play. A total of SEVEN forwards and one back made the Southern California Griffins. Two members of our team went on to earn honorable mention All American, following the Inter Territory Tournament Matches. Listed below are the players and postions. The team and the Foundation are proud of their committment and acheivement associated with Aztec Rugby.

Player/Year Position Team

Dave Buboltz (Jr) Prop Griffins

Gabriel Chait (Jr) Hooker Griffins

Ante Drazina (Sr) Flanker Griffins

Joe Fontana (C) (Jr) Lock Griffins/All American

Kyle Miller (Sr) Prop Griffins

Riley O'hagan (Sr) Eight Griffins/All American

Rudy Salazar (Jr) Scrumhalf Griffins

Zac Winter (Sr) Lock Griffins

Lastly, Joe Fontana will travel with the All American team and may see some playing time. Good Luck Joe!!

ETC. ETc. ETC.

International Rugby Board Sevens in San Diego: On Feb 18-19^th San Diego hosted what was has been easily considered the best Rugby Tournament ever played in the United States. The tournament was held in newly constructed Petco Park in the heart of downtown San Diego. Over 30,000 fans came to see 16 International teams play in the fourth of eight tournaments of the IRB International 2006/2007 series.

This event was a huge success for San Diego, USA Rugby and for the thousands of fans that attended the event. Continued growth is expected as San Diego and Petco Park have committed to an additional four years of hosting the tournament.

Fiji was the ultimate winner of this years tournament demonstrating sevens talent that has propelled them to numerous world titles over the years. The US team faired well in capturing the Shield Trophy with a tournament a record of 3 - 3. Key victories were against Kenya, Portugal and West Indies, while hard fought losses were at the hands of Australia, England and Canada.

Mark your calendar for next year's tournament as this event is expected to become the premier rugby event in the United States for years to come.