Maggie Rouse is mother to eight boys and one girl, and for the past 25 years, she’s been involved in all of their sports. She’s coached their baseball, football, swim teams – you name it – and then six years ago, rugby entered her purview. Today, Rouse is the co-chair president of Rugby Texas and was recently elected to serve as South Regional Director for USA Youth and High School Rugby.
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“One of my sons came to me and said, ‘I don’t want to play football anymore,’” Rouse set up her rugby-origin story. “I told him, ‘You’re not not going to play sports.’ And he said, ‘I’m going to play rugby.’”
The family aligned with the CyFair Warrior Club in Houston.
“I’d try to have someone on the sideline explain to me what was going on during the match, but if [the source wasn’t] a previous rugby player, then it was extremely difficult for me to understand what was happening,” Rouse said. “I also wanted to help my son be better and so I took the opportunity to take my L200 [coaching] course and the L100 officials course – never with the intention of being an official but with the intention of understanding the different aspects of the game.”
But then rugby did its rugby thing, and Rouse found herself assistant coaching the CyFair forwards. She became the club president and used her ample experience as a paralegal and contracts manager to establish the team’s administration. She set up the bank account, managed the 501(c)(3) process, created the website, established fundraising opportunities, and then three years ago was nominated for secretary of Rugby Texas. After a couple of years volunteering at the state level, Rouse was elected compliance director of the now-named State Governing Body (SGB, formerly State Rugby Organization). Shortly after the 2019-20 election, the Rugby Texas president stepped down, and Rouse and Jason Kimball were asked to serve as co-chair presidents.
“I really got involved with what’s going on in USA Rugby in January, when they started opening up and explaining to us what the financial situation was and that bankruptcy was probably on the horizon,” Rouse said of her entry to the national level. “The question became: How was youth and high school rugby going to move forward?”
Discussions eventually settled on creating a separate organization that could focus solely on the grassroots level of the game, while retaining an affiliation with the national governing body.
“This is something that we’ve all wanted,” Rouse said of the USA Youth and High School Rugby nonprofit. “I’ve been involved with youth sports for a long time and I didn’t understand why the corporate structure was set the way it was. Usually when you have a youth and high school sports group, they’re their own 501(c)(3) away from their parent group. I do know that with some of the financial struggles that USA Rugby has had – not just recently but in the past as well – that youth and high school wanted to be a part of USA Rugby, but not underneath it.”
Rouse referenced this collective desire when noting the receptive nature of the membership. While Rouse helped with the 501(c)(3) process, the SGBs discussed important issues like proportionate voting for differently sized states. The group landed on dividing the country into seven regions, and was unanimous in subsequent votes for the election process, nomination of Bill Stevens as USA Rugby’s Youth & HS Council representative, and Terms of Reference. When it came time to elect the regional directors, all but two states turned out to vote.
“We have momentum,” Rouse lauded the participation rate.
Alabama, Arkansas, Florida, Louisiana, Mississippi, Oklahoma and Texas voted in Rouse as the South Regional Director (the South region also includes the American Territories and Possessions). The seven reps (full list at end of article) comprise the interim executive board, which will be up for re-election at the January 2021 AGM. Rouse serves as the organization’s treasurer and will also chair the communications committee. David Pool (SoCal president and Southwest Regional Director) is the chair, Jason Divine (NorCal executive director and Northwest Regional Director) the vice chair, and Matt Downs (not a regional rep but a legal advisor who can execute documents for the IRS) is the secretary.
“The biggest thing is the community agreement with USA Rugby,” Rouse said of national-level priorities. “That will tell us what services they’ll provide and what we’re actually paying for. Members will have a clear and transparent breakdown of the money we’re paying to USA Rugby for insurance, membership services, training and education.
“USA Rugby gives us a cost model and then we consider what we think we should be accountable for as far as monies go,” Rouse previewed negotiations. “There are certain things we don’t use at the national office that are strictly for the college or club side. We also need to get insurance quotes to make sure we have the best numbers for us.”
The interim board is meeting weekly, and Rouse hosts a call every two weeks to update her regional membership with any new information.
“Our region is the smallest one and it’s all about the communication and flow of information,” Rouse said of keeping that collaborative energy at a premium.
For example, Rugby Texas hired a professional educator (whose son plays for Major League Rugby’s Houston SaberCats) who successfully wrote Rookie Rugby into the Texas PE curriculum. Touch and flag rugby will be introduced to elementary and middle schools, and the SGB is now training PE teachers and athletic directors to be L100 coaches for the upcoming school year.
“Without these kids, the high school programs won’t sustain themselves,” Rouse said. “So we’re working with other states inside this region to present this – with some changes for each state – to their school districts.”
Top of the list is Rouse’s home state and South member, Mississippi.
“There’s no [youth] rugby there,” Rouse said. “I sent the curriculum to a couple of school board directors and private school principals that I know personally. I’m looking to grow rugby in Mississippi – that’s my home and they have no players.”
Rouse has spoken with Florida Youth Rugby Union Executive Director Evan Haigh, who “is struggling with girls’ rugby,” she continued. “We’ve made great strides here [in Texas], so he’s connected with our girls’ commissioner, Paul Graham. We’re just trying to figure out to help them grow as well.
“We’re also working on a training and education [program] of referees starting in 5th, 6th grade,” said Rouse, whose 12-year-old son is a certified referee. “When they become 8th graders and freshmen in high school, they’ll be taken under the wing of the assistant referees, and hopefully by the time they’re sophomores and juniors, they’re ready to become center refs.”
In the future, Rouse envisions a regional website where these collaborations can be fostered without a liaison. The resource center would feature a coaches’ portal that housed an amendable best practices document, coach progeny system for mentorship opportunities, and more. This week, Rouse and Kimball are going to discuss competition options for the region, so those on-pitch connections can also be made.
“When we set up the regions, we included all states in the union, as well as the American Territories and Possessions. Someone said, ‘They don’t have rugby there,’ but that doesn’t mean we can’t have rugby there in five years,” Rouse eyed the islands off the coast of Florida. “But the crux of it is: If we can provide a fun, safe environment for kids to learn and play rugby, they’ll have a great time. When they come back next year, maybe they’ll bring a friend. So if someone wants to come in [to the South region] and join us because now they have players, they need to know where they’ll fit in.”
Curious what’s happening in your region or state? Contact your SGB president, who is the main vehicle for updates on USA Youth and High School Rugby or can direct you to your state’s designee.
“It can be overwhelming,” Rouse surveyed the tasks at hand. “But this is the biggest opportunity to set the stage for good rugby in the USA.”
USA YOUTH & HS REGIONAL DIRECTORS
Northwest: Jason Divine (AK, ID, MT, NorCal, OR, WA)
Southwest: David Pool (AZ, HI, NM, NV, SoCal)
Central: Owen Power (CO, IA, KS, MI, NE, SD, UT, WY)
Midwest: Bill Stevens (IL, IN, KY, MN, MO, ND, OH, WI)
South: Maggie Rouse (AL, AR, FL, LA, MS, OK, TX, Am. Terr./Poss.)
Southeast: Kat Aversano (GA, MD/DC, NC, SC, TN, VA, WV)
Northeast: Dave Lyme (CT, DE, MA, ME, NH, NJ, NY, PA, RI, VT)