How one man’s Olympic moment brought new life to Jackson rugby

By Aaron Lampley | Originally published by Mississippi Today

Mitchell McGinnis owns two music academies and teaches vocal lessons in his spare time. He goes regularly to the gym, but that was as far as his athletic prowess and interest in sports went – until he found himself in Paris, at Stade de France during the 2024 Olympics, watching a sport he knew almost nothing about.

The game looked vaguely familiar: players chasing an oval-shaped ball and piling atop one another. But this was not American football. This was rugby.

While still in the stands, he picked up his cell phone and began searching for anything he could learn about the sport.

McGinnis did not know it yet, but his curiosity would help revive one of Mississippi’s oldest rugby clubs, attracting new players to an organization that nearly died out during the COVID-19 pandemic. 

“I remember sitting there Googling rules and trying to understand what was happening on the field,” he said. “It happened so fast.”

His introduction to rugby came by chance. A friend who won a lottery to attend the Olympics invited McGinnis to Paris.

He started searching for local rugby leagues near his Jackson home. Facebook led McGinnis to the Jackson Rugby Football Club. He began sending messages to the club back home. Within minutes, a practice was scheduled for that August.

Back at home, excitement built. But that initial practice fell through. So did another. That’s when McGinnis decided to grab the ball himself and run with it. 

He began recruiting players and scouting a field to play on. He would eventually get Jackson Public Schools’ permission to use Murrah High School’s practice field. Nearly three months after McGinnis first reached out to Jackson Rugby, they were finally going to meet.

He showed up at the high school dressed in a T-shirt and shorts. He kept slipping on the wet grass in his tennis shoes. 

“My friends joke a lot of times that a toxic trait of mine is thinking that I can do anything,” McGinnis said.

While rugby continues to grow in popularity in the U.S., it is hardly a staple of televised sports – dominated by football, basketball and baseball.

Nevertheless, rugby has found homes in some American communities. One of the early Mississippi adopters was Jackson Rugby. 

In rugby, two teams compete to advance an elongated ball to score a try — or a goal — by kicking, running and passing the ball backward. Its origins extend to the early 19th century in England and spread to the United States, mostly on college campuses. USA Rugby, the country’s governing body for the sport, counts 11,000 active players. 

An English sport makes it way to America

In a state dominated by college football, the English sport found its footing in Mississippi’s capital city in 1974. Back in 2010, team members even purchased and created their own makeshift facility with practice fields near Highway 49. 

“We get to have a good time. We get to run around together, laugh at each other, make a joke, have something to look forward to at the end of the week,” said Chris Mendonca, the team’s coach. “This is what I live for.”

Mendonca’s rugby journey started in 1999 during his Air Force deployment to Trier, Germany. Fresh from military training, Mendonca felt he was lacking a community and outlet outside of work. He would run across a local rugby league and instantly fell in love with the sport. 

Rugby became an outlet for Mendonca during his deployments in South Korea, Florida and Japan. Wherever he went, the sport gave him an anchor.

“I don’t know where I would be if I didn’t have this,” Mendonca said.

When he returned to civilian life, Mendonca went to work for Raytheon, a defense and aerospace company, that transferred him to Brandon in 2018.

He already knew he would join Jackson Rugby prior to his move. He had played against the team in 2005 when he played for a club in Okaloosa, Florida.

But it was not the same Jackson rugby team he remembered. 

The team was not nearly as active as it once was. Players left as they began families and started new careers. The last few active members attempted to host practices amid busy schedules. There were talks of merging the Jackson team with the one in Biloxi, but those discussions stalled when the COVID-19 pandemic hit.

Things continued to fizzle until McGinnis gave the team the push it needed. 

The goal: ‘play, have fun, challenge ourselves’

Mendonca was one of the two experienced players available when McGinnis organized the resurgent team’s first practice in October.

Mendonca arrived early and walked around the school parking lot filling a garbage bag with trash as he waited for other players to show up.

McGinnis arrived next. He approached Mendonca, wondering if he was a worker with the school. Mendonca said picking up trash was just something he could do while waiting. The team now makes a habit to clean the parking lot after every practice. 

Nearly two years have passed since the team’s revival on that muggy evening. Now Jackson Rugby regularly has over a dozen players at practice, with new people showing up to try the sport.

On most Sundays at 3 p.m., you can find the team at Murrah High School preparing for its next game. They sprint up and down the field, practice passing the ball and slam into foam pads to perfect their tackles. In between drills, they gather under a bright blue tent that gleams in the sun as they cool off with fresh watermelon and a misting fan.

“If you’re interested in playing, just come out and try for a practice or two,” McGinnis said. “We like to have a good time. It doesn’t matter if you’re a guy or girl. Come out and learn the game with us and have a good time.”

Caroline Swindool joined the group in early February after coming across a yard sign with the team’s information. At first she was intimidated by the predominantly male team. Her love for fitness and trying new things pushed her to join, and Swindool was welcomed with open arms.

“It’s really just a hodgepodge of a bunch of different people that you wouldn’t put together in a group normally, but everybody comes out and has the same common goal,” Swindool said. “We just want to play, have fun, challenge ourselves and get better.”

The club’s newfound popularity hasn’t gone unnoticed. McGinnis said several people approach the team’s tent at the Mobile Battleship Rugby Tournament earlier this month. Some asked about hosting games in Jackson later this year.

James Lawson has been a team member for two decades and has seen the team through hard times. He said the team is exactly where it needs to be.

“I think we got the right combination of people on the team right now,” he said, “and a lot of younger people on the team now to help grow rugby in this area.” 

This article was originally published by Mississippi Today and is republished here under a Creative Commons license.

Source: Original Article