When we started Bakline, we set out to change the face of rugby apparel and along the way, change the way the game is perceived in the United States. This is a sport often associated with unflattering stereotypes and the true, professional future of our game begins with the youth of today. We busy ourselves each day with stylizing rugby and building a lifestyle out of it. Part of that lifestyle is contributing to the game and creating opportunities for our American ruggers.
As America chugs towards rugby professionalism, it still seems light years away from threatening top tier rugby nations and the quality of our game needs to rise up. Younger athletes need great coaches, supportive clubs and elite training camps to better their skills, foster their talents and nurture the desire to make it all the way. Not all athletes can do this on their own and with the added pressure of paying for school or taking up a sport that provides scholarship, rugby becomes less a priority.
To change that, we hatched an idea that a rugby scholarship was needed to aid promising rugby athletes. So we partnered with A Rugby Life and H2H Media to bring this scholarship we call “Taking Flight” to life. Taking Flight is about helping our future Eagles take flight and for our first year we plan to send two gifted, dedicated and promising ruggers to an elite camp. One young man and one young women will be sent to the Serevi™ training camp and tournament in Glendale this August.
We’ve enlisted the help of Todd Clever, Waisale Serevi, Gavin Hickie, Phaidra Knight and Wendy Young to determine who those scholarship winners will be as they are put to the test in a H2H Rugby contest online next month!
To learn more about our scholarship and how to apply, please visit the Taking Flight Rugby Scholarship site.