RIT Rugby built culture, finishes regular season undefeated

RIT Rugby built culture, finishes regular season undefeated Mat Mlodzinski News10NBC RIT rugby shirt ROCHESTER, N.Y. (WHEC) — The RIT rugby club team has transformed from a struggling squad to an undefeated powerhouse. “The team I inherited had just come off a negative 226 point loss differential. 0-5 on the season. We had a lot of rebuilding to do,” head coach Michael Davis Martin said. The Tigers finished their regular season with a perfect 8-0 record, a turnaround that few could have predicted just a few years ago. “We don’t have the strongest coaching staff. We don’t have the strongest athletes. But what we have is a team of guys who are dedicated to spending time together,” Martin said. “It’s the reason I stayed at RIT. This club is absolutely my family. We’ve built something really special here. All these guys mean a lot to me and it’s a real privilege to be able to get out here and be a leader on the field for them,” fifth-year senior Ioannis Pavlides said. Players said the team’s focus is on giving members meaningful life experiences through a close-knit, winning environment. Some hope the club will one day be recognized as a varsity sport. “I think it would be amazing, especially being the start of this. Being able to become a team that’s going to be competitive enough to become varsity,” star sophomore Magnuss Clouser said. “In an ideal scenario, the school sees the appeal of the sport and especially with Harvard, Princeton, Yale, Brown being some of the leading figures of rugby in the US and knowing that the school wants to be a part of those conversations,” Martin said. That goal may be years away, but for now, the team is focused on building a strong culture for future players. “That culture led to some of our incoming freshmen choosing to play here over going to schools that potentially had scholarship opportunities,” Martin said. “I’d love to see this become a varsity sport at RIT, but the truth is, the club sports department has been giving us such great recognition, such great support, that I’m not quite ready to leave them yet,” Pavlides said. For now, the RIT rugby team is happy to keep building each other up and winning games as a club.