University Park, Pa. - The Penn State Rugby program is pleased to announce the dates for their 2013 Winter High School Rugby Clinics. The Boys’ Clinic will be from January 18^th to the 20^th followed by the Girls’ Clinic from January 25^th to the 27^th.

Averaging over 400 high school rugby players and coaches annually, PSU’s Winter High School Instructional Clinics are seen by many outstanding High School programs as the perfect way to kickoff their spring season.  The clinics are held in Holuba Hall, the indoor football training facility at Penn State, which allows high school programs to get their seasons started without worrying about the weather.  Over 30 different High School programs were represented last year, most bringing their entire teams for a “preseason mini-camp” weekend.

Current and former Penn State rugby players, including All Americans and Eagles, serve as coaches and support Penn State’s nationally recognized coaching staff in giving the players access to the latest approaches and ideas. This year we will again have current Eagle scrumhalf and PSU Alum Mike Petri as one of the lead coaches.

In addition, players get to experience the very same things the teams they aspire to play on are doing. “The kids absolutely love working with the current and former players, and their ability to relate to, and inspire these young rugby players is a very big part of the success of our clinics,” said Chris Amoratis, Penn State’s Coordinator of Rugby.

Penn State also brings in guest coaches from around the world for the winter clinics.  Past guest coaches have included USA Rugby Coaches like George Betzler, Luke Gross, Bill LeClerc, Mark Bullock, Bryn Chivers, Mike Tolkin, Peter Baggetta and Lance Connolly. Top International coaches and players have also headlined the winter camp such as former All Blacks Graham Mourie and Kieran Crowley, Welsh Rugby Union coach John Williams and former French National team and Toulouse coach Pierre Villepreux.

 The clinics are held in Penn State’s state of the art facilities. They include both on field and classroom instruction; information regarding strength and conditioning, speed and agility and nutrition.  Players are broken up by skill level and learn the fundamentals of both general and positional play.

“Although clearly not the only way, the winter clinics are an opportunity for us to show these young athletes the way we do things here at Penn State, and with the National Team, ” said Peter Steinberg, head coach of the USA National Women’s Team, and the 7 time National Champion PSU women’s team. 

The clinics also include full team scrimmages, which are always the highlight of the weekend for the participants.  Scrimmages are set up by existing teams as much as possible, and there is also a scrimmage for players who are brand new to the game.

“For many, if not all of the participating players, the Sunday scrimmages at our winter clinics are their first rugby matches played in months, if not ever, and year after year we continue to be impressed with the steady improvement in the level of play, and how much the scrimmages are enjoyed by everyone involved,” added Don Ferrell, Director of Rugby and head coach of the PSU men’s team.

For more information on Penn State rugby or our rugby camps please visit

www.rugby.psu.edu or contact the Camp Directors

• Boys Clinic – Don Ferrell, This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it , 814-867-1319
• Girls Clinic – Chris Amoratis, This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it , 814-867-4496

To register for our Winter Clinics, Summer Academy, or Summer Advanced Skills Camp visit http://www.gopsusports.com/camps/rugby-day-camp-about.html