Glendale Rugby Club Director of Rugby, Mark Bullock, has stepped down as Head Coach of the men’s D1 team.  Bullock will continue as Director of Rugby, overseeing the continuing growth of the program, and will coach the U19 Academy program.  At the present time, he is also coaching the Glendale Women in preparation for the WPL.

After starting the Glendale program in the fall of 2006 when there was no Infinity Park Stadium or sports fields in Glendale and all matches were on the road, Bullock felt that now was the time to hand over the head coaching duties to Andre Snyman, the former Springbok who has been the backs coach for the past year.

Glendale Men’s Rugby started with five players; after the club placed ads in the Denver Post and Rocky Mountain News, 24 players showed up on a Saturday to try out for the club.  That first year witnessed the club playing all away matches and competing as an independent club in the ERRFU under former All Black Geoff Old.

Bullock assumed the coaching duties in 2007 as Glendale moved up to the Western D1 league.  The first year they exceeded expectations by playing in the D1 Club National Championships final, losing by just one point to Life University.  Glendale has played for the championship in three of the past five years.

In addition to the D1 team, Bullock began the Glendale Youth programs, U19 and lower age grades in 2007.  With the hiring of Jenna Anderson to coordinate the youth programs, those programs have blossomed.  This year, there are more than 2,000 participants in Glendale’s youth programs, including the U14 YMCA summer camp, fall and spring after school programs, boys and girls U19 camps and competitive teams, and the Rugby Colorado U14 TRY League.

Snyman has spent the past year coaching the backs and becoming familiar with the setup in Glendale and the coaching culture in the USA.   After playing ten years with the South African national team, and a further four years professionally in England, Snyman was coaching the Old Boys Rugby Club in Durban when a coaching colleague of Bullock’s in South Africa contacted him to say Snyman was looking for a coaching opportunity in the USA.  Bullock contacted Snyman, inviting him to Glendale for the 2011 Club Championship Finals, to see if both were a fit. 

It seemed as if there was a fit, as Snyman opted to stayed on to begin his USA coaching career.

“We are excited about the quality of knowledge on the rugby pitch that Andre brings to the program and the level of professionalism he has experienced in the Springbok setup.  Andre will provide a fresh perspective, and we expect to continue to compete at a high level,” said Bullock.

Snyman has had a busy summer coaching the Glendale and West 7s, and is eager to get his staff in place as they prepare for the fast-approaching fall season.