The Tesoro High School Rugby Clubs' mission is to teach Great Character, to build a Great Team, and to create Great Leaders for all members through the game of rugby.

RUGBY PHILOSOPHY

Rugby is a game that puts you in situations that can be related to life:  experiencing, failing, achieving, enduring, learning and growing.  As head coach, along with my staff, it is our job to help the players see the relationship between the two.  We will foster an environment that allows them to experience the positives and the negatives of individual versus team player, and to learn from their accomplishments, as well as their shortcomings

Rugby is a team sport with people working together to accomplish a goal.  In life the players are going to have to work together with many different people to achieve their goals.  The players also need to recognize the strengths and weaknesses of their individual skills.  They need to have confidence in themselves and their abilities so that they can help out with the team when called upon.  It is the pride in their own accomplishments that should allow them to endure – not the fifteen minute spotlight of fame, for very few ever get to shine in this light

Playing rugby exposes the players to goal setting.  Goal setting is a great exercise in gaining confidence and knowledge that they are improving as a person and player.  It also provides for opportunities to learn when goals are not met.  Setting goals such as giving a good pass, running in support, making the tackle, and scoring that try gives them a target to focus on and achieve.  All of these goals add up to achieving that final goal – the win!   Whether the win comes or not, pride in endurance and accomplishment always prevails

Along with the accomplishments, the unmet challenges factor into the learning process just as much.  Accountability and experiencing consequences will teach them how to accept that their actions not only affect them, but they directly affect the team.  Learning how to correct those mistakes and keep moving forward is key in both rugby and in life

The one thing that I feel very strongly about in rugby is that when you get knocked down, you don’t stay down.  All my players are going to get knocked down during a game and that’s okay.  The true test is how fast they get up.  The attitude, speed and determination in getting back up shows me what kind of person they are on and off the field.

Winning is important – it feels good, it gives confidence, it gives the team and the players recognition.  Building a program based on not just rugby skills, but life skills are also important to me.  When all is said and done, I want my players to go out on that field to compete, in rugby and in life, with the strongest muscle of all, their heart!  

Thank you all for being part of this club and trying to make it the best in Southern California.

Coach Hughes