Men's rugby hosted the Missouri Youth Rugby Jumpstart Clinic at the Lindenwood Track Complex on January 28. The session was designed for any high school age student from across the state to get a refresher on rugby skills for the upcoming season.  
 
Close to 40 Missouri high school rugby players, some even brand new to the game, took the pitch while current Lindenwood players instructed and ran drills.  
 
The morning was split into three sections to closely replicate a typical Lindenwood training session starting with a 15-minute meeting to discuss the training plan, go over goals, and assign the participants into competition groups.  
 
After the meeting, the players and coaches took the field for a 90-minute training block that included a warmup, twelve different skill drills, and two, ball-in-play sessions. The block concluded with some hill sprints. High school coaches followed each drill and asked questions as the training went on. 
 
At the conclusion of the on field activities, coaches were invited back to the meeting room for an hour-long presentation from Lindenwood Men's Rugby Head Coach Josh Macy and Assistant Coach Zach Thorum. Macy discussed training plan development and marketing for programs while Thorum did a block on building a defense. 
 
Macy plans to continue his outreach by welcoming coaches to shadow the Lions program in the future.  
 
"It was great spending time with local coaching colleagues for a day," he said. "We are always open to have any coaches visit our program and shadow our training and discuss our practice plans together."
 
Executive Director of Missouri Youth Rugby Pat Clifton was complimentary of the youth clinic on Saturday and the partnership between his organization and Lindenwood rugby.
 
"Thanks to the expert coaching from the Lindenwood staff and players, dozens of kids have had a wonderful first rugby experience, and dozens more have knocked off the winter rust and sharpened their skills for the upcoming spring season," he said. "This kind of connective tissue between levels of the game is something we're very much about at Missouri Youth Rugby, and we couldn't ask for better partners than Coach Macy and the Lions." 
 
Those interested in shadowing the Lindenwood men's rugby program can reach out to Coach Macy via his email at jmacy@lindenwood.edu.