- Raleigh Redhawks offers both non-contact and tackle programs.
Why play rugby?
- Opportunities for college team placement. Since 2018 we have had over 70 players with rugby collegiate scholarships. Several of our players were selected to study and play overseas at Cardiff Metropolitan.
Here is the recruitment video for Cardiff Met. Cardiff Met North America "Recruitment Video"
- Opportunities for USA Rugby scouting visibility. We have generated 6 U18 USA players. We were the only club in the State to have five players represent the USA Rugby South team in the World Rugby RAN Tournament. All players played in the Final against Mexico. We continually send players represent Academy Teams (USA Rugby Panthers Mens, Atlanta MLR, Panthers, Eagle Impact Rugby America, Altlantis and Rhinos) in Las Vegas Sevens and the Salt Lake City Sevens tournaments. In addition, several players were selected and played for the Eagle Impact Rugby Association and toured Canada. and Ireland and Panthers academy tour in United Kingdom.
- Koby Baker is our first professional rugby player that has come through the Redhawks program. He currently plays in Australia and Glendale with American Raptors.
Is Rugby Safe?-
- When we are recruiting, we often encounter people who have the impression that rugby is very dangerous. Football without pads we often hear. Many times, we hear that from football players (which I find especially surprising). Obviously, rugby is a contact sport and like any contact sport (or any sport for that matter) there are injuries. But the research, and our own experience, shows rugby is much safer than many, many other contact and non-contact sports. There are many reasons for this, including that there is no blocking so in rugby you always know when you are subject to contact: you are never hit blindly, etc. Rugby is also a game of possession, whereas football is a game of inches. Hence, in rugby rarely do we need to stop a ball carrier in his tracks, unlike in football. Rugby also has many laws around the tackle—no high tackle, no swing tackle, etc. there is also now available padding in rugby—scrum caps, shoulder and chest protectors, etc.
- Fact is—rugby is actually pretty darn safe. Some additional statistical information is provided below,
Insurance Claims data-
Summary
Key findings:
- Football is the most dangerous sport for children under 15
- Basketball, football and soccer are the most dangerous sports overall
- Sports-related injuries have declined by 10% nationwide
- Skateboarding is the only sport where injuries have increased
- More people are injured in team sports like football and basketball than in individual sports like tennis. Basketball, football and soccer have the most injuries overall, but the number of injuries varies with each age group. Football is the most dangerous sport for children ages 5-14, while basketball has the highest number of injuries among people ages 15-24.
- Sports-related injuries have declined over the last several years. Football, baseball, basketball and soccer injuries have each decreased by nearly 20% since 2017. Football introduced "rugby tackle" since 2017. Skateboarding is the only sport where we found an increase in the number of injuries. There has been a 51% increase in skateboarding-related injuries since 2017.
Sports with the most concussions
- Concussions in sports are extremely common. The CDC estimates that around 4 million athletes will get a concussion every year. We found that high-impact sports like football and hockey have substantially higher percentages of concussions than others. Hockey has the highest rate of concussion-related injuries, followed by snowboarding and football.
CONCUSSIONS IN EACH SPORT
- Sport % of concussion-related injuries
- Hockey 12%
- Snowboarding 10%
- Water tubing 9%
- Football 8%
- Lacrosse 8%
- Horseback riding 7%
- Wrestling 7%
- Rugby 7%
- Soccer 6%
- Cheerleading 6%
- Baseball 5%
- Volleyball 4%
- Basketball 3%
- A study published in the American Journal of Sports found-
- Incidence of injury in rugby is 10% compared to 52% in NCAA college football Football teams that implement rugby style tackling not only have a lower missed tackle percentage, but also less concussions. Check out the Seattle Seahawks
- Average rugby players runs 4.4 miles per game!
Safe Sport-
The safety of our members is of paramount importance to Redhawks. Raleigh Redhawks has Zero Tolerance for abuse and misconduct. This includes not only on-pitch safety, but also off-pitch safety in any part of USA Rugby’s programs. Raleigh Redhawks is committed to creating safe and fun environments for its members. All our coaches are safe sport certified and USA rugby Level 2 coaches or higher.