PELICAN AWARDS WINNERS
A lovely Saturday evening found the flock at Scott’s Seafood in Walnut Creek for an impossible event: the celebration of the end of a season that never ends.
Pete Smith demonstrated his stand-up talents in presenting our awards and putting down the occasional would-be heckler.
Annual Awards:
ROOKIE OF THE YEAR: Jordan Bruno. Jordan did a handful of games last year, but this year was a regular and worked his way up to men’s D1.
MOST IMPROVED: Phil Akroyd. You don’t have to be a beginner to get a lot better. Phil, already on the national stage, demonstrated a leap of confidence and competence.
AMBASSADOR OF THE SOCIETY: James Hinkin. Taking your billet to Beach Blanket Babylon is a perfect example of what this award is about. Imagine the pub we will get for years to come from that visitor!
PELICAN OF THE YEAR: Chris Tucker. Taking more responsibility in more areas of referee management, always volunteering and being willing to change assignments to take on that opening for that ‘sick’ ref which always happens to be in a remote city, and for never being that ‘sick’ ref – lots of good qualities made Chris the winner.
SCRIPTORIS AWARD: JC van Staden. When the editor smiles at the stories and wishes he’d had that game himself, that’s good writing.
TJ/AR OF THE YEAR: Ron DeCausemaker. An assistant referee could merely take the best game, or the one nearest his home. But a dedicated AR asks, “Where do you need me?”
BRYAN PORTER AWARD: David Williamson. Having won also in 2009, David has since re-doubled his efforts to help as many referees as possible improve through his coaching and evaluation. If you had a written report in the past year, there’s about a one-third chance that David wrote it.
Special Award:
DIXON SMITH AWARD: David Williamson
Dixon presents this award when he feels someone has demonstrated sustained involvement, commitment and excellence, in a variety of roles, to the NCRRS. It isn’t won in a year – it’s won in a career. And it doesn’t mean the career is over, by any means!
AS ALWAYS, WE NEED REFEREES THIS SATURDAY
Please let us know if you can help at any of these events:
Saturday, July 7:
Jackpot Sevens in Reno – no refs at present
SF Fog women’s Sevens – two refs so far
SFGG Sevens – three refs at the moment
Sacramento Lions Sevens – one ref on the roster
Each of these is played on the single pitch, so three refs is the minimum workable number. We hope you can help out.
Sunday, July 8:
Youth Sevens in Dixon
This event featured seventy-something games two weeks ago, and the refs did seven or eight games each. The doctor said there’s only one cure: more refs.
JUNE 30
The Palo Alto summer series kicked off with games starting on both pitches one minute ahead of schedule, at 8:29 AM.
The new format was a hit: high school and women’s teams in the morning, men in the afternoon. Everyone got the same three games as always, but they were played over three or four hours instead of eight or ten. This also effectively doubled the number of parking spots, as each could be used twice, and reduced crowding in the team and spectator areas.
The refs, of course, are happy being there all day, and an eleven of us were:
Bruce Bernstein, Cary Bertolone, Bruce Carter, James Hinkin, Tony Levitan, Stephen Moore, Eric Rauscher, Bruce Ricard, Brad Richey, Pete Smith and Chris Tucker.
Sam Davis and Chris Labozzetta also attended, Sam to peddle, Chris to play.
This event continues on July 14 and 28.
The Nesquik Series began at Sheeran Field on Treasure Island, with SFGG hosting a twelve-team event.
By on-line reports, the hosts and Olympic Club looked to have the better of this first iteration. The series continues on July 7 and 14.
The referees are featured in this week’s photo.
REMARKABLE STUFF
The USA Under-20 team won the Junior World Rugby Trophy in Salt Lake City this past week, running the table and defeating Japan in probably the best game this writer has seen any USA team have.
This is competent, committed rugby with none of those let-down moments that make you wonder if the Eagles will ever beat anyone more highly-rated.
Here are the first and second half. It’s less than a professional job – you need to familiarize yourself with the players since there’s no commentary. The scrumhalf is an NCYRA referee: Nick Boyer, who plays at Cal. St. Mary’s’s Kingsley McGowan on the right wing scores a beautiful try through heavy traffic.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OOUTcDwuYPc&feature=youtu.be
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=O5WVHNHw6lk&feature=youtu.be
Celebrate the Fourth! Get your red, white and blue on.
STILL TO COME: SIGN UP NOW
Saturday, July 14:
Palo Alto Sevens
Mt. Shasta Sevens
SFGG Sevens
Saturday, July 21:
New this week: For Pete’s Sake Youth Luau Sevens
SF Fog women’s Sevens
Marin Highlanders high-school Sevens
PCRFU Qualifier Sevens for the nationals, Treasure Island
Saturday, July 28:
Palo Alto Sevens
Sunday, July 29:
Youth Sevens championships, Dixon
Saturday-Sunday, August 4-5:
USA Rugby club sevens championships (men and women) at SFGG
Saturday, August 25:
Fifteens tournament in Reno
THIS WEEK’S PHOTO
Phil Akroyd, Jordan Bruno, Tom Zanarini, Ray Schwartz, new-guy Matt Hetterman, and George O'Neil at the Nesquik Sevens, showing off our latest green jerseys.
HAIL, PELICUS!
For the Senate
Pelicus Scriptoris
