When I was in secondary school it was repeatedly hammered into me how special it was to play rugby for my school.
And I drunk the Kool aid. I was sold. It felt like the biggest honour in my life getting to represent my school on the rugby pitch.
Since then I’ve lived a bit more life and come to realize those games are a drop in the rugby playing ocean.
To us, at the time, they felt like world cup finals, turns out there are actual world cup finals.
Then I left school and I went and played for a local club and I was horrified to see the lack of commitment.
25 in the squad and sometimes only 6 would show up for training.
In school we had to find the coach/teacher and tell them face to face why we couldn’t make it to training that evening and you would want to have a good excuse too.
In club rugby they would wait to see who showed up on Saturday morning to pick the team.
In school, they announced the team for Saturday on the Thursday (just like the international teams) via an announcement board for the whole school to see and that game would be the highlight of your weekend.
Safe to say I much preferred playing schools rather than clubs.
It also impressed upon me, the power of a special cause.
The dedication, motivation, and buy-in all followed the messages of pride and specialness.
We were doing gym sessions twice a week, on field trainings three times a week, and playing matches twice a week, unpaid, and in our final and most important education year.
Those were the inputs we were willing to give to become one of those teams that was revered by the school.
In the club it seemed like no one cared, so my motivation started to ebb away.
I think if it’s considered just another rugby game then people go through the motions.
But if it’s considered a special cause, people are willing to die for it.
Thomas Duggan 