Team contact sports teach us so much about life, teamwork, and camaraderie. From pushing our limits to learning how to win. And, how to lose.
Allen Etzler, of the Frederick News-Post, interviews two rugby playing brothers to learn more about teamwork and camaraderie on the pitch.
John Samonsky and his twin brother, Tyler, both play in the front row on the Frederick Rugby team. John plays the prop; his brother plays hooker.
“It’s good for us because we’re constantly communicating,” John Samonsky said. “We’ve always been together, so it works really well for us.”
That teamwork is an important key to be successful in rugby. John Samonsky said the ability to work with a team is probably the only trait that a rugby player needs to have.
“It doesn’t matter if you have a really good running back like it could in football,” John said. “You’re probably going to get tackled. Even on breakaways you usually end up getting tackled. So you have to be able to put yourself aside and you can’t try to win the game yourself.”
John said he never played football, but he enjoys watching the game. And while rugby often draws comparisons to football, the games are actually quite different... Besides the obvious difference of not wearing pads in rugby like football players do.
Because of the lack of extra protection on the field, players needs to work together to protect themselves and their teammates from serious injury through a combination of communication and proper tackling methods, like "Hawk tackling".
Read more about rugby camaraderie in The Frederick News-Post »