OU Rugby Squad Begins Season

An OU rugby player carries the ball at the Al Velie Rugby Complex, while his teammates try and clear a path for him.

The Rugby team at the University of Oklahoma began their season last Saturday in Witchita, Kan., against Kansas State.

The Rugby Club was founded her at OU in 1974 by John Woods, Tim Wilson, and Al Velie. Since then the tradition filled club has had much success and has produced many All-American.

Rugby is a sport here at OU that goes relatively unnoticed by the student body. When asked about what they thought about or knew about rugby this is what they said.

"I think of bestly men, tackling eachother, but I don't really know much about it as a whole," Blake Brumley, University of Oklahoma sophomore.

"I honestly couldn't tell you a thing about rugby other than the it's kind of like football without the pads," Alona Nelson,University of Oklahoma sophomore said.

The purpose of rugby is to score points by running, punting, passing or kicking the ball across the endline. All passes must be made badwards though, which rules out the forward pass which is used in American football.

Scoring is simple. A try is worth five, a conversion is worth two, and a pentalty goal is worth three.

The Sooners started off the season with a win on the rode against the Wildcats. Kansas seemed to be in control early on in the game, but the Sooners eventaully came through winnign by a score of 53-12. The team has one more game against Tulsa, before they begin College Premiere League play.

Their first CPL game will be on March 5th at Texas A&M.

The rugby team will have weekly games up until the playoffs in May and will have games here in Norman as well as across the country.

As far as facilites are concerned, Oklahoma Rugby boast some of the best facilites in the nation. The Sooners have the Tarzan Pitch at the Al Velie Rugby Complex, while also having access to the state of the art Everest Indoor Training Center.

The team is looking to have a very successful season and plans to be very competitive in the College Premiere League.

OU Lacrosse Starts Season Strong

The OU lacrosse team huddles together during a timeout this weekend during a game against Harding University. The Sooners season kicked off this with two game this weekend against TCU and Harding.

This weekend the Sooners took the field in Norman as the 2011 season started.

The OU lacrosse team started off the season with two wins this weekend. Beating TCU on Saturday 14-13 and Harding 14-6 Sunday afternoon.

The fact that this was opening weekend and judging by the number off people in attendance it is no wonder why they players feel like many people do not know who they are.

"We don't compare to most of the other sports here, a lot of people don't even know what lacrosse it," Tom Barnhart a freshman lacrosse player said.

Freshman player Cameron Alvaraz says he describes it to people who have no idea what it is like, "hockey on grass, with the same positions as soccer, and set plays like basketball."

The Sooner lacrosse team has about 25 players, who pay $300 a year for their own equiptment and other team related things since they are a club team.

They play in the Lone Star Alliance Conference, and play 10 regular season games. They usually play about one to two games a week along with three practices.

"It's a big time committment, usually taking up about 10 hours a week," Barnhart said.

There are no scholarships available for the players and they have to pay for their own equiptment, but that does not bother Alvarez. "I decided to keep playing in college because it's a good way to stay in shape and I love the sport."

The players are optimistic about this year after their 2-0 start. "We have high hopes for this season, it should be a good year," Barnhart said.

The OU Equestrian Club

The equestrian club at the University of Oklahoma, is one of the smaller club teams here at the university as well as one of the least well known.

Equestrianism refers to the different skills that are used while riding a horse. These different skills are what the Sooner riders practice to perfect for each of their shows.

The club currently has about 15 active members. They compete during both the spring and the fall semesters, in about 10-12 shows each semester. These competitions test riders on their horse riding ability through different events.

Each of the events have their own different way of being scored, either by judges, time, or by how many points that are accumulated each round.

At these shows they comptete against other colleges and universities. Which gives the students an opportunity to go against some very skilled riders.

The equestrian club used to be associated with the OU polo team, until the university disbanded the polo team in the fall of 2008, while the equestrian team stayed together.

Courtney Burggren, equestrian club president encourages any student who is interested in horses to come and check out the club.

"OU Equestrian is a way to allow students with an interest in horses and equine activities to learn more and have the chance to compete a college level, no matter what level or experience they may have," Burggren said.