From March 5^th, 2015 until March 15^th, 2015, thirty members of the Cathedral Catholic family represented the Dons “down under.” Due to a partnership that CCHS has with St. Laurence’s College in Brisbane, Australia, 26 Cathedral Catholic rugby players and four faculty members received the opportunity to partake in an exchange program with athletes across the globe.

The faculty members who accompanied the CCHS rugby team included Rugby Coach, Mr. Glenn Irvine, Assistant Dean of Students, Mr. Jeff Gramme, President, Mr. Steve Laaperi, and Director of Athletics, Coach Ron Marquez. Rugby players from St. Laurence’s College have visited Cathedral Catholic twice before.

The Dons began their trip in the outskirts of Sydney, Australia. For the first two nights, they stayed at a hotel in Bondi Junction, for the next two nights, they stayed in a hotel in Epping, a suburb of Sydney (like what Del Mar would be to downtown San Diego), and finally, they stayed with host families in Brisbane for the remainder of their trip.

The rugby players had the opportunity to enjoy some sightseeing and tourist activities during their stay. They visited Bondi Beach, Sydney Harbor, the famous Sydney Opera House, and took a double-decker bus tour of Sydney. In Brisbane, the Dons toured the downtown area and also toured the Queensland Reds training facility, where they later had a rugby practice.

While staying in Brisbane and attending St. Laurence’s College, the CCHS rugby team competed in two games against the Australian team. Students may remember games from the Australians’ visit to America resulting in massive losses for CCHS. However, captain “Vandy” Jacob Van de Grift says that he is proud of the team because this time, their two losses to St. Laurence’s were relatively small, with scores differing by single-number digits.

This could be because of how much more “intense” the game is on the Australian front.

“The Australian teams were much different than the American teams because of their exposure to the game as their national sport – much like football is here,” said Vandy. “They have a much higher IQ of the game and understand rugby logic better, since rugby in America is still a quickly growing sport.”

Blair McPherson, a senior rugby player at St. Laurence’s College, said that in comparison to his own team, CCHS was “sloppier, but a lot stronger and faster.” St. Laurence’s College senior Dimitri Falieros believes that this is due to how much less popular rugby is in America than it is in Australia. “But despite that, [the CCHS team] played with a lot of passion,” he said.

Senior Brent August said that his favorite part of the trip was “exploring the cities of Sydney and Brisbane and experiencing Australian culture firsthand through the host families.” Like many of the other players, junior Kyson Jester felt that he really grew as a rugby player because of “the vast knowledge and experience that the Australian players, coaches, and parents possessed.”

In all, the trip helped “globalize” our rugby players by enabling them to forge connections with athletes across the globe. However, the team also strengthened the bond of the rugby team as a whole. Vandy recalls his favorite memory as “when we as a team got together in the end zone before our first game came out as brothers, fired up to represent our great country, our school, and ourselves.”

Kyson and Brent both said that two of the major differences between Australia and America were the prices of food and the wifi. Food is much more expensive in Australia, and wifi has very strict time regulations. But despite these differences, Vandy says that the trip to Australia helped him realize that the two countries are fundamentally similar.

“The best part about visiting Australia was the fact that we as Americans were able to travel across the world not only to be tourists, but to experience a culture in which rugby connects high school boys of the same age,” Vandy said. “We were able to experience Australian culture firsthand by living with Australian boys of a same age. The fact that we were on a different continent helped us understand how we, as Cathedral Catholic Dons, are truly globally aware in our learning.”