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San Diego Legion

MLR Grassroots: San Diego Legion, High School Development

March 25, 2022 - Major League Rugby (MLR)
San Diego Legion News Release


It was only last weekend that the high school season came to a close.

At Saint Mary's College stadium, San Diego's Torrey Pines were beaten 52-24 by De La Salle in the All-California School Final.

Jesuit of Sacramento finished third, overcoming a firm Long Beach Poly side to end their own campaigns.

California's rugby presence continues to be a strong one, with plenty of high school, club and college teams smattered across the state.

This can no more be seen than when speaking to San Diego Legions' Jack Wiggins, the defense coach and Academy Director's whiteboard filled to its entirety with the names of teams that surround the professional rugby side.

His experiences have seen him coach at the renowned Hastings Boys' High School in New Zealand, Bunnings NPC side Hawkes Bay, in the Academy of Premiership Rugby side Wasps in England, as well as in Hong Kong.

Along with coaching San Diego alongside Danny Lee and Scott Murray, Wiggins is at the heart of growing the grassroots links to the franchise further, promoting a pathway that will hopefully one day see players grow into professional rugby players.

Just weeks into his new role in Southern California, the English-born coach has been learning as he goes, attending multiple games and introducing himself to plenty of the pre-existing coaches in the area.

What is apparent from the outset is that he has walked into a program with lots of good pieces in place, with Legion having one of the strongest high school programs in Major League Rugby.

Achieving all of their Grassroots Development Incentives, Wiggins is full of praise for the rugby region he now calls home.

"Southern California and San Diego has traditionally had quite a strong community rugby in both clubs and schools," Wiggins said.

"There are a lot of schools that play rugby, a lot of colleges that play rugby and that is something that has grown over the years.

"Where the school game now is, guys have been playing rugby since they were five years old, coming to the end of their schooling, but are part of that generation that has been playing their entire lives.

"A lot of these guys don't play other sports either, that is probably the biggest reason that high school rugby in this part of the world is so good at the moment.

"We are getting to the point now where kids have been playing for a long time, have been coached by the same coaches, the same influences around them and they have got a lot of the same players around them as well.

"A lot of school programs are aligned with clubs as well, so they will finish a school's season, then go and play for their club.

"Within that community, there is a lot of volunteer coaches, a lot of people involved in the community, and those are the people coaching and managing things.

"I would say that is why high school rugby is in a strong place in San Diego at the moment."

Wiggins' experiences lend themselves well to the establishment of a strong youth program.

Beginning his professional coaching career 10 years ago New Zealand, where he first came across Legion head coach, Danny Lee, Wiggins gained further experiences in England before going to developing nation Hong Kong, who narrowly missed out on qualification for the 2019 Rugby World Cup.

Both San Diego's defense coach and Academy Director, the Englishman says that he sees his role as aligning the Southern California rugby community with what the Legion are hoping to achieve and produce an even better class of player moving forwards.

"We are kind of reinventing our strategic plan surrounding our community development and Academy in this region," Wiggins said.

"We have got stuff in place, but as the league has evolved, as rugby has evolved; the academies, the communities and the development hasn't aligned closely enough.

"What I am trying to do at the moment is bring everything together and get some kind of alignment and that players are not overplaying.

"We want to promote what the community is already doing, so that they continue doing it, we just want to make sure that the overriding factor is player development and getting players to be able to play at that next level."

Part of what San Diego offers to their community is a host of players willing to get into coaching at grassroots level, offering their expertise to the next generation of American rugby player.

In 2021, Legion back Ryan Matyas spoke to majorleague.rugby about his passion for coaching, the USA Eagle having done so since he was a teenager.

For Wiggins, this is very much a part of the pathway and experience he is looking to offer young athletes in the years to come, enhancing an already rich rugby heritage in the region and something wholly unique to Southern California.

"We have got Nate Augspurger who coaches one of our high school teams, Ryan Matyas coaches another one of our high school teams," Wiggins said.

"Pretty much all the high schools in San Diego has a Legion player assigned to their school, who is predominantly helping the tactical and technical development of those players and filling a hole that some local coaches might not have.

"We get school teams using our facilities here; the indoor training space, our gym, the indoor scrum machine, so we are trying to offer those things to the community, along with our players offering support.

"There is certainly an influence and support that the club can offer and that is something that can grow.

"A big challenge for us is aligning it and making sure we get a pathway that fits together and serves the player development purposes, the performance purposes and the community purpose."

Written by Joe Harvey

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