MANHATTAN, Mont. — With the introduction of youth rugby to the Gallatin Valley in 2022, the Bozeman area is seeing an uptick in athletes playing the sport in the spring.
One example of rugby showing its growth and benefits in other sports is Manhattan football’s Kaysen Konkol.
The senior running back/linebacker joined the Tigers over the summer and became the first rugby player in the program’s history.
“We were excited to get him,” Manhattan head football coach Wes Kragt said. “We knew that he would bring that physical aspect to the game, transitioning over from rugby to football, and so I feel like he’s done a great job.”
Konkol was a key piece in helping Manhattan reach back-to-back Class B State Championships in 2024. But when it came to first trying out rugby, he wasn’t so ecstatic.
“One of my buddy’s friends that figure out rugby, his mom came and talked to my mom, and I was just not for it,” Konkol said. “My mom had secretly signed me up and a few weeks later, she told me I had rugby practice and I was so mad, but I told her, ‘Ok, I’ll go try it,’ so I went and tried rugby, and I just fell in love with that sport as well.”
Konkol is a member of the Gallatin Wranglers, which was started up by JD Stephenson, Chief Executive Officer for the Montana Institute of Sport.
“When we get to spring, other than track and field, which is a sport that we support and love, we really found that there could be a real need and market for youth rugby,” Stephenson said.
Stephenson watched the sport he loves grow in the past two years for both boys and girls, but he doesn’t want it to be a primary sport for many. Stephenson worked with football programs throughout the Gallatin Valley, such as Bozeman and Belgrade High Schools, to help the likeness and transition between football and rugby.
“We are really trying to position rugby as the little brother of football,” Stephenson said. “We’re never trying to be bigger than the little brother, we’re never trying to outshine the big brother. We’re here in the ecosystem just to support our kids to be successful.”
“Anything we’re trying to do is not to take away from other sports. We really work with track and field to make sure our kids can do both, and we believe school sports should take priority over club sports,” he added.
Konkol isn’t the first football and rugby athlete in the area as former Bozeman Hawk Harley Bianchini also did both to help lead his team to the Class AA State Champion in 2023.
But Stephenson watched Konkol grow in rugby to the power back that he is on the football field, consistently moving forward with a full head of steam.
“Konks, he’s a phenomenal athlete,” Stephenson said. “The physical characteristics that he has and the background that he has in other sports has translated to him being really successful in rugby.”
That translation for Konkol works like a two-way street as he takes what he learns in the spring with rugby as well and applies to the gridiron in the fall.
“In pads, I always felt safe or I was too safe,” Konkol said. “In rugby, I don’t have pads on, so I have to tackle properly, and I think it’s helped a lot with tackling form and running the ball.”
“We try and bring a lot of the football stuff into the sport, so it’s easily translatable,” Stephenson said. “Our kids go back and put those things into guys like Harley (Bianchini) and Konks to be successful on the football field.”
With his performance this season, Konkol shows how much the two sports benefit each other and he hoped to advertise that to his fellow Manhattan teammates.
“I’m trying to get some of these Manhattan kids on the football team to come play rugby, and just get the chance, especially the younger kids” Konkol said. “My team can use it, and I think rugby is growing as a whole just in Montana.”
“There’s a lot of aspects that have the same similarities in them, and I feel like playing rugby and translating that over to football is great, so the more kids I think we can play it will be awesome,” Kragt said.
Although the 2024 High School football season came to end, the Gallatin Wranglers are always open to more athletes to come try the sport of rugby.
“Montana and rugby makes sense,” Stephenson said. “We’re the fastest growing youth sport in the state for a reason and it’s because it makes sense. The more people that come and give it a shot, the more they understand that it is for everyone.”
“If we can be a part of their journey and give them an opportunity, that’s all we’re looking for and that’s we’re looking forward to do,” he added.
Copyright for syndicated content belongs to the linked Source link