WSC gears up to host Girls High School National Championship Rugby Tournament

Wayne State College is gearing up to host the Girls High School Rugby National Championship Tournament on Friday and Saturday.

Matches will feature teams from California and Utah and will include round-robin pool play in Memorial Stadium.

The tournament host and the rugby coach at Wayne State College, Darrin Barner, said it's been a long time coming for Wayne to host an event like this.

“Several cities bid with this and this has to do a little bit with tourism and things like that,” said Barner. “I’ve been putting bids in for like seven, eight years now,” he said. “A lot of work and we finally get the bid and we really want to showcase this off here in Wayne, Nebraska,” he added.

The tournament will also feature kids in middle school competing from California and Utah as well.

Barner compared these kids playing rugby from an early age in their communities to what Little League Baseball is around the United States.

“It's a team thing. The programs they’re coming from are very established for decades,” Barner said. “It's passed down from the moms and the dads when they played and the grandpas and grandmas when they played," said Barner. "Those big programs, it’s kind of like Little League Baseball. You’re going to start when you’re in elementary school,” he said.

Major League Rugby will sponsor the tournament.

Besides playing rugby, organizers also plan to take the teams to a muscle car show in Wayne on Friday night and give the players a look into the planetarium on campus.

If you plan to attend the tournament, admission will be free.