Alaska Dispatch
It's tough to avoid comparisons to "Field of Dreams" the 1989 KevinCostnermovie about a man compelled to build a baseball diamondin the middle of his corn fields whenyou're talking about Justin Green and his passion forrugby. Green, the owner of Alaska Demolition, has used his access to heavy equipment and discarded materials to carve a full sizerugbyfield in Potter Valley above Anchoragethat's attracting attention around the world.
The invitation onlyfield can take a bit of work to find,but if you're hiking above the valley southeast of Anchorage proper, it's hard to miss.
"I'm still waiting for the first plane to do an emergency landing here," joked Green, 42, looking out over theexpanse, which is larger than an NFL field.
By chance, a small Cessna soon buzzed overhead and dipped its wings in greeting as two teams playedThursdayevening.
The privatelyowned field is part of Green's effort to expand the sport in Alaska with help from otherrugbylovers and friends. Crowned with views of the Chugach Mountains on one side andCook Inlet on the other, the field inspires players to drop words like "amazing" and "spectacular" to describe it. It comes complete with aclubhouse that's tied to Green's home, with locker rooms, showers, a weight lifting area, even a full bar called the "rugbypub."
RugbyMagazine recently featured Green's creation on its pages, and the InternationalRugbyBoard's "TotalRugby" TV show weighed in on its Facebook page, asking whether the field is the most beautiful in the world. They're coming up this summer to film it, Green said.
The Alaska MountainRugbyGrounds, as the facility is called, took nearly a decade to create, including two years just getting the grass to grow.
"This is a world class facility," said Cam Vivian, president of the AlaskaRugbyUnion. "Justin drew it up on a bar napkin eight years ago. I'd come up here and I couldn't envision it. But here it is. And look at it. Wow! Wow!"
The environs, stunning as they are, may be less important to longtime players thanrugby's growth spurt in Anchorage. That includes what is apparently the first organized effort to introducerugbyto youth, courtesy of Green and friendssuch as organizerCraig Cornichuck. More than 50 kids younger than 16 are practicing twice weekly at Goldenview Elementary in South Anchorage, coaches said, playing touch and flag games and learning to tackle properly.
"It's been years since we've seen growth like this," said Vivian.
One advantage to the sport, especially for youth,is that it's relatively inexpensive. The only fee for the youth program is $5 to $20 for insurance through USARugby, depending on a kid's age.
On his site, Green shareslife lessons he learned from the sport as a kid attending a boarding school in England, and of his dream to putrugbyon the map in Alaska, where he was born and raised.
Wessels was so impressed he got in touch with Green. Now, he's come up voluntarily to help build the sport in Anchorage. He brought along a batch of teammates and fellow New Zealand natives. They're helping too, and they'reall livingat the clubhouse while they're in Alaska this summer.
Wessels said he was most impressed by Green's efforts to get kids involved in the http://www.klevertools.com/ sport.
"This is a model of how America should be promoting it around the world," said Wessels, 25. have burned out because there's no flow of new people."
Wessels came north because he wanted to see a new place, and"this was the most interesting thing happening around the world," he said.
Rugby is like that, players said, with clubs making long distance trips for exotic tournaments, and locals opening their homes.
"I would say we've expanded the rugby world, openingup a market for different teams in a wilderness setting in Alaska," Green said, adding that he's talking with international clubs about coming north to compete.
Longtime playerson Thursdaysaid they'd like to see rugby in high schools, including for girls. Rugby is the fastest growing team sport in the nation, they say, and colleges are increasingly offering athletic scholarships.
"If we could get this in the schools it would open up new opportunities for students," said Ted Snider, 50, shortly after he had helped the Bird Creek Barbarians sneak a win past the new team, still unnamed, that consisted in part of the players from New Zealand.
After the game, David Bailerand two other young Army friends said they signed up for Rugby 101 because they were looking for a tough workout. Practice started a few weeks ago, andThursdaywas the first game. After 80 minutes of almost nonstop play, they were satisfied.
"It's a blast," Bailer said.
It's good for older guys too, said David Hall, a longtime employee of the oil industry who signed up for Rugby 101 after enlisting his two kids in the youth league.
"For organized sports for a guy my age, it's usually softball and bowling. But this is pretty awesome and the doors are open for anyone."
As for Green, the sport continues Michael Kors Online to change his life. Several years ago he tried to reach his old headmaster, who is fromWalesand instilled a love of the game in him. But he was told that Ian Gollop had died. Turns out that wasn't true. Last week, Gollop, now 80, contacted Green out of the blueafter reading about his field online.
"He found my website and he couldn't believe it," Green said. "He emailed me two days ago and I thought it was a joke. But it's not. This all happened because of that man."