There is nothing new about the sport of rugby, except for perhaps its growing popularity in the United States.

And believe it or not, for comparisons sake, the number of high school rugby clubs in Colorado actually exceeds the number of CHSAA sanctioned high school hockey teams by one.

And although the number of teams in the Denver area also vastly exceeds the number of teams in the Colorado Springs region, just one, the Jr. Grizzlies of Colorado Springs are not only the defending state champions, but are ranked No. 8 in the nation by High School Rugger.

Made up predominantly by Pine Creek students, along with a handful from Lewis-Palmer, two from Doherty and one from TCA, the Jr. Grizzlies have represented numerous Colorado Springs area high schools since coming into existence in 2004.

“Historically, from the American side there are some misconceived ideas of what rugby is all about,” said head coach John Paterson, who helped found the club upon his arrival to Colorado Springs.

“It’s very much a modern game today and very much a youth game internationally, and it is also becoming one of the fastest growing sports in America.”

According to Paterson, a former professional player himself in New Zealand, it looks as if rugby could possibly have a future in the Olympics, and once that happens he expects the sport to absolutely explode stateside.

The sport is blowing up quite a bit in the area as is, and in just the Jr. Grizzlies second year of existence in 2005 they won their first state championship.

“The kids try to obviously win state championships in all types of sports,” Paterson said. “So we have been able to provide the boys with hoisting up a state cup at the end of the season. It’s a great honor for them all.”

For some of the boys such as Nick Markowski, Tyler Black and Chris Franquemont, all of Pine Creek, the sport provides an extra way of staying in shape for football season.

“My son [James] was at Pine Creek High School and played football, and he kind of enticed the football players to come and play another game out of season. That’s really how it kicked off,” Paterson said.

James Paterson, who went on to play college football for the School of Mines, as well as to compete for USA Rugby’s U-19 team now plays professional rugby in New Zealand.

Although he is the only Jr. Grizzly alumnus now playing professionally, numerous boys have gone on to play college rugby at such places as Colorado State, Oklahoma, Oklahoma State, Arizona, Arizona State, BYU and Western State.

And while many of the Jr. Grizzlies see college rugby in their future, they also see some similarities to the great game of football.

Comparing the sport of scrums, kicks and passes to the gridiron, Black stated that the physical aggressiveness, mental toughness and awareness, and camaraderie is all about the same.

Different from many of his teammates who made the direct out of season cross to the other game, however, Black came to the game while involved on a religious mission with his family in Swaziland, just north of South Africa.

Both he and his younger brother Michael, a fellow Jr. Grizzly, got involved with the sport and wound up playing for the national youth team.

“While we were over there we wanted to find another sport and we found rugby,” said Black, the team captain for the Jr. Grizzlies.

“We lived there for one year and when I got back I e-mailed John [Paterson]. I just wanted to keep playing. I just love it.”

Black and his teammates are 6-0 on the season and favorites to repeat as state champions.

The team only lost once in 2008, to Chaparral, but have come back and topped them twice this season, 30-15 in a scrimmage and 20-14 when it mattered April 8.

Right now about the only thing that has this team flustered is that nationals is scheduled at the same time as the state championship and the boys want a shot at playing against the country’s best.

“Coach sent in an appeal to see if they could change the dates as there are a few states that are in that predicament,” said Pine Creek junior and Jr. Grizzly scrum half. “We’ll see what happens.”