Belmont Shore Rugby Club

Belmont Shore rugby Football Club

Founded in 1964, Belmont Shore Rugby Football club is one of the premier rugby clubs in the United States, with a history of Championship winning teams throughout the age groups. Located in Long Beach, Ca the club has a flourishing youth program, a traditionally dominate men’s program, and a women’s team competing in Division 1. The club provides rugby playing opportunities to individuals of all ages with or without any experience.

Belmont Shore to Defend Title in PRP Final

By Belmont Shore Rugby Club 04/29/2019, 3:30pm PDT

Belmont Shore finished the Pacific Rugby Premiership with a record of 8 wins and 2 losses. This put them back into the championship game where they will play against Life West who also finished their season with the same record.

As defending PRP champions, one of the team’s season goals was to get back to the final. It was the teams strong defense that led the way as they lead the league with the fewest points scored against, at 190. This was 126 points better then the next best defensive team. The offense wasn’t too shabby as they were second in the league with 344 points scored, trailing only Life West who finished with 442.

Belmont Shore head coach Ray Egan said, “Well it is going to be the hardest challenge we have faced to date. They have got to see us play twice so they will be better at shutting us down. It really is a home game for them so that will be a challenge for us also.”

When asked about how his team needs to approach this game, “I think we just have to keep the same recipe that has worked for us this season. Hard work rate in defense and take your opportunities. It’s so hard to get into finals and it takes so much effort, but we get a chance to go out against a good team and challenge ourselves.”

Life West will have extra motivation as their only two losses came against Belmont Shore. Said head coach Adrian Ferris about how his team got here, “We had a good, tough, couple of preseason games against MLR teams and that really prepared us.”

This will be Life West’s second finals appearance, the last being a loss to OMBAC. The team is focused as they will not want to let another championship go amiss.

Both these teams have been atop the PRP leader-board throughout the season and are eyeing their chance for a championship trophy.

Venue: Treasure Island, San Francisco

Date and Time: May 4th – 3pm kickoff

Belmont Shore Rugby Club has become the ‘Rugby Family’

By Ed Robinson For the Sun 04/03/2019, 2:30pm PDT

The Sun Newspaper's Ed Robinson wrote a great article of Belmont Shore Rugby Club and the family culture. It touches on some of the local people and families that work behind the scenes to make this club successful. People like Stu & Paula Ledsam, Adam Charlesworth, and the Dowgiewicz family.

Below is the article from the Sun Newspaper:

Seal Beach residents Stu and Paula Ledsam fondly refer to Belmont Shore Rugby Club as “family.” As president of the Rugby Club, Stu is the “face of the operation” and Paula is his biggest supporter. And it is indeed a proud, successful family.

Over the last couple of weeks, the senior men’s team beat San Francisco/Golden Gate 51-0 and San Diego/OMBAC 55-15. Also the club hosted over 700 young players (5-16 years) for a Juniors’ Tournament at Long Beach City College where most of our local teams proved invincible. As emphasized in previous columns, however, values of civility, respect and discipline are equally paramount in the youth program and are a constant focus for coaches, players and parents. All junior players are given tee shirts displaying the New Zealand/Maori mantra “Whakaraupapa” (which means “Discipline”) and spectators at their games or practice sessions often comment on the players’ remarkable personal citizenship qualities as well as their athleticism.

Typical of dedicated group leaders is Adam Charlesworth who coaches the Belmont Boys and Girls Under 12 years teams. Adam is a medical technology executive who hails from Toronto and was captain of the SMU rugby team before starring in the Dallas Harlequins rugby program then moving on to Southern California and joining the prestigious, nationally recognized Belmont Shore squad.

Like several of the junior team coaches, Adam’s son and daughter also play (and love!) the game of rugby. An increasing number of boys and girls here in the Long Beach/Seal Beach area are choosing rugby over other sports and continuing to play at the High School level and beyond.........

To read the rest of the article please click on this link:

https://www.sunnews.org/belmont-club-has-become-the-rugby-family