Dear Alumni,

NU Rugby is coming off our first taste of playing at Nationals.  The men took 9th in the nation, but more importantly, we proved to ourselves that we belong on that grand stage.  The women just missed qualifying, playing tight the team that eventually won Nationals.

We have two very talented and very young teams.  NU Rugby has a real possibility of winning Nationals at the DII level withing the next 2-3 years, both men and women.

The thing is:  to go to Nationals is really expensive.  Indiana Rugby got a million dollars from Mark Cuban.  Wisconsin Rugby just got a $650,000 donation from one of their alumni.  Northwestern Rugby Alumni has just as much financial firepower as those other Big Ten schools.  Fundraising is not my strong suit, but I personally insure that the money you donate will not be spent on anything frivolous--just things like equipment, fees, transportation, and accommodation.  The university gives us $1000 a year--that's it.  Our budget has our annual needs at $50,000.

I am so proud of our coaching staff. We now have 9 coaches between the men's and women's teams.  They are all volunteers. They all want to give back to the game they love.  They pack formidable resumes.  Just to highlight a couple of them:   Barry O'Mahoney, on the men's side, played professionally for Munster Rugby, as well as Garryowen.  Barry started youth rugby programs in Kenya, and he now has dedicated all of his rugby knowledge to NU Rugby.  For example, before we went to Nationals in April, Barry organized a zoom call with Harry McNulty, captain of the Irish Olympic 7's team.  Harry took time out of his busy training schedule to talk to NU Rugby.  You might have watched Harry with that breakaway try in the first match of the Olympics.  Barry asked Harry to talk only about physical and mental preparation before the tournament--not game strategy.

The women's coach I'd like to highlight is Sam Hinton.  Sam was born and raised on the South Island of New Zealand.  Sam says most of the pitches he played on were covered with sheep shit, and his upbringing was similar to the Barrett brothers, who play for the All-Blacks.  Sam has a special talent for teaching rugby, and the women's team has gone from zero to 60 under his tutelage.

We are not necessarily asking for the game-changing donations here.  What we are asking for is 50K, enough to get us through this season.  We are banking that our success this year will pave the way for transformational donations.

We are perfectly happy to prove ourselves.  Please help us, if you can.