Dear Cal Poly Rugby Alumni, Parents and Supporters, 

I wanted to send a personal note to give you a summary of where we stand currently and express my sincere gratitude and appreciation for all of your support.  The success of our club would not be possible without each of you.

      We have just finished our Socal league season 8-1, losing a winnable match to SDSU by the score of 29-26 to the Aztecs. Due to the loss we were required to play in a 2^nd seed playoff match versus the 3^rd place team which was the University of Arizona. The Wildcats are a class operation and a very skilled opponent. Although we beat them in the league season, I felt that they could give us a run for our money if we didn’t prepare properly. So with that in mind we brought the boys back from spring break on Monday March 24^th and we spent the next 5 days running 2/day sessions, which has paid great dividends culminating in a strong and committed team win 36-19 versus the University of Arizona Wildcats. With this win we are headed to Albuquerque, New Mexico for the round of 16 as the 2^nd seed in Socal. This will be the 7^th trip to the round of 16 in the last 8 years for the Mustangs.

      We have been blessed with another outstanding freshman/rookie class some of whom had first side time but others that show great promise. Because of this we will be bringing a squad of 37 players and 4 coaches to New Mexico. We will utilize 28 players for the 2 days of matches and give the other 9 the opportunity to experience the preparation physically and mentally and the highs and lows of the playoff run thus preparing them for the future of Cal Poly Rugby. Our coaching staff has held solid at 4 committed coaches Charles “Boo” Zanoli, Mark Madonna, Peter Madonna and myself and our relationship and support from the University continues to get stronger and move forward.

      We have traveled to Utah and Arizona this season and are now traveling to New Mexico for our round of 16 run. Each of these trips has cost the club in the area of $20K per tour and was funded 100% by the players.  We hope that New Mexico will be an exception. During the next 2 weeks the players selected in this playoff team will be put under a very demanding workload, with school and rugby. It is my intention to alleviate some of this pressure with a call to all alumni of this program to donate financially to the playoff run so the players can focus on their preparation for the round of 16.

      As a coach for the last 5 years (3 as head coach) I have tried to get my arms around the entire program from the players, to the university, to the alumni. I have listened and tried to address every challenge with regards to the clubs treatment and performance from both the university and alumni and reconcile the internal strife between generations and past presidents and players. If there is any intention of success beyond what we have already achieved, it is time to put aside any animosity or frustration within the ranks and between alumni and the university.

      Even with these challenges, the team has continually performed at an exceptional level, always nationally ranked in the top 10.  This is truly amazing when you understand that the majority of the top ten teams have operating budgets 10 fold compared to Cal Poly.  It pains me to think what we could really accomplish if we had the right unity from an involvement and financial standpoint (National Championship??). 

      The players in this team have done very hard and consistent work for nearly 8 months now. If you can remember back when you were in college then you can remember how tough it was to come by a dollar let alone $500.  These players have a tall order to fill and they need your help. We need to raise $20K to pay for our playoff trip (airfare, hotel, ground transport and 1 team dinner). We have received a donation from a single San Diego State Alumnus of $1000 for our playoff run. As long as I have been involved with this club both as coach and player, I have only seen a limited number of donations of this caliber. These are the types of donations that make a major impact on the demeanor of the club both from the players stand point and the administrator’s standpoint and it came from an alumnus of another program.

      This is a call for donations from all alumni, parents and supporters of any amount to support this program and its legacy.  We have a very short time to raise money for playoffs so please email me with your donation amount for planning purposes (nick@crossfitslo.com).  You can donate with a credit card online at http://www.giving.calpoly.edu/how.html follow steps 1-4

Alumni association
Rugby alumni chapter fund 3911 

Or send checks to the following: 

Cal Poly Rugby Alumni Chapter Fund 3911
447 Crestmont Drive
San Luis Obispo, CA 93401 

      Again, I am very proud of our accomplishments thus far and am very much looking forward to our continued success. Thank you for your support. 

Best Regards,
Nick Massman
Head Coach