THE GRASSROOTS GROWTH OF THE GAME IN THE US

SOURCE: ICEF Public Schools
Jan 22, 2009 13:04 ET
Charter School With L.A.'s First Inner-City Rugby Program to Send Team to Compete in England

Students From the ICEF Rugby League Prepare With Renowned Australia World Cup Championship Rugby Coach

LOS ANGELES, CA--(Marketwire - January 22, 2009) - ICEF Public Schools, a network of 13 high-performing public charter schools in South Los Angeles, will send 12 students from its ICEF Rugby League -- the first inner-city rugby program in Los Angeles -- to England this month to stay at Wellington College and play against its rugby team, considered one of the best high school teams in England.

To prepare for the games in England, renowned rugby coach Jake Howard, who led Australia to the World Cup Championship and coached both Oxford and Harvard universities, volunteered to hold a coaching seminar for ICEF’s coaches and to mentor players during several practices over the next two weeks.

The first practice open to the media will take place today from 4 to 5 p.m. at Jesse Owens Park in Los Angeles. The final practice open to the media before the team goes to England is next Wednesday, January 28, 2009. There will also be a special tournament day on Saturday, January 24, from 8:30 a.m. to 1:30 p.m. at Webster Middle School (11330 W. Graham Pl., Los Angeles, CA, 90064) where middle and high school teams will play against visiting teams from Sacramento.

ICEF Public Schools is the only K-12 school operator in the nation to send students on scholarships to play rugby internationally five years in a row. Through rugby, ICEF students have traveled to Hong Kong, New Zealand and England, allowing the students to be able to explore rugby competition at some of the nation’s most prestigious universities.

Long considered a middle and upper class Commonwealth sport, rugby teams are rare in the U.S., particularly in the inner city. Founded by ICEF Public Schools CEO -- and longtime rugby player -- Michael D. Piscal in 2003, the ICEF Rugby League is designed to send a clear message to students: if you want to experience the world you see through rugby, the ticket is a higher education. Every single one of ICEF's graduates in their first two graduating classes has been accepted to college.

"Through rugby, we are giving students the opportunity to socialize with kids outside their normal social group and also have an amazing life experience," said Michael D. Piscal, founder of ICEF Public Schools. "Our kids will have the opportunity to meet people from different backgrounds and culture."

The 12 students are going to England on scholarship. They had to apply and were accepted based on their performance in rugby, as well as in academics. During their nine-day stretch in England, the students will play three games against Wellington College's team as well as watch England's game against Italy as guests of the English Rugby Union.

"When I was playing internationally, I had a vision of coming back to America and bringing rugby not to traditional private schools and colleges, but developing it in the inner city because that's where it would explode," said ICEF Rugby League Director Stuart Krohn, who coached rugby at Dartmouth College and played International Rugby as the captain of the Hong Kong team for eight years. "These kids are leaders just for coming out to do something new that didn't exist, and just like they are pioneers at the school, they are pioneers in this sport."

ICEF Public Schools announced in October they will scale up their Education Corridor -- the 45-square-mile region bound by the four major South L.A. freeways -- through the creation of 22 new public charter high schools.

When fully enrolled, ICEF Public Schools will enroll one in four public school students in South L.A. -- more than half of the community's high school students -- and will help produce 2,000 college graduates each year.

About ICEF Public Schools

ICEF Public Schools (Pronounced "Eye-ceff," for the Inner City Education Foundation) was founded in 1994 to transform the Los Angeles community by creating first-rate educational opportunities for its minority youth. ICEF currently operates 13 public charter schools, including four new schools which opened this fall, with the goal of preparing its students to attend and compete academically at the top colleges and universities in the nation. ICEF's flagship school, View Park Preparatory Charter High School, has now graduated two classes, with 100 percent of its graduates accepted to college.