The 2013 Phoenix Rugby Rave was an unbelievable success! With eight elite teams from North America taking part, the crowds that poured into SpoFit witnessed competition that was fast, intense, and hard-hitting. There were a lot of close matches throughout the weekend, including a 2-point win for the Phoenix Fusion in the semifinals against a powerful Tucson team. In the championship match, the Fusion were pitted against the Portland Pounders. It was a close match-up for a while, but the Fusion were eventually overpowered by a stronger Portland squad and lost the game 51-44. There were a lot of great individual performances throughout the tournament as well. The following athletes were recognized as the best performers in their classification:
0.5: Kip Johnson, Portland Pounders
1.0: Scott Hogsett, Phoenix Fusion
1.5: Earl Bowser, London Annihilators
2.0: Joe Delagrave, Phoenix Fusion
2.5: Josh Wheeler, Tucson Pterodactyls
3.0: Chance Sumner, Phoenix Fusion
3.5: Chris Bond, Texas Stampede
MVP: Lars Mertens, Portland Pounders
In addition to the action on the floor, there were several raffles for all the fans. On Friday and Saturday evening, there was a drawing for a $100 gift card, courtesy of Symbius Medical. The lucky winners were James Hinckley on Friday and Mark Sidey on Saturday. There was also a 50/50 raffle. Feng Chiou, who is the ABIL Director of Finance, had her name called and generously donated her winnings to SpoFit. After the games wrapped up on Friday and Saturday, fans were also treated to free pizza, as well as beverages. It was a chance for the crowd to interact and mingle with the athletes they saw flying around on the courts earlier in the day.
We’d like to take a moment to send a big thank you to all the staff and volunteers who pitched in to make Phoenix Rugby Rave a success. Also, thank you again to Symbius Medical for their generous donation of the gift cards. SpoFit definitely enjoyed playing host to the 2013 Phoenix Rugby Rave and can’t wait to do it again next year!