The home of the boys and girls state high school soccer tournaments will be hosting a national Rugby tournament in August. The James Cownie Soccer Park will serve as host of the USA Rugby Club 7s National Championship August 8th and 9th.
“This is all brand new to us. This will be our first time we actually get to bring rugby to town,” according to Parks and Recreation Director Ben Page. “In fact, we are meeting with their leadership group to find out what their expectations are, how we can be the best hosts for them.”
Page who says it will be the first time the soccer complex has hosted a Rugby event, but they fields were built to be multipurpose for other events. He says the fields are bigger than normal soccer fields to allow for the change to a rugby field.
Page says they were able to host this event due to a scheduling gap at the complex as he says they have all kinds of soccer events there and it is unusual to have an opening.
Page says they enjoy the challenge of hosting national events as he says the complex was built to be an economic engine for the community.