The Calendar Boys of Rugby

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Author: Lizeth Castillo

The Men’s Rugby team is making a splash on campus by publishing a 12-month calendar that includes photos of the players wearing next to nothing. Borrowing the idea from the risqué calendar that the French rugby team Dieux Du Stade puts out annually, Alex Ochoa (junior) thought it would be a successful and fun way to provide the team with much needed funds for gear and professional equipment.

In addition to generating funds for the club, many members are hoping that the calendar sales will generate more support for the team. “I think it’ll get rugby more known on campus,” Ochoa said.

Team members also expressed excitement for this unique opportunity. “We decided a calendar would be best because it’s creative as well as a ‘rugby tradition,'” Spencer Jemelka (senior) said.

The team’s photographer Gabriel Bernadett-Shapiro (sophomore) took more than 150 pictures for the upcoming calendar. Team members mimicked the Dieux Du Stade’s style in some shots. Other shots include the players in classic rugby positions, pool pictures and poses on the field. “It was such a blast,” Philip Allen (senior) said.

Although Ochoa initially suggested the calendar as solely a means of raising funds, the project has become a team effort for the players. “We’re close as a team and wanted to do something together,” Jemelka said.

“It was this or a car wash,” Ryan Serrano (junior) said. “Either way, we would end up being half-naked. This was something none of us had ever done before, and turned out to be a good team bonding activity. People’s reactions should be pretty entertaining. We are thinking that a calendar with 20 of the sexiest guys at Oxy should sell pretty well.”

The players said the team bonded a lot as a result of this project. This close friendship between team members manifests itself in the way that the team plays. “You have to trust your teammate,” Allen said.

With a current standing of 4-0 in the league, the team is hoping to continue an undefeated streak after beating Cal Lutheran, Pepperdine, Cuesta College and most recently, the University of Nevada, Las Vegas. If the team does well in playoffs, they will focus on games in New Mexico and then go to Stanford for nationals. “This will be a legendary season and I’m glad we can make it memorable for everyone,” Jemelka said. Rugby players are also hoping to get the campus more acquainted with the sport. “We’re trying to build a relationship with the school,” Allen said.

This much-anticipated calendar has already acquired a fanbase and the team hopes this will translate into sales. “So far there have been a fair number of people coming up to rugby players asking if they could pre-order the calendar,” Shapiro said. “I feel like that’s a definite strong response.”

This interest is important for men’s rugby as the team is significantly under-funded. “We hope everyone will buy one to support us and the Oxy club sports community,” Jemelka said. “I’m excited that Oxy Rugby can give something to the campus and reach out in a creative and tasteful way. We hope the calendar will be a big hit.”

Players are hoping the calendar sales will revive the team’s resources. “This is actually a very important fundraising activity for the team,” Shapiro said. “[The club] relies on the members of the team to come together and sacrifice in order to make it work.”

Initial responses to the team’s calendar have been relatively positive. However, there has been some concern regarding the material represented and the way in which the campus might react to the pictures in the calendar.

The team’s coach, Malek Moazzam-Doulat, is supportive of the team’s interesting fundraising approach while simultaneously aware of the way in which the calendar could easily be misrepresented. Moazzam-Doulat wanted to make sure that the team was not appearing to mock homosexuality or objectify women through their interpretation.

Allen said the team was very careful about the poses they took and the ways in which they would be appearing to the rest of the campus. They want to come off as “a bunch of guys who have trained hard, played hard and are friends,” Allen said. The team has been steadily working on the calendar’s production.

Team members who will appear in the calendar include Allen, Jemelka, Bernadett-Shapiro, Ochoa, Serrano, Abe Cohen (senior), Victor Lopez (senior), Joey Coverson (senior), Philip Guerrero (senior), Alfred Mata (senior), Zach Brandwein (junior), Rosny Daniel (junior), Nick Harrell (junior), Paolo LeCosulich-Schwartz (junior), Andrew DeBlock (sophomore), Jonathan Ni (first-year), Ian Powell (first-year) and Ian Boehme (first-year).

Before the calendar can be published, the team is faced with the task of rifling through over 150 pictures and choosing the top 12 pictures together. The team expects to have the calendar ready for sale for $10 in the quad starting Friday, Feb. 29.

“Money from our fundraising goes directly to the team,” Shapiro said. “We want to schedule more tournaments and show everybody the tenacity that a small school from Southern California can bring to the pitch.”

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