Tecum Fratre is Latin for "With you, brother." It's also the motto of the Nashville Grizzlies Rugby Football Club. For over a decade the Grizzlies have exemplified inclusive brotherhood by supplying players with a support network both on and off the pitch. Life will always have its struggles, but burdens become a lot lighter when you know that dozens of guys have your back.
As the Grizzlies achieve more success, the growth of the club is inevitable. We now have more than 50 active players, and we just fielded two sides at a tournament six hours away with one side winning the entire tournament. With each new player and each new year, the chances of cancer affecting the lives of the players on our team has multiplied greatly in the past couple of years.
Our former president’s mom was diagnosed with breast cancer. Both parents of a current player have been diagnosed with cancer, one being breast cancer. The son of a player that joined last year passed away from cancer. Even a couple of Grizzlies veterans have had personal diagnoses.
In rugby, after you go down from being tackled you rely on your brothers to be behind you to support you and "ruck” over you so your team doesn't lose possession of the ball.
In the spirit of Breast Cancer Awareness Month, the Nashville Grizzlies Rugby Football Club is proud to announce our home game on Saturday October, 7th at 1PM at Vanderbilt University as our first ever "Ruck Cancer" Game. Players will be wearing pink socks sponsored by local attorney Kevin Teets.
Proceeds from of our Ruck Cancer shirt sales ($20 each) will be donated to the Breast Cancer Research Foundation, a nonprofit organization committed to achieving prevention and a cure for breast cancer. They provide critical funding for cancer research worldwide to fuel advances in tumor biology, genetics, prevention, treatment, metastasis and survivorship.
For more information on the Nashville Grizzlies, please visit www.grizzliesrugby.org. For more information on BCRF, please visit www.bcrf.org. Photo via Western Force