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My rugby start came in 2014 with Springfield (MO) RFC. I was 32 years old at the time – unfit, and extremely overweight. It had been over a decade since I had done any real fitness or strength training. I will never forget my first pre-season training session in the blistering August heat. After being utterly humiliated, puking and dry heaving my way through every drill, one of the fellas asked if I was planning on coming back.

Without hesitation I replied, “Oh yeah, I’ll be back!”

My wife and I had just finished up 2 years of providing foster care; during which time we adopted our 3 daughters. Now that our lives were a little more predictable, this was a perfect outlet for me. But if I was going to survive adopting rugby, my life had to undergo some radical changes.

I needed to get healthy.

The full-scale overhaul happened immediately. I began waking up at 5:45 every morning to go running before work. I completely changed my diet, eating clean every meal and drinking a gallon of water a day. My body began to change radically. That first Fall season I dropped 60 lbs; going from 245 to 185 in just 3 months!

But I wasn’t just being transformed on the outside, I was being renewed on the inside as well. It was the culture of rugby and the diversity of the brotherhood that was also making its mark on me as a husband, father, and man. It is this that I will be eternally indebted to rugby for and why I deeply desire to see this game grow.

My rookie season, I mostly played flanker and lock, but as I learned the game and recovered the speed of my youth, I made the move to fullback; a position I have grown to love because of its autonomy and versatility of play. It would be at this position midway through the following season that I would experience what would become the most challenging event of my life. After receiving an offload, I broke away and in an attempt to sidestep the opposing fullback, his tackle snapped my right tibia and fibula in two.

In just my second year of play and at the age of 34, I had a serious decision to make.

Do I dare try to make a comeback?

At my age?

As an amateur?

As I weighed my decision in the days following my injury, the one constant that surfaced in my mind was what I wanted to teach my children through this experience.

How often had I told them, “Even when it seems hopeless, never give up!”

I knew I had to go for it. And not just for them, but for me too.

I WASN’T DONE WITH THIS GAME.

Just a few days after my surgery I reached out to Tim Howard, founder of Ruck Science. By this time I was already using the first generation of Pre-Game and Rugby Whey. I found a lot of encouragement from him and went on to write my first series of articles titled When Rugby Breaks Your Stride. Which you can read here:

Part I – Traumatic Phase

Part II – Immobilization Phase

Part III – Mobilization Phase

Part IV – Re-entry Phase

My journey returning to rugby was a hard road, but after just 6 months of self-directed rehabilitation and physical therapy, I was back on the pitch enjoying the game I had grown to love. In 2017 I moved on from Springfield RFC and began touring the U.S. with my wife who is now a travel nurse. Since then, I have become a Level 200 certified coach with USA Rugby and had the privilege to play with some of the finest clubs in America including:

Dark n Stormy Misfits

Boston Irish Wolfhounds

Nashville RFC

Red Mountain RFC

I have also continued to write for Ruck Science and hope to inspire and encourage the tens of thousands of amateur rugby players across America who desire above all else to play this beautiful game.

Cheering for all of you,

Clarke