Game for Gentlemen and Students

Ivan Lysko, a professional rugby player, played for Russian national youth teams at both the European and World championships, and today is Vice President of the Russian Rugby Premier League and coach of the HSE team. He told us about the benefits of this sport and about how to join the rugby club at HSE.

Rugby is considered a traditional university sport in Great Britain, and both Oxford and Cambridge have rugby teams. But the New Zealanders are currently believed to be the best rugby players in the world.

In Moscow, students from about 15 universities play rugby. Both male and female players can participate. According to Ivan, people of all body types can join the sport: everyone will get a task according to their capabilities. For example, defensive players should be deft and fast. Sometimes they need to demonstrate real agility to get the ball. The team also needs tall players and heavily-built athletes: in these terms, rugby offers a lot of opportunities that other sports can’t provide.

‘The club at HSE has existed since autumn 2014’, said Ivan Lysak, ‘Traditionally, we enroll first-year students, and by the winter exam period we’ve usually made good progress, since most of them have never been involved in this sport before’.

The club is free, and you can join the HSE team, affiliated with the FILI professional rugby club, by contacting one of the organizers.