It's not everyday that a captain of one of our national sports teams makes an appearance at a local event. But, Saturday May 12 turned out to be just one of those days.
Todd Clever, the Captain of the USA Eagles, the men's elite rugby team, came along to Stanford University to say hello to the players and fans involved in the final four plays off of the Women's Collegiate National Championships.
Todd Clever began playing rugby at Santa Teresa High School in San Jose.
In addition to presenting the trophy for Most Valuable Player to the captain of the winning team, Todd took some time out to sign autographs and shake hands with the kids of the Mountain View Bobcats Youth Rugby Club who were the official ball runners for this prestigious rugby event at Stanford University.
The adults present were thrilled to have Todd at the Stanford event but I wanted to find out how the kids felt too.
Commenting on the whole experience, Ciaran Lynch said, "It was like a dream come true, I got to high five Todd Clever my USA rugby hero."
Ciaran added, "I want to be just like him when I grow up. He is a great player and a really nice person".
Trevor Miller, also a MV Bobcat and ball runner on Saturday, said, "Todd was brilliant at the recent Rugby World Cup tournament in New Zealand. He is my hero too and just like him I hope to lead the USA team to victory over countries like Russia ...and...maybe even the win the world cup one day"
So there you have it, a 30 minute appearance from a great but humble rugby player, a few high fives and some scribbled autographs actually had a huge impact on our young players.
Who knows... this one experience might just inspire a Mountain View Bobcat Kid to reach for the stars and one day become captain of a future USA rugby world cup winning team!
