Cougar boys Rugby 7s seeing growth

By Lethbridge Herald on May 21, 2025.

SUBMITTED PHOTO The Catholic Central Cougars Rugby 7s senior boys team won the South Zone banner last weekend in Medicine Hat to earn themselves a berth in their third straight Alberta SchoolsÕ Athletic Association provincials this weekend in Edmonton.

By Justin Seward

Lethbridge Herald

The Catholic Central Cougars seniors boys Rugby 7s team has seen immense growth in its program since its resurgence two years ago as a team.

The  was on hiatus for at least 10 years prior to starting back up.

A big part of the Cougars growth has been because of the efforts of head coach  R.J. Balog.

“When I started teaching here about five years ago, it was during COVID, so we didn’t have athletics,” recalled Balog.

“But once the sports teams did comeback, there was a resurgence and interest from a lot of the boys and a lot of the other teams about bringing rugby back into CCH.”

The Cougars found success right off the bat.

“Our team worked super hard and that first year we actually got bronze in provincials (and) last year we also got bronze in provincials,” said Balog.

Those players that were on the inaugural revived Cougar team are now Grade 12s

“We’ve had them for three years now and we’re just building and developing them as players and as young men and they work incredibly hard. And I think a big testament to that is how successful the team has been this year.”

The fun atmosphere is what has kept players coming out.

“We’re still working on skills and development but it’s not as kind of strict or stringent as some of the other sports clubs might be,” said Balog.

“Each year we play we  just get more guys coming out, which is awesome,” said  Tytus Prawdzik, who is a third year player.

“We just love to see the community growing, the sport growing and it’s been pretty good so far.”

CCH is out to a 12-0 start this year so far, including a South  Zone win last week, as they head into provincials this weekend.

“ They’re very proud of the program that they’ve built together and they want to leave it off in the best place possible,” said Balog.

“We got…  good team work, good team (chemistry and the boys are competitive,” said Prawdzik.