Winston Churchill rugby ready to host province’s best

By Lethbridge Herald on June 4, 2025.

Herald FILE photo BY Justin Seward Winston Churchill’s Havin Balingit drops the ball just before the scoring area after taking a big hit from Chinook’s Dalin Hall during varsity boys rugby action at the Lethbridge Rugby Club earlier this season. Winston Churchill is hosting the province’s best for high school rugby this weekend.

By Justin Seward

Lethbridge Herald

Winston Churchill High School is hosting  22 high school varsity Rugby 15s teams  from across the province both at the 3A and 4A levels  in Lethbridge tomorrow and Saturday for the Alberta Schools’ Athletic Association provincial championships in what is bound to be a competitive two days of competition.

“You’re gonna get the top teams from across the province, so you’re gonna have a real high compete level and lots of talented players competing for the championship,” said Jonathan Dick, chair for the 2025 Rugby 15s provincial championships organizing committee and head coach of Churchill’s varsity boys team.

Dick says the south teams  tend to be fairly strong.

Dick talked about how provincials will help in displaying the strong southern Alberta rugby culture this weekend.

“I know a lot of the feedback we get  from other teams and other schools from across the province is they love coming down to Lethbridge for this tournament,” said Dick.

“People love coming down here, they let us know that we run a good event and that everything runs smoothly for the most part usually.”

The competitiveness of the south teams factors in for visiting teams coming to the tournament.

“They (other teams) know they’re coming down to test their teams against some of the best in the province,” said Dick.

Organizers just want players to have best experience possible.

“Being that we’ve hosted it a few times, we’ve got a great organizing committee,” said Dick.

“All the people that are involved in running the tournament obviously put countless hours and effort into running the tournament and can’t say enough thanks to those people. they do such an amazing job and do put out a real good product for the teams that come down and travel to Lethbridge.”

Fans and teams alike can expect an electric atmosphere.

“It’s always nice when you can get a whole bunch of rugby teams in one location and host the different divisions all at the same time because it’s just a great festival atmosphere,” said Dick.

The local teams vying for provincial banners are both of LCI’s boys and girls teams for 4A, Churchill’s boys ( 3A/4A) and girls teams (3 A), Raymond senior girls (4A) and W.R. Myers senior girls (3A)

All the games are at  Lethbridge Sports Park and results can be found http://www.asaa.ca/rugby-15s/2025-asaa-rugby-15s-provincials.