Gaining a grasp of a new ballgame

ACTON -- Cartoons on a Saturday morning? Old hat.

A group of area youngsters was looking for something a little more exciting and challenging this summer. They found it at the Acton Indoor Sports Center, where Boston Youth Rugby is offering an eight-week program aimed at teaching children from Boston's suburbs the fundamentals of one of the world's most popular sports.

So while an earlier generation might have been content with Fred Flintstone, these children prefer fixtures, flankers, and flyhalfs.

Volunteer instructors such as Stan Tasker spend much of the 1 1/2-hour Saturday sessions teaching the rules and basics of the sport before the children engage in flag rugby, where tackling is replaced by ripping flags from each other's waists.

``We have two objectives out here, the first being to have some fun," said Tasker, a Sudbury resident who caught the rugby bug as a freshman at the University of New Hampshire in 1988. ``We want the kids to have a laugh and a smile. But the second thing we want is for them to also learn a little bit about the sport. It's the only game in the world that you can pass, kick, or run with the ball at any time. That's really where the fun comes in."

Smiles fill the room as the youngsters compete in a drill where they must kick the rugby ball from one end of the field to the other. Given the oblong shape, the ball bounces all over the field as they struggle to maintain control.

Welcome to the world of rugby.

``If you walked into the room and had never seen rugby before, it would make absolutely no sense," admitted Jack D'Isidoro , a recent Lincoln-Sudbury graduate who played rugby in high school and now takes his younger brother, Matt , to the introductory classes.

``Once you understand the rules, it all makes more sense. I just wish I had something like this when I was a kid because this gives these guys such an edge as they get older," said D'Isidoro, who plans to continue playing the sport when he enrolls at Colby College in the fall.

In addition to Acton, Boston Youth Rugby offers camps in Malden, Canton, Worcester, and Dorchester.

Rugby teams are slowly popping up at area schools as well. While private institutions such as Boston College High School have had programs for some time, public schools such as Lincoln-Sudbury also are warming to the sport.

This is Boston Youth Rugby's first program in Acton, and numbers have already doubled from the 12 students who attended the first class in June. The camp was to wrap up this weekend at a jamboree in Canton with all five of the programs participating.

The Acton players were eager to test their newfound skills.

``About five years ago I lived in England and my grandparents were fans of rugby, so they thought I might like it," said 8-year-old Marcus Kohnstam of Westford. ``Learning the rules is probably the hardest if you haven't played before. I was familiar with them, so the hardest part now is trying to tackle the opponent and get the ball back."

The youth programs aim to keep contact to a minimum, so that means no scrums, where players bind together in an effort to regain control of the ball during a restart of play, and no actual tackling. That's where the flags come in.

``It's been a lot of fun," said 9-year-old Conor Hanly of Westford, whose father played rugby in Ireland. ``Trying to get past the defense is hard, especially trying to stay behind the ball when it's being tossed."

Instructors marvel at how far the players, who range in age from 7 to 14, have come in such a short time.

``The objective, like football, is to score what's called a try in rugby," said Tasker. ``That's actually where football gets the name `touchdown' because, in rugby, the player has to touch the ball down to the ground over the goal line to complete a try."

Tom McCann , a native of Australia who lives in Holliston, brings his expertise to the field each week. He has seen the children improve each session and, after watching a spirited game of flag rugby to end a recent session, he observed with a smile, ``They're competitive little buggers."

McCann also noted that the United States is the only country to boast two gold medals from the era when rugby was an Olympic sport, winning the top prize in 1920 and 1924 before it was voted out in 1928.

``America could be a superpower in the sport because of its population," said McCann. ``It's nice to see kids who are not familiar with the sport coming out and giving it a chance. Everybody on a rugby team can pick up the ball and run with it, and anyone can score a try. It's not like other sports where some positions can't touch the ball."

Another eight-week course is scheduled for Acton in the fall, thanks in large part to Acton Indoor Sports, which donates its facilities. Campers pay $35 to attend, covering the costs of a T-shirt, the rugby balls, and the season-ending jamboree.

Tasker played football in high school, but said he was too small and too slow to play college ball. He saw the rugby team practicing on an adjacent field and walked into a sport that altered his life.

``My goal is to give back to rugby," said Tasker, who hopes his two young sons will join the instructional program when they are old enough. ``The best times I've had and the best friends I've made came through rugby. If I can give back a little by organizing and running a camp like this, that's a no-brainer for me."

Chris Forsberg can be reached at cforsberg@globe.com.