The JBER Arctic Legion Rugby Team beats the odds

Photo By Staff Sgt. Brian Ragin | Spartans from the 4th Infantry Brigade Combat Team (Airborne), 25th Infantry Division and service members from across Joint Base Elmendorf-Richardson and the surrounding areas pose for a team photo in the summer of 2014 at Joint Base Elmendorf-Richardson, Alaska. The newly-organized team won the 2014 Alaska Oosik Rugby Union’s Division-Two championships. (Courtesy photo by The JBER Arctic Legion)  

JOINT BASE ELMENDORF-RICHARDSON, AK, UNITED STATES

10.21.2014

Story by Sgt. Brian Ragin 

2nd Infantry Brigade Combat Team (Airborne), 11th Airborne Division Public Affairs

JOINT BASE ELMENDORF-RICHARDSON, Alaska - Spartans from the 4th Infantry Brigade Combat Team (Airborne), 25th Infantry Division teamed up with military service members from across Joint Base Elmendorf-Richardson and the surrounding areas to triumph in The Alaska Oosik Rugby Union State Championships Aug. 23, 2014, at Davis Park, Anchorage, Alaska.

Rugby, a style of football developed in the 19th Century, is a game that features a combination of strength, speed and strategy to move a ball into the opposite team’s territory. Rugby is a full-contact sport, yet players wear no protective gear. There are two 40-minute halves, a five-minute half-time, and no time-outs. The goal of rugby is to move the ball forward by running with the ball or kicking. The team which scores the most points wins the game.

In the spring of this year, Sgt. 1st Class Donald Gum, an Alaska National Guardsman and Sgt. Tyler Vettraino with Headquarters Detachment, U.S. Army Alaska, who is also a former All-Army Rugby Team player, formed the team by inviting all service members from JBER and the surrounding areas to join. The team competed in the Alaska Oosik Rugby Union’s Division Two category.
They named their team “The JBER Arctic Legion.” The team was mostly Army, but did have a Marine Corps player as well, Marine Sgt. Jacobus Blignaut, a 26-year-old, South Africa native, an active duty Marine recruiter, and an All-Marine Rugby Team player.

“It was mainly an Army team. We had one other guy, and he was a Marine,” said Vettraino. “We had Air Force guys on other teams ask us if they could play on the team next year because they had already been picked up by other teams.”

“We weren’t going to limit it to any particular branch. Our idea was to make it a post team.” said Sgt. Vasilos Dimitrio Zimarakos, a 26-year-old, Titusville, Fla., native, assigned to Blackfoot Company, 1st Battalion (Airborne), 501st Infantry Regiment, 4th Infantry Brigade Combat Team (Airborne), 25th Infantry Division.

“When I first showed up, I was just known as the Marine, and once everyone got to know me, they called me Jacobus,” said Blignaut. “We are trying to get the team to have all the military branches because JBER is a joint base.”

It was slow starting off, with primarily 11 guys with decent experience, according to Zimarakos.

“We didn’t win any games during the season,” said Vettraino. “A lot of games we lost by one or two points, some of the games were close and some weren’t, it was a learning curve.”

The team was able to gel going forward, and became quite competitive in the end.

“It was a growing pains kind of thing because guys came from no experience,” said Zimarakos. “The squad turned into an actual pretty good team, probably one of the best I have ever played on.”

Blignaut agreed with Zimarakos, echoing his thoughts.

“You could see at the end of the season that the team finally figured out the game of rugby,” said Blignaut. “One day the team just clicked. At the point with the military’s physical fitness in general, just the endurance that we have, we just started dominating teams.”

Physical fitness and endurance in the waning moments were key to winning games leading up to their championship.

The JBER Arctic Legion celebrated their championship season singing rugby songs with Family and friends in an awards ceremony Oct. 18, 2014 at the Veteran of Foreign Wars, Post 9978 in Anchorage.

“We have a good offseason program. We’re working hard to get in better shape for next year,” said Zimarakos. “Now we have a group of guys with more experience. Hopefully, this win gets this team a little bit of exposure, and this team keeps going. This was a startup year of a long line of wins to come.”

• Date Taken: 10.21.2014
• Date Posted: 10.21.2014 19:56
• Story ID: 145724
• Location: JOINT BASE ELMENDORF-RICHARDSON, AK, US
• Hometown: TITUSVILLE, FL, US