When Mareika McLaughlin first came to Cabo Verde from Boston in 2007 little did she realize she would be teaching African men rugby let alone creating the Cape Verde Rugby Union.

McLaughlin arrived in Cabo Verde as a member of the American Peace Corps. After an abbreviated stint, she returned to Boston to study for her master’s degree in education.  Returning to Cabo Verde in  2010, she taught English at the Universidade do Santiago in Assomada and then with Language Link in 2011.

McLaughlin tells AFKInsider how an English teacher started the Cape Verde Rugby Union in 2010.

AFKInsider: What inspired you to bring rugby to Cabo Verde?

Mareika McLaughlin:  It was actually an accident. I had never thought about doing this. The initial idea was a one-day workshop for the university where I was working.  They wanted some cultural activities. I thought about sports since I have always been an athlete.  On this list with rugby were American football and baseball as well. However, the amount of equipment needed for either of those (football and baseball) made it logistically very difficult. I chose rugby to start with because I really only needed a few balls and I could do it. I never expected to then be running the country’s first rugby union. It was supposed to be just one day.

AFKInsider: What was the first year of rugby like?

Mareika McLaughlin: The first year of rugby there were two teams, Assomada and Tarrafal. We would each train in our own towns and then every now and then we would have games. We also did the first beach rugby tournament that year which was a big hit.

I am now managing 12 teams total between all the age groups and four high schools.

AFKInsider: How did you get people interested in rugby?

Mareika McLaughlin: I didn’t have to “get” them interested. I presented this one-day workshop for some of my English students at the university and we invited some students from the technical school as well. When I showed them how to knock each other over they freaked out. They begged me to start a team and since then every team that has been formed has been me responding to communities that want to start teams. I have never had to convince people to play. It’s almost been the opposite where I’ve had to put communities on hold until I have the means to train them.

AFKInsider: What is your main goal with bringing rugby to Cabo Verde?

Mareika McLaughlin:  My goal is really social development using sport as a catalyst. Cabo Verde is an impoverished country but it’s not a miserable country. Most people have a house they sleep in and they have food to eat. They just don’t have anything extra. A lot of families in Cabo Verde have relatives who send money from abroad as well, not a lot, but enough to get by on.

I find one of the biggest problems then is a seemingly unlimited amount of unsupervised, free time especially for young men and boys. Hooking them with a sport that is extremely physical gets them interested. Then you have to challenge them to become a disciplined team. Rugby only works if the team plays together and they train together on a regular basis. This gets them into a positive organized activity and also gives them an outlet for any frustrations about life. When you run around and knock people over on a rugby field for 80 minutes, you can’t help but feel alleviated and happy after. It’s just fun.

We then enter them into an organized championship. We demand that they show up on time and that they wake up early in the morning on Sundays. This actually keeps most of the guys from going out and getting drunk on Saturday nights. The older guys then started training younger guys as well.

My goal was to create community leaders and positive role models. This sparked an entire championship for the under-18 age group for the first time in 2014. I also have a scholarship program for the younger guys who are still in high school. The child with the best grades at the end of the school year and the grades which have improved the most will have their next year of high school paid for by the sponsor. For the older guys I have a community development competition. Each team can turn in a proposal for a community development competition. The best one will be funded and implemented.

AFKInsider: What have been some of challenges?

Mareika McLaughlin: Lack of any support or help from the municipal buildings and money and equipment were all challenges. I have funded everything through private sponsorship. (One main sponsor is Cavibel, the local Coca-Cola bottling plant.)

All of the equipment had to come from America which was a bit of an issue with shipping, but at this point all teams are completely equipped. The only thing I really need to work on for next year is collecting cleats. A lot of my guys will play in socks or really bad shoes if they don’t have cleats. That’s a big disadvantage in rugby.

Another challenge is the lack of trained referees and coaches. I had to train referees myself this year to control the games because we have so many teams…A lot of the guys coach and train themselves as well. Some are better at this than others, but we’ve had the first local Cabo Verdean man, an older man, show interest in learning about the game so he can begin to coach the team in his area. This is what I need to see more of, an older man in the community whom the guys already respect to take the initiative to learn about the game and take control of the team.

We also play on soccer fields. We don’t have uprights, so we don’t have the kicking aspect of the game. The way the soccer fields are built there really isn’t more than one meter between the sidelines, and the goal line and the rocks and dirt, or metal drainage systems that surround the field. As we all know, in rugby sometimes a guy is flying down the field full tilt to make a try and then he has to get that ball down on the ground without going beyond the field to the rocks. I’ve seen some concussions and other injuries due to this.  Another tactic is to push a player out the sidelines if you are close. This causes similar problems and injuries.  We have no solution to this yet.  My heart is in my throat for most of every game and I always say a small prayer that no one go to the hospital.  That is another challenge.

The medical care in this country is not the greatest and a lot of guys are scared of injury. I’ve looked for health insurance internationally but haven’t even been lucky enough to get a quote.

Also being a white woman and running a rugby union of African men was a bit of a challenge, but when they saw what I was able to accomplish I soon earned everyone’s respect and even met my fiancée through the program!

AFKInsider: Tell me abut the program in the schools?

Mareika McLaughlin:  The program in the schools is a version of rugby called tag rugby. It’s kind of like flag football, but rugby style. Each player wears a Velcro belt with two flags on each side.  Instead of tackling the opponent, you simply pull the flag off the belt and then the opponent has to pass the ball within three seconds or three steps. This allows them to play on the concrete fields and allows girls and boys to play together because there is no physical contact.

AFKInsider: What are your goals for this year?

Mareika McLaughlin: Goals for this year are simply to try and contain the craziness and come through on all the activities and promises that I made the players. It’s a bit like organized chaos at times but I’ve been told that’s a testament to the good work I’ve done.  When these young guys don’t have that much to do or look forward to on a day-to-day basis and they’re not being challenged by interesting work activities, winning or losing a rugby game becomes life and death. I have also had to train referees to control the games because we have so many teams…I would love to take on the position more of fundraiser and international relations or connections and be able to delegate the responsibilities of the ground work to someone else. I can be more useful if I spend less time coaching and managing and more time trying to officialize the program, make international connections, and look for the bigger funds to start doing things like building real rugby pitches.

AFKInsider: What are your long-term goals of the rugby program?

Mareika McLaughlin: Long-term goals are to get the program legalized here so we can enter into the African Confederation of Rugby. I would also like to build real rugby pitches.  I need a website where people can make donations to the program. I have already legalized an American-based nonprofit, Forsa Afrika, but I need funding for it…Eventually I’d love to the see the Cape Verdean national selection in the HBSC Sevens series (annual elite-level worldwide rugby competition series).