JessicaRulestheUniverse.com

by Phil Abraham of the Philippine Volcanoes national men’s rugby team

I learned about rugby ten years ago from my pastor who grew up in Kenya. When I attended the University of Illinois in Champaign I started playing rugby, and I continued to play for my pastor’s old team, the Chicago Lions, when I moved back home.

A couple of years ago a friend emailed me about the Philippine national rugby team. I was hesitant to join right away because I still was trying to find my balance as a newlywed starting a family and a career in education, and dealing with rugby opportunities in the US. I was also intimidated by the idea of flying all the way to Manila for try-outs. The following year my wife Averi and I decided to live in Australia before we pursued graduate degrees. In Sydney I met Coach Expo Mejia and the Philippine Volcanoes.

As the team celebrates its victory at A5N last year, Phil Abraham (left) points to his wife’s name tattooed on his arm.

Last year’s training camp in Manila marked the first time I was in the Philippines since I was nine years old. It was an amazing experience reconnecting with family, learning about my culture, and representing my heritage on the pitch with a victory at the A5N championships in India. Even my wife was able to connect with family that she had never met before.

My selection to the Philippine Volcanoes has been the greatest honor and blessing of my rugby career. The team is a family, a true brotherhood. The players are from all over the world, and we come together and do battle in the name of our people. The bonds, the competition, and the blood we share create an experience that is unrivaled by any other. Growth on the rugby pitch has gone hand in hand with growth in my life off the pitch as well.

Phil and his lovely wife Averi at a Chicago Lions banquet.

Rugby has given me a platform to serve and build relationships with others. In university I helped organize a group of teammates to travel to New Orleans for a service project after Hurricane Katrina hit. On another occasion a fellow rugger set me up as a big brother to his adopted four year old nephew. Rugby even presented a non-playing opportunity for me as I coached a high school team in my first year of teaching in the Chicago Public Schools.

These life-building processes have multiplied as I continue to play with clubs all over the world (with the support and encouragement of my loving wife Averi). I experienced the pinnacle of this aspect of rugby last month when the Philippine Rugby Football Union (PRFU) took the national team to meet the orphans at Tuloy Foundation and at Smokey Mountain.

The national men’s rugby team at Tuloy Foundation. Photo courtesy of the PRFU.

The extent of the poverty we saw firsthand was eye-opening for everyone on the team. We were able to take a group of children from Smokey Mountain to Luneta and have a fun session of touch rugby. It was amazing to see the smiles on their faces, but it was heartbreaking to see them leave, knowing that they were returning to that environment. I know that these children have an existence beyond me, but that encounter was humbling beyond anything I’ve ever experienced.

I have begun pursuing a career in social work. Teaching in the public schools of inner-city Chicago has exposed me to a world of need that I was previously unaware of. I hope to become a school social worker in order to better address the emotional, social and developmental needs of urban youth.

Traveling around the world for rugby has given me a greater perspective on the needs of the global community. Like many of the Philippine Volcanoes, I come from a privileged background. Yet I constantly find myself complaining about daily struggles that pale in comparison to the problems experienced by most people. Ninety-seven percent of the world’s population would love to have my problems.

What is the connection of this to rugby? Rugby has given me the tool to better discover the condition of humanity throughout the world. The sport has granted me the opportunity to get out of my comfort zone, and exposed me to new experiences (although there is so much more I have to see).

These experiences give me a perspective that motivates me on the field. There is no reason I can’t battle with every fiber of my being on the pitch for 80 minutes when others are battling for their lives 24/7. My intensity on the pitch is an offering of thankfulness to God for the blessings that he’s given me, and a prayer for the oppressed.

Globe Telecom, a leading telecommunications company, supports the Philippine Volcanoes.