Old Glory DC is inviting the Mid-Atlantic Rugby Community to join a virtual social media and awareness campaign in February for unified rugby.

Between February 1st-6th, Old Glory DC will participate in the virtual Polar Plunge, Special Olympic’s biggest annual fundraiser. We want to bring the whole rugby community with us to support Special Olympics and highlight the need for rugby inclusion in their programming.

Wolfpack Rugby is Greater Washington’s first all-abilities, unified rugby program in the area, dedicated to promoting inclusion and acceptance for all. Founded in 2019,  Wolfpack Rugby provides unified rugby to athletes with intellectual and developmental disabilities (I/DD) in the DMV and promotes the sport across the US. Popularized in Europe, New Zealand, and now Canada through organizations such as Trust Rugby International, unified rugby is a version of the game where people with and without disabilities play and compete together on the same pitch. Within the unified rugby umbrella are multiple variants, ranging from touch/flag (which the Wolfpack currently plays) to a contact version that emphasizes player safety and fun.

We want to get everyone in our community to activate on social media between February 1st and February 6th. We hope that through this strength-in-numbers push, we can highlight the importance of offering rugby programming and connect the organizations to continue to grow rugby on the east coast!

How to participate

• Join our Polar Plunge Team as yourself, your club, or organization
• Post on social media photos and videos of you and your teammates “plunging their way” on your social media accounts. “Plunging” could be jumping into a body of water (safely!) nearby, slipping into the hot tub, plunging an Oreo into milk, or even Cryotherapy. The more creative, the better!
• Tag @SpecialOlympicsVa and @OldGloryDC so we can reshare, like, retweet your posts from the Old Glory DC account
• Encourage people to donate towards the team goal
• Promote the importance of inclusion in rugby and Wolfpack Rugby