Date of birth | 17 November 1994 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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Place of birth | Overland Park, Kansas, United States | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Height | 1.86 m (6 ft 1 in) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Weight | 88 kg (13.9 st; 194 lb) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Rugby union career | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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Michael Baska (born 17 November 1994) is a United States rugby union player, currently playing for the Utah Warriors of Major League Rugby (MLR) and the United States national team. His preferred position is scrum-half. [1]
Baska signed for Major League Rugby side Utah Warriors for the 2021 Major League Rugby season, having also played for the side in 2020, and played for the New Orleans Gold in 2018 and 2019. [2]
Baska debuted for United States against England during the 2021 July rugby union tests. [3] [4]
The United States men's national rugby union team, nicknamed the Eagles, represents the United States of America Rugby Football Union in men's international rugby union. USA Rugby is the national governing body for the sport of rugby union in the United States, and is a member of Rugby Americas North, one of six regional governing bodies under World Rugby. Until rugby returned to Olympic competition, with sevens at the 2016 Rio Games, the United States was the reigning Olympic rugby champion, having won gold at the 1920 and 1924 Summer Olympics.
While rugby league has been played in the United States since 1954, with Australia and New Zealand playing games there on their return from the Rugby League World Cup in France, serious attempts to start the sport in the United States began only in the late 1970s. The establishment of a national team and a domestic competition in the late 20th century has seen more recent progress.
Rugby union in the United States is played at youth, high school, college, amateur, professional, and international levels and governed by USA Rugby. There were over 125,000 players registered with USA Rugby as of 2016. Over 2,500 rugby union clubs exist around the country, including those who are part of college rugby. Professional club competition has existed as Major League Rugby (MLR) since 2017.
The USA Rugby Super League, usually known as the Super League or RSL, was a national rugby union competition which ran from 1997 to 2012, contested by nine clubs in the United States by its last year. In the 2013 season, it was replaced by the USA Rugby Elite Cup.
Shawn Pittman is an American rugby union coach and former player. Pittman played prop for Old Puget Sound Beach and the United States Eagles. He played in the 2011 Rugby World Cup. He is currently the head coach of the Utah Warriors in Major League Rugby (MLR).
The Utah Warriors are an American professional rugby union team based in Salt Lake City, Utah, that competes in Major League Rugby (MLR). The team was founded in 2010 as the Utah Warriors of the Rugby Super League and re-refounded in 2017 by Rugby Utah Ventures.
The USA Rugby League is the national governing body for rugby league in the United States.
Olive Onelani Kilifi is an American rugby union player, who plays prop for the United States national rugby union team and for the Seattle Seawolves of Major League Rugby (MLR).
Michael Paseka Te'o is an American professional rugby player who plays for the San Diego Legion of Major League Rugby (MLR). He also represents the America as a member of the United States national rugby union team.
Shaun Davies is a current assistant coach of the Utah Warriors of Major League Rugby (MLR) and former rugby union player who played as a scrum-half.
Major League Rugby (MLR) is a professional rugby union competition for clubs in North America. In the 2023 season it was contested by twelve teams: eleven from the United States and one from Canada. While operating outside of the governance and oversight of the national governing body, the league is officially sanctioned by USA Rugby—a member union of Rugby Americas North (RAN)—and is consequently part of World Rugby. The league was founded in 2017 and is headquartered in Dallas, Texas.
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Nicklas Swain Boyer is an American rugby union player who plays as a scrum-half for the San Diego Legion of Major League Rugby (MLR) and the United States men's national team.
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