Photo: Rugby Belize team
by Charles Gladden
BELIZE CITY, Fri. Dec. 2, 2022
On Thursday, December 1, Belize’s national rugby team, Team Camazotz, participated in a friendly tournament with teams from BATSUB (British Army Training and Support Unit Belize) and the BDF (Belize Defence Force).
Recently, Belize’s rugby team participated in a regional tournament in Mexico hosted by the Mexican Rugby Federation (Rugby Mexico) and the Rugby Americas North (RAN) Super Sevens that ran from November 11-13 and served as a qualifying tournament for both 2023 Centro Caribe Games and the 2023 Pan American Games.
Director of Rugby Belize, Daniel Nicolle, told Amandala that the friendly tournament is aimed at building the experience of the Belizean players so that they are more fully prepared for their future tournaments.
“Here it’s not as competitive; the overall tournament is just for fun. It’s not a serious tournament as it was in Mexico for us, and again it is a bit more exposure and a bit more game for our Belizean players, so the next time we go to Mexico we have a bit more experience in rugby,” said Nicolle.
Nicolle further noted that training for Rugby Belize ends after the tournament, as they will be partaking in community outreach for the Christmas holidays, and training resumes in January followed by national training for local tournaments.
Captain of Team Camazotz, Raheem Cummings, told us that “The game is different [from] any other sport that is being played here in Belize. It’s action-packed… Hard hits, hard contacts, so it is very exciting.” “I encourage people to get involved and they will enjoy it,” he said.
The national rugby tournament will be held in San Ignacio in the middle of next year.