STARTED BY TEACHERS. DRIVEN BY COACHES. POWERED BY COMMUNITY.
Youth sports in America have never been more expensive, and for families already stretched thin, the cost of participation is simply out of reach. Memphis Inner City Rugby was founded on the belief that a young person's access to sport, mentorship, and opportunity should never be determined by their zip code or their family's income.
Since 2012, MICR has offered completely free, year-round programming to middle and high school students across Memphis, with no tryouts, no cuts, and no cost to families. Equipment, uniforms, transportation, and nutrition are all covered because we know that even a single uncovered cost can be the reason a student does not show up. From the moment a young person joins, every barrier we can remove, we do. Fourteen teams. Over 30 zip codes. One unwavering belief: that every kid who walks through our doors deserves a community that refuses to give up on them.
More Than Rugby. More Than a Season.
Inside MICR's K-12 Pathways, students find something that goes far deeper than sport. Alongside rugby, they receive academic mentoring, leadership development, social-emotional learning, and college and career readiness support designed to meet each student where they are and carry them further than they imagined possible. Junior and senior workshops guide students through postsecondary planning. The Jay Uiberall Leadership Workshop Series builds communication, teamwork, and personal growth through structured sessions across the year. And through all of it, coaches show up, to graduations and school lunches, on weekends, in the hard moments and the good ones, weaving themselves into the fabric of their players' everyday lives in ways that communicate something simple and powerful: you are worth my time.
That consistency is not incidental to the program. It is the program. Research consistently shows that trusted adult relationships are among the strongest predictors of positive youth outcomes, and MICR builds those relationships on purpose, through a community-informed coaching philosophy grounded in three values: be Relentless, be Relational, be Responsive.
96% of MICR players say the program motivates them to attend school and go to class. That is not a coincidence. That is what happens when young people feel genuinely seen.
We Do Not Let Go.
MICR does not believe there is one right path forward for every student. For some, that means a four-year university. For others, it means trade school, a certification program, or military service. What matters to us is that every young person who comes through our doors leaves with a plan, a support system, and someone in their corner who will help them see it through.
For MICR alumni navigating college and early adulthood, the support does not stop at graduation. Through our Alumni Services program, we walk alongside college-aged young adults with mentoring, financial literacy and life skills development, textbook assistance, transportation support, and emergency scholarships when life gets hard. Our alumni maintain an average GPA of 3.1 and an 89% college persistence rate.
And many of them come back. Roughly 70% of MICR's coaching staff are program alumni, young people who grew up in these same communities, who received this care, and who chose to return and give it to the next generation. That cycle of investment is the most powerful thing we do.
MICR generates $2.50 in poverty fighting impact for every $1.00 donated - Slingshot Memphis
Your gift funds the relationships that change lives. Be a #GAMECHANGER today.