Help Us Tackle Registration!
Every MICR student starts with a registration. What they gain is so much more.
A new season is starting at Memphis Inner City Rugby!
Across Memphis, students are showing up to practice for the first time, and returning students are coming back to the team they call family. They are finding coaches who will push them, challenge them, and show up for them on and off the field. They are joining a community that will stay with them long after the final whistle.
It starts with a registration.
At MICR, every student participates at no cost to their family. No tryouts. No cuts. No fees.
We cover registration, equipment, uniforms, transportation, and nutrition, because we believe the only barrier to joining should be whether a student wants to play.
This season, we are asking you to help us get students registered and on the field.
Youth sports have never been more expensive. The average cost to participate in organized athletics has risen steadily for years, putting team sports out of reach for many families in under-resourced communities. MICR exists to remove that barrier entirely, so a student's zip code or family income never determines whether they get to be part of a team.
Your gift makes that possible, and thanks to a generous matching funds gift from MICR Board Member and former Sylvamo CEO Jean-Michel Ribieras, the value of your gift will be doubled!
But registration is only the beginning. When a student joins a MICR team, they are not just signing up for a sport. They are walking into a community that will hold them accountable, celebrate them, and refuse to leave them behind. They are meeting coaches who give life lessons alongside rugby lessons, who make sure everyone has a ride home. They are finding teammates who become family.
Last year, 321 students from 32 zip codes registered for rugby and took the field. They came from different neighborhoods, different schools, different starting points. They found the same thing when they arrived: a team that meant it when they said no one gets left behind.
Here is what they said about it:
"Rugby to me means I have another family that loves me for me and my mistakes."
"Rugby helped me feel good about myself and be the version of myself that I don't doubt all the time."
"My coach is more than a coach. He has comforted me in some of my toughest moments and was always there. I believe he has played a very big part in the person I have become."
That is what a registration unlocks.
Help Us Tackle Registration!