Our History
The Phoenix Storm came to life back in July of 2004. By word of mouth and the Yahoo group our founder Mike Wasisco laid the foundation for the team.
He had just moved from Chicago to Phoenix and was looking for a positive way to meet people and stay physically fit. Inspired by what was happening in the Bay Area with the San Francisco Fog he decided to go for it and start a Phoenix team. An informal meeting led to our first practice with about eight guys!
The San Francisco Fog was a huge inspiration and we were lucky enough to have Chris Zerlaut from the Fog lead our very first practice, setting us on the right path. Also at our first practice: Echo Magazine writer Matthew Heil. The article he wrote landed us Coach Damien! That's when things really started to heat up.
Further recruiting efforts, including festival booths, an Echo magazine cover and story, and more word of mouth has seen the Storm grow to a good sized group of players who enjoy the fun, competitive nature of rugby!
Our very first game came in San Diego against the Armada in March 2005. Despite losing the game 15-6 our coaches were impressed by the progess the team had made, considering that not one member of the Storm that day had played rugby before joining the team. We can only get stronger!
The Storm is coming, are you ready?