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 progress the team had made, considering that not one member of the Storm that day had played rugby before joining the team.
In 2006, the Storm competed in the Bingham Cup for the first time in NYC and in 2007 they made the trip north to Seattle to compete in the Magnitude tournament. In 2008, the Storm made the trip across the pond to Dublin to play in the Bingham Cup, the second time the team entered the competition. Despite a strong showing and several wins, the Storm did not take home a trophy. In 2009, the Storm headed to Seattle once again to participate in Magnitude.
It was during the 2010 season, while continuing to play serious rugby that was gathering plenty of attention in the Arizona rugby community, the Storm gained a new Head Coach: Coach Fortey.
Fortey lead the Storm to Minneapolis in 2010 to compete once again in the Bingham Cup. This time, the Storm entered the competition hungry for victory. Fueled by close wins in Dublin in ’08 and Seattle in ’09, and victories against Atlanta and San Diego, the Storm raged across the fields in Minneapolis. In several close and intense matches, the Storm walked away victorious. The boys of the Storm came home with the Crest division trophy and the desire to continue to be a force to be reckoned with.
That desire came to fruition in February 2011 when the Storm achieved their first win over a straight team, defeating Yuma RFC during a local tournament. With several wins under their belt and hungry for more, the Storm are looking forward to Magnitude in 2011 and Manchester in 2012.
The Storm is coming, are you ready?
