Respond to this post with a comment if your in for tomorrow.

17th and Constitution at 9:30 am. See you all out there!

Rugby is on today at 0930, 17th and Constitution. See ya out there.

Well it looks like the snow flurries have just started coming down. And the weather says that it will be snowing from now till about 2pm today.

BUT as it it the snow right now is pretty light and we don’t have any accumulation yet so I’m inclined to say let’s play until we can’t! Who is in to play some rugby today in a wee bit of snowfall? Please respond to this post if you’re in and if we get numbers in the next 30 min or so we’ll play!

Looks like the weather forecast is calling for rain/snow for Saturday morning.  This means that we will make a game day call on whether or not we will play.  Be on the lookout for another email circa 8:30 am Saturday morning.

If we do play however,

17th and Constitution at 9:30 am. If you have a ball or cones please bring them.

17th and Constitution. See you out there!

If you haven’t already done so, I would encourage you to sign the petition to keep the mall open to recreational sports.

https://www.change.org/p/u-s-national-park-services-don-t-ban-sports-recreation-on-the-national-mall

Concern

The National Park Service (NPS) has proposed a ban on all sporting and recreational activity along the National Mall from 3rd to 17th Streets.  The ban includes eliminating currently permitted softball fields around the Washington Monument grounds and the first-come, first-served policy on the plots from 3rd-14th Streets.  The proposed policy is an extreme position and massive change from long standing practice.

Among the NPS-cited concerns, their primary reason offered thus far for the total ban is the perceived impact sports and recreation might have on the recently installed grass turf. 

Context

The total ban is antithetical to the purpose of the Mall.  Through the inception of the National Mall dating back to the L’Enfant plan of 1791 and the redesign by the McMillan Commission of 1901, a main intention of the Mall is to serve area citizens and the city by providing open recreation space. The National Mall represents the vast majority of open grass space in the city and is often cited as a contributing factor to the city’s frequent ranking as a best place to live or fittest communities.

The ban would dampen the vibrancy of the City by directly restricting access of tens of thousands of area residents and touching a much larger number of people through its negative impact on health and wellness and the local economy.  Exacerbated by an existing shortage of available play space throughout the city, the NPS ban would further stress the existing limited resources of the city and restrict groups like Congressional Softball, Senate Softball, House Softball, Flag Football, Soccer, Rugby, Ultimate Frisbee, Bocce, Kickball and others that have become a DC institution and part of the fabric of the city.

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If you haven’t already done so, I would encourage you to sign the petition to keep the mall open to recreational sports.

https://www.change.org/p/u-s-national-park-services-don-t-ban-sports-recreation-on-the-national-mall

It’s gonna be cold but we’ve played in much worse. I look forward to seeing you all out there for our first cold rugby session of the year! 930 am, 17th and Constitution.