It’s going to be a beautiful afternoon for touch this evening. Sunny, mid 70s, mild humidity, fresh grass. 5:30p Mall by Smithsonian metro stop. Sorry if it threw off everyone’s schedule, but tonight will be much more fun than it would have been yesterday.

It looks like moderate to heavy rain off and on for the rest of the day. Rather than try to force today in under potentially awful conditions, tomorrow will be beautiful and perfect for some rugby on the mall.

Today is officially off, and tomorrow is on 5:30pm at the Mall by smithsonian metro

It looks like some heavy rain around the 4-5 o’clock hour, but current forecast has some light to moderate rain for a good two or three hour window after that. This might be a late afternoon call.

Also toying with the idea of cancelling today and making it up tomorrow, even though I know this throws everyone’s schedules off.

Currently monitoring the storm. We’re in the forecasted path to get about 4 inches of rain this afternoon and evening. It’s expected to be strong winds and heavy rain for the 6-7 hour, which is prime playing time. I don’t mind a little rain, but from the forecasts it looks a little too miserable. Probably going to cancel tonight.

However, if the storm tracks north and continues blowing itself out there is a chance we could play. The Mall has good drainage and even with the recent rain the soil is firm and stable, so we could play there.

I’ll watch the storm and post an update around noon or 1 to make a decision.

We’ll play today on the Mall at 5:30pm, by Smithsonian metro station. There is about a 60% likelihood of light rain while we play. It should still be warm and pleasant enough to have some fun. The forecasts have been changing fast, so the rain might not materialize. But be prepared to be a little wet.

Get the rugby in while we can now because the Wednesday forecast is almost guaranteed to be heavy rain from the remnants of Hurricane Ida. I’ll keep an eye on it, and if it looks like it will be miserable to play in, I’ll call it off.

there’s a march on the mall and the turf isn’t too bad on the tidal basin

Sorry for the late post. I wrote an update last night but forgot to hit the submit button.

We’re definitely playing Saturday, the question is where. No chance of rain, but it will feel pretty warm and muggy because of the 70+% humidity. Should be a little cloud cover and breeze to keep things nice.

With these heavy afternoon showers, the tidal basin pitch may be pretty saturated and I don’t want us ripping all the top turf right off. The Mall has much better drainage and thicker grass cover. That will probably be the better place to play..

My proposal is that I’ll get downtown early to check out the conditions. If the tidal basin is firm we’ll play there. If it looks waterlogged, I’ll put up another post and we’ll play by the Smithsonian metro (which is more likely). Either way, 9:30, there will be rugby!

TL:DR If we aren’t on the tidal basin we’ll be on the Mall

We’ll play on the Mall Wednesday at 5:30pm, next to Smithsonian metro. Bring plenty of water/electrolytes. With 50% humidity, not much cloud cover, minimal breeze, and no rain, it will be pushing 90 degrees with a real feel of about 95. On the bright side there’s plenty of shade trees, fun rugby, and good company.

We’ll play on the Tidal Basin pitch this evening 5:30pm. With last week’s rain behind us, it will be hot and moderately humid.

Thanks for the overwhelmingly positive response to donating! It means a lot to me that people see the value of touch at “our” great little field, and the small cost to keep it going there. I’ve already booked the next few Saturdays and will continue to book as NPS releases dates. Having said that, the Exiles have a game on Sept 18th, and they chose to play on the Tidal basin. Aside from that day, the donations will allow us to keep securing Saturdays through at least October.

First item of business: We’ll play at the Tidal basin Saturday at 9:30am. High 70s, high humidity, partly cloudy, almost no chance of rain. A great day to play rugby. And we’ve got permits for tomorrow so we won’t be chased of by any other sports teams.

Second item of business: Permits cost money. I think we all take pride that this is a pick up group where anyone can come play, any time, at no cost. The National Park Service moved into the 21st century and added the fields around the mall to their recreation.gov website. This makes it much easier to see availability and reserve permits. Unfortunately that means it’s easier for EVERYONE, meaning there is now always a chance that someone will reserve the field out from under us (even though it’s well known that we are there every weekend). We probably only have to worry about competition during the nice summer months, and for that reason we should get permits roughly roughly April-October to ensure that we always have the field for our Saturday morning game.

I don’t want to start dues, a costly sign up, or per game fees. I’m suggesting a quarterly donation of $10 from everyone that plays regularly. This will allow us to pay permitting fees, replace destroyed cones, buy a ball when necessary, and have a general rainy day fund. I’m not going to hunt people down or keep a tally on who is or isn’t donating, but if you value Saturdays on the Tidal Basin pitch this gives back to the National Park to maintain it, and ensures that we keep it as our regular spot. I would say this is the first month to start donating, and then I’ll pass the collection basket around again in October. I don’t think I’ll post the Venmo on this site, so see me on the field for details to donate.

*Side note: If you are new or play infrequently, please don’t feel guilty about not donating. Keep coming out to play or feel free to come see what DC Touch is all about.