July 29, 2021
PRESS RELEASE
The Rugby Foundation and Back10PROs announce the inaugural
winners of the Jason Harper Referee’s Referee Award
Salt Lake City, Utah— July 29, 2021 — The Rugby Foundation and one of it’s partners, Back10PROs are proud to announce the inaugural winners of the Jason Harper Referee’s Referee award.
This past weekend in Salt Lake City, the North American Invitational 7s rugby tournament was held at the SLC Athletic Complex with over 110 youth boys and girls rugby teams from as far away as Guam and Hawaii in attendance over two days. Back10PROs provided 76 match officials for the event from all over the United States.
The Jason Harper Referee’s Referee award is given in honor of Jason and his positive support of the game of rugby as well as those around him, especially referees as a coach, mentor and friend. The award is vote upon by the match officials during an event who displayed these characteristics and more.
At the SLC NAI7s, two match officials were voted to exemplify support, positivity and other great character traits. Rachel HILL and Kye MARTINOVIC tied in a vote by their peers. Rachel hails from the Minnesota Referee Society and Kye from Florida. When advised of winning their respective awards, Rachel stated, ‘Helping other referees be
better and grow the game is what I want to do. I just want to help others however I can and be there to support them as well as the game.’ Kye was shocked slightly when he was told of winning along with Rachel. “Honestly, Rachel did so much this past weekend. I do my best to encourage those around me because the more positive the environment, the better it is for all. I really enjoyed SLC and the event and look forward to working another event soon.’
Back10PROs is a professional match official development business for rugby operating in several countries with a primary focus in the United States. They work with strategic partnerships at local, regional and national levels to provide pathways and development practices that support match officials while providing quality service to their clients.
The Rugby Foundation (TRF) is an U.S. IRS 501(3) compliant charity with four pillars using various platforms to increase engagement and success such as several education systems, mentorship, Esports and other positive efforts:
- Youth rugby programs that use the sport of rugby to support the education of rugby ethos and education programs.
- Women’s focused development pathways in sport.
- Adaptive sports programs including Paralympic Organizations and affiliates, and
- Supporting health and wellness of our uniformed services personnel including police, fire, EMS and military.