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Rugby Cat Senior Profile: Pat McGrath

By Jacob Novak '19, 05/17/19, 2:15PM EDT

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Kevin “Pat” McGrath was born in Bath along with his one sister and attended St. Hilary for grade school.

When Pat was a freshman, his dad told him to check out the rugby team. Pat’s father played rugby while he was in college. While Pat’s dad was looking forward to seeing his son on the pitch his mom was not.

“My mom was very scared and nervous mainly because of the no pads and the possibility of me getting hurt.”

Pat would be placed in the pack as a lock and flanker. Pat thought he was going to be a wing originally but after freshman year, when his skills started to come together, he became comfortable with his position. Any time Pat felt the pressure, his teammates would always be there for him. His teammates are the ones that kept Pat’s love for rugby strong for four years.

Freshman Year: “This was my first year of ever playing rugby and from what I can recall, the first time I had ever even touched a rugby ball. I showed up at my first practice, which at the time was at Edgewater Park. I met the coaches and I could tell right away that this program was one that I wanted to be apart of. Like I said, I had no rugby experience at all, so playing with kids who had been apart of Rookie Rugby, I was not very good. To make matters worse, I got a concussion in the first game and that was not what I was expecting. It definitely scared my mom a good bit. Thankfully I was able to continue playing later in the year and got better to the point where I got substantial playing time throughout the playoffs and in the championship game. I will always remember that championship because we played Moeller who decided to bring kids down to play against our freshman only team. We lost that game, but I was very proud to be apart of the club.”

Sophomore Year: “My sophomore year, I felt ready to go out and play again and this time, I was on a team with guys who were older than me and I really learned a lot from them. One exciting moment from this year was when I got called up to play in a varsity game. Looking back, it wasn’t that big of a deal, but at the time I felt like I was getting a lot better and that gave me confidence going forward.  Towards the end of the year our “C” side got placed onto either the Varsity “B” team or the developmental team for playoffs, and I was put onto the developmental team. I was a little upset with this, but it gave me a great opportunity. I was, at this point, one of the better players on that team and played nearly every minute I was there. At the end of the year, I felt like I was really starting to understand the game better and improve.”

Junior Year: “This year, I was on the varsity roster and really looked forward to playing better competition. Playing with the seniors that year taught me so much that I never would have imagined. They taught me and the rest of the juniors how to prepare for games and how to be serious and win, while also having fun. This year was very impactful to me because of how I learned to compete at a high level and also getting to grow even closer with my teammates.”

Pat will be attending Miami of Ohio University and will seek a major in finance.

“Miami gave me the best scholarship and they have one of if not the best business schools in Ohio.”

Pat is considering playing club rugby in college but is currently unsure.

Pat would like to thank the following people, “I want to say thank you to my parents, coaches, and family. Also, I want to say a special thank you to the other senior players because without them I would be nowhere near where I am today.”