The Phoenix Storm, an inclusive, nonprofit adult rugby club, has grown drastically recently. The key to their success is an accepting team culture and strong ties to the local community.
Founded in 2004, the Storm has always been geared towards inclusion, regardless of athletic experience, age, race, or sexual orientation. They offer a team culture and connection to a community unique to any other men’s club in the valley.
The Storm has seen massive growth in the last few years. “We’ve definitely grown, the numbers have grown,” said Marcus Tan, an eleven-year veteran of the team and president of the club.
The Storm is truly for any who want to get involved with the sport; “What’s unique about the Phoenix Storm is that not only do we try to be involved with the LGBTQIA+ and inclusive community, so we have lots of gay, bi, transgender, and we have lots of straight players so it’s just a really inclusive environment,” said Tan.
Tan values the culture that the club introduces to many of its new members. “What’s different about the players that join this team is that a lot of them have never been with a gay group, a gay team sport, a gay community, and a lot of people have never played team sports. I played racquetball before this so the Phoenix Storm was my first involvement with the gay community, and that was just huge for me,” said Tan
Gabe Garcia, a second-year player on the team and board member, has seen the positive impacts of being a member of the Storm. “I moved to Arizona last year, like two months before joining the team. I never played sports before, I was a dancer,” said Garcia. “It’s really brought me a built-in group of friends, a huge community. My mental health has never been better, and when it’s been bad I always have my brothers and my teammates to kind of fall back on, and look to for that support.”
Garcia values that the Storm presents a different opportunity for members of Phoenix’s LGBTQIA+ community to connect with each other. “A lot of spaces for the community are focused around things like dating or partying…I think this is a different way to approach being a community, and it’s one that’s about camaraderie, it’s about health, it’s about building a better version of yourself, and I think that’s super unique for the team… we aren’t just a gay team, we’re an inclusive team, we have a straight coach, we have a ton of straight players, we have players across an array of identities,” said Garcia.
Turning new athletes into competitive rugby players is part of the Storms' mission, but it’s not always easy. Said Tan, “A lot of the people who join the Storm come with zero athletic experience, so that’s one challenge that we have, working from the ground up, the intensity, hand-eye coordination, just stuff like that, people aren’t used to it.”
The Storm’s coach, Chris Wohletz, is a long-time rugby player and has coached the team for the past four years. He’s beyond proud of the team's growth, both in participation and on-the-pitch success. “The most rewarding thing is seeing the turnaround from the first time I started coaching, having six guys at practice, to now we have anywhere between twenty-eight to thirty-eight guys at practice… we also won two matches last year in the men’s league, which was huge because they hadn’t won a league match since 2006.”
As the Storm embark on their 2024-2025 campaign, they look to build on the growth they’ve enjoyed over the past few seasons.