Santos Trujillo spent 25 years in the United States as a sailor, reaching a rank just one step below the most senior officer – a SEAL master chief. Now retired, he spends his time on the island coaching rugby.
A rather unorthodox choice of sport, Trujillo says rugby’s unique traits drew himself and his sons to the sport almost a decade ago when he created the Coronado Rugby Club.
Santo’s son and head coach of rugby at Hampden-Sydney College, Seth Trujillo, said that Coronado has always had ties to rugby, but none immediately available for those who wanted to take part on their side of the bridge.
“The creation of a rugby club that offered the potential to play at any age really allowed for individuals to explore one of the fastest growing sports within the U.S. without having to travel a long distance to practice/play,” Trujillo said.
“My son, Seth, and a bunch of his friends started the program his senior year nearly ten years ago,” he added. “We added girls rugby the second, and the years following added the younger teams. You can create your own opportunities with rugby and there is a place for every size and type of athlete. All our players have to run with the ball and play defense often without any stoppage in between. In many instances, the best supporting player gets the score which is something you don’t commonly see in other sports.”
With the season kicking off on Nov. 11, Trujillo will look to lead the program toward winning conference championships.
Despite rugby’s seemingly violent nature, and its lack of any helmets or major padding, the Navy Veteran said it is generally a very safe sport.
“We have strict rules to make the game safer, like you have to tackle low, wrap with your arms and there is no driving of players into the ground,” he said. “It’s a tough sport but we generally get fewer concussions than all of the other contact sports and some of the non-contact sports like soccer.”
Trujillo’s SEAL background is not the only thing that influences the philosophy of the Coronado Rugby Club: A leadership-through-rugby program blends his experience in the Navy with some of his own rugby experience and techniques that can be gleaned from the New Zealand All Blacks — the world’s premier rugby club.
“We practice on the beach and teach techniques how to recognize when you’re out of sorts — Red Head – and use techniques to get back your Blue Head, which is a steady state of optimal performance,” he said.
Although Trujillo loves to win division titles, he said his priority is seeing players grow into strong young men and women.
“We recently had our inaugural alumni match and it was great seeing the many great things everyone is doing and getting the chance to play against them again,” he said. “It truly was a humbling and proud moment and many of them credited our program for helping them in their lives.”
