Eric “Sal” Salverda teaches middle school by day and is a veteran rugby player and coach by night.

Salverda has played Rugby since college: “My school didn’t have a football team, and it looked like it could be fun,” he said.

His success in Rugby continued outside of college when he was recruited by the Philadelphia Whitemarsh Rugby Football Club. He credits the Whitemarsh team for his knowledge about the game.

“I played with five USA Eagles on that team (the US’s international team) and learned an awful lot about the game from them,” he said.

Being on the road with the team was always an adventure for Salverda: “There was the time when my Philly Whitemarsh team had to lift the back end of our coach bus back onto the pavement after it got stuck in the mud on a soft shoulder of the road.  We used to travel in coats and ties.  You can imagine the sight of 35 guys in ties picking up the back end of a bus on the side of the road.  The driver told us he was glad he wasn’t transporting ballerinas.”
Salverda loves to play Rugby because, he said, “Rugby is the ultimate team sport.  Fifteen quality players playing together as a unit will beat 15 superstars playing individually every time.”

His love for the sport inspired his sons senior Kyle Salverda and Bayert (Class of 2012) to continue his legacy in the game. Bayert is currently playing for the St. John’s Rugby club in college, while Kyle continues to play high school rugby with a dream to play college rugby like his father and older brother.