Mike Petri

For the association footballer, see Michael Petri (footballer).
Mike Petri
Petri diving through a tackle to score a try for the USA Eagles against Russia during the 2010 Churchill Cup.
Date of birth August 16, 1984
Place of birth Brooklyn, New York, U.S.
Height 1.78 m (5 ft 10 in)
Weight 83 kg (13 st 1 lb)
Rugby union career
Playing career
Position Scrum-half
Amateur clubs
Years Club / team
1998–2002
2002–2006
2007–2010, 2012- 		Xavier High School
Penn State Nittany Lions
New York Athletic Club RFC
Professional / senior clubs
Years Club / team Caps (points)
2010
2011		 Sale Sharks
Newport Gwent Dragons 		0
3		 (0)
(0)
National team(s)
Years Club / team Caps (points)
2006
2007–		 United States U-20s
United States
48
(23)
correct as of November 23, 2014.

Michael Zachary "Mike" Petri (born August 16, 1984 in Brooklyn, New York) is an American rugby union scrum-half who has played for Newport Gwent Dragons. He joined the Dragons from Sale Sharks after a lack of game time for the Premiership side. In 2010, he returned to the Americas to focus on his role on the United States national rugby union team. He has participated with the squad at the 2007 Rugby World Cup in France[1][2] as well as the 2011 Rugby World Cup, scoring the only try of the USA-Russia match.[3]

Before moving to England, he had been captain of NYAC in New York City, and led them to the Rugby Super League title in his final season there in 2010.

Youth rugby

Petri has been playing rugby since he was a freshmen at Xavier High School (New York City). He was originally approached at age 14 by the Xavier rugby coaches.[3] He then attended Penn State University under a rugby scholarship[4] where he was a four-time College All American. He graduated with a degree in Life Sciences.[5]

Mike also captained the U-19 and All-American Squad as well as won the 2006 Collegiate All-Stars Tournament MVP and the 2006 Doug Edwards Award. Petri's father, also Mike, played rugby as a youth and encouraged his participation in the sport.[3]

Rugby wasn't the only sport Petri excelled in High School, he was also a skilled soccer and basketball player, lettering in both varsity sports – soccer and rugby. Petri graduated from Penn State in 2006 with a Bachelor's in Life Science and was on the Deans List, the Alpha Epsilon Delta National Pre-Health Honors Society and the Phi Eta Sigma National Honors Society.

Petri during the 2011 World Cup

Miscellaneous

Outside of rugby, Mike has worked at the UBS wealth management team led by Chad Dragonetti, a family friend.[5] Petri started "from the ground up," working as a client service associate while he studied for and attained the necessary licenses to trade on the stock exchange. He then became more involved in portfolio analysis and trading.[5] He quit the job to pursue rugby full-time in England. He had previously worked at his family’s century-old plumbing business in Brooklyn and in construction with his uncle. Currently he is a Physics and Biology teacher at Xavier High School.[6]

He is a devout New York Rangers fan.[4]

Petri married Lauren Petri (née Birckhead) on June 25, 2011.[7] Lauren also attended Penn State University and is a personal trainer in New York City.[8]

Petri

References

  1. ↑ Player Profile
  2. ↑ http://www.rugbyrugby.com/news/features/mike_petri_blog/6994108/mike_petri_rugby_world_cup_blog
  3. ↑ 3.0 3.1 3.2 Bond of Brothers Article
  4. ↑ 4.0 4.1 Meet the Matts June 2010 Interview
  5. ↑ 5.0 5.1 5.2 http://mobile.bloomberg.com/news/2011-09-26/ubs-from-plumber-career-lands-brooklynite-slot-on-u-s-national-rugby-team?category=%2Fnews%2Fmostread%2F
  6. ↑ http://www.xavierhs.org/s/81/social.aspx?sid=81&gid=1&pgid=267&cid=3290&ecid=3290&crid=0
  7. ↑ http://registry.weddingchannel.com/coupledir/20116/B/R319995966/LAUREN_BIRCKHEAD_AND_MICHAEL_PETRI.htm
  8. ↑ http://www.completebody.ru/lauren-birckhead/

Mike Petri was picked for the Barbarians RFC in 2009.

External links