Coach Tom

Thomas Lyons is a long-time rugby enthusiast.  Tom began playing rugby at the Catholic University of America (Washington DC) after he stopped playing football for CUA.  He continued his rugby career as a long time player for the Potomac Athletic Club.  He was a member of the 1995 National Championship team, represented PAC in the USA Rugby Super League and dozens of national playoff games, including multiple appearances in the national championships for both sevens and fifteens. Tom also played for various all-star and invitational teams, including captaining the Potomac Rugby Union against the New Zealand Ambassador’s XV in the prestigious Ambassador’s Shield match.

Over the years Tom has held a number of coaching roles.  He was one of the founding coaches of the Gonzaga High School rugby program. Tom has been an assistant coach for the senior club and coached the PAC sevens program for a number of years including 1998 when PAC finished 8th in the nation.   He is a certified Rookie Rugby Instructor (USARugby) and a certified Double-Goal Coach thru the Positive Coaching Alliance.

Tom has been or is involved in the governance and administration of rugby at the local, regional and national level.  Tom holds the highest referee certification available from the IRB and is also a certified Coach of Match Officials.  He is a member of the Potomac Society of Rugby Football Referees.  In addition to his local referee duties Tom has officiated  regional and national playoff events for high school, college and adult men and women.  He is a member of the USA Rugby National Referee Panel, a small group (8) of the top rugby referees in the country.  As such, he has refereed in USA Rugby National Championship events, the Rugby Super League, Collegiate Sevens Invitational Championship (www.USASevensCCI.com) and worked as an official at international matches and at international events such as the USA Sevens (an iRB Sevens tournament) and the Churchill Cup (http://www.churchillcuprugby.net/).

Tom is currently the Director of Information Management for a national not-for-profit based in Washington DC.  Tom is married and has three children and lives in Montgomery County, Maryland.

COACHES

Matt Hodgson

Coach Matt

Matt played rugby in his native country of England from a very young age until his crowning moments as Captain of his school 2nd XV in the late 80’s.  While his enthusiasm and love of the game never waivered, his move to the USA put a halt to his rugby involvement until a number of years ago when he met Tom and got involved with the PAC youth program.  Matt has completed the USA Rugby Level 1 coaching course.  Matt also recently started working as an assistant coach with the Georgetown Prep High School rugby team (www.gprep.org/team.aspx?pageId=52701).

Matt is president of his own technology company and has been living in Maryland for 13 years. Matt is married and has two boys (a prop and a center).

Larry Mitchell

Coach Larry

 Larry did not find his favorite sport of rugby until after his college days at the George Washington University.  In high school in Massachusetts, he was captain of his football team and crew team and was a four year varsity rower at GWU.  While Larry has enjoyed many sports including parachuting, hang-gliding, white-water canoeing and has been a ski instructor, rugby really brought out his enjoyment of a competitive team sport.

Larry began playing rugby after visiting a friend studying abroad at Oxford University in England back in 1988.  He started playing for the Potomac Athletic Club in 1990 and continued playing throughout the 1990s. Since that time he has remained connected to the sport.  He joined forces with club-mate Tom Lyons to help introduce area kids as well as his own to the sport. Larry has also completed the USA Rugby Level 1 coaching course.

Larry resides in Montgomery County, Maryland along with his wife and 3 children.

Linda Simpson

Linda Simpson grew up in England watching rugby played, but did not begin playing herself until her freshman year at Swarthmore College in Pennsylvania.  Linda played predominantly at scrumhalf and captained and co-coached her team during her senior year.   Linda has been coaching with the PAC youth program since 2005 and has also coaching youth soccer for a number of years.  Linda completed the Level 1 Refereeing Course in 2007 and is a certified Double-Goal Coach thru the Positive Coaching Alliance.

Linda is in her final year of nursing school and lives in Silver Spring, Maryland, with her husband, fellow coach Mike Simpson, and three boys, all of whom play for PAC youth.

Michael Simpson

Michael Simpson played football in high school and lacrosse during college, before switching to rugby during his sophomore year at Swarthmore College in Pennsylvania.  He never went back and played various positions in the scrum during college.   Mike has been coaching with the PAC youth program since 2005 and has also coaching youth soccer for a number of years.  Mike is a certified Double-Goal Coach thru the Positive Coaching Alliance.

Mike works as an economic analyst.  He resides in Silver Spring, Maryland, with his wife, fellow coach Linda Simpson, and three boys, all of whom play for PAC youth.

Tom McHale

Tom began playing rugby at Georgetown University where he played for 4 years and also played collegiate representative rugby for both the Potomac Rugby Union and the Eastern Rugby Union territorial all star teams.  Tom continued his rugby career for many years as a member of the Potomac Athletic Club.  In addition to numerous Super League and national playoff matches for PAC, Tom has played for various senior representative teams.

Tom is currently the Senior Vice President of Finance for American Capital, a private equity firm based in Bethesda.  He is married with 3 children and resides in Montgomery County, Maryland.

Josh Brady

Josh began playing rugby as one of the founding members of Gonzaga High School’s rugby team in 1988, where he played for Tom Lyons.  Josh continued his rugby career at Georgetown University where he played for 4 years with fellow coach Tom McHale.  Josh began coaching with PAC Youth Rugby in 2009, when his two sons began playing with PAC.  Josh resides in Montgomery County,  is a tax attorney in Washington, DC and is married with two children.