Mike Petri

Michael Petri

Date of birth	(1984-08-16) 16 August 1984
Place of birth	Brooklyn, New York
Height	1.78 m (5 ft 10 in)
Weight	83 kg (13 st 1 lb)
Rugby union career
Position(s) Scrum-half Amateur team(s) Years Team Apps (Points) NYAC () Senior career Years Team Apps (Points) 2010 2011 – Sale Sharks Newport Gwent Dragons International career Years Team Apps (Points) 2007 – USA U-19 USA 24 (10)

Michael Zachary Petri (born 16 August 1984 in Brooklyn) is a 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 American 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 as well as the 2011 Rugby World Cup, scoring the only try of the USA-Russia match.

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.

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. He then attended Penn State University under a rugby scholarship where he was selected to the Collegiate All-American Team four years in a row. He graduated with a degree in Life Sciences.

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.

Rugby wasn't the only sport Petri excelled in in High School, he was also a skilled soccer and hockey player, lettering in both varsity sports – Soccer and Rugby. He transitioned from soccer to rugby because "I was constantly getting yellow cards ... but I never thought a sport could be so perfect (as 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.

Oustide of Rugby, Mike has worked at the UBS wealth management team led by Gary Zahakos, a family friend.. 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. 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.

He is a devout New York Rangers fan.

Family

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

External References

• USA profile
• Scrum profile
• Sale profile
• [1] Mike Petri's RugbyRugby Blog
• [2] Interview with Mike just prior to 2011 Rugby World Cup