Mike Petri
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| Date of birth | 16 August 1984 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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| Place of birth | Brooklyn, New York | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Height | 1.78 m (5 ft 10 in) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Weight | 83 kg (13 st 1 lb) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Rugby union career | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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Michael Zachary Petri (born 16 August 1984 in Brooklyn) is an American rugby union scrum-half who plays for Newport Gwent Dragons. He joined the Dragons from Sale Sharks after a lack of game time for the Premiership side. He is a member of the United States national rugby union team and participated with the squad at the 2007 Rugby World Cup [1] as well as the 2011 Rugby World Cup.[2]
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. He began his rugby career at Xavier High School (New York City).
Petri has been playing rugby since he was a freshmen at Xavier High School. He then attended Penn State University under a rugby scholarship [3] where he was selected to the Collegiate All-American Team four years in a row. He 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.
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.
He is a devout New York Rangers fan.[4]
