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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- For the association footballer, see Michael Petri (footballer)
Michael Zachary Petri (born 16 August 1984 in Brooklyn) 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.
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Miscellaneous
Outside of rugby, Mike has worked at the UBS wealth management team led by Gary Zahakos, 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. (ref name="Xavier High School Interview"/>
He is a devout New York Rangers fan.[4]
Petri married Lauren Petri (née Birckhead) on June 25, 2011.[6] Lauren also attended Penn State University and is a personal trainer in New York City.[7]
References
- ^ Player Profile
- ^ http://www.rugbyrugby.com/news/features/mike_petri_blog/6994108/mike_petri_rugby_world_cup_blog
- ^ a b c Bond of Brothers Article
- ^ a b Meet the Matts June 2010 Interview
- ^ a b c 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
- ^ http://registry.weddingchannel.com/coupledir/20116/B/R319995966/LAUREN_BIRCKHEAD_AND_MICHAEL_PETRI.htm
- ^ http://www.completebody.ru/lauren-birckhead/
Mike Petri was picked for the Barbarians RFC in 2009.
External References
- USA profile
- Scrum profile
- Sale profile
- Mike Petri's RugbyRugby Blog
- Interview with Mike just prior to 2011 Rugby World Cup
- Xavier High School Interview
Template:United States Squad 2011 Rugby World Cup Template:United States Squad 2007 World Cup