When Jack Wendling and Ben Broselle started playing rugby around 6 years old, they didn’t realize their new passion would one day become their full-time job.
Wendling started by joining the Chuckanut Bay Rugby program with his father as a coach. Soon after, Wendling invited Broselle, his best friend, to join the team.
“I remember one time we were eating peanuts at his house and (Jack) said ‘I think you should play rugby with me,’” Ben said. “At the first practice, I fell in love and never looked back.”
As the two of them were playing, Jake Broselle, Ben’s younger brother, was tagging along on the sideline. After watching for a year, Jake followed in Ben’s footsteps and began playing for Chuckanut Bay.
A couple of decades later, the Chuckanut Bay alumni are now playing for the USA Men’s Eagles Sevens team. The Eagles are an international rugby sevens team organized by USA Rugby and the team competes in the World Rugby Sevens Series, the most significant sevens tournament besides the Olympics.
“What we were doing just recently is we were looking through old pictures, trying to find us all in the Chuckanut jersey back in the day,” Wendling said. “It’s kind of surreal when you look at us back then to looking at us now. It’s very humbling and such an honor to represent.”
Chuckanut Bay Rugby is a Bellingham-based nonprofit organization focused on growing rugby for kids in addition to the adult teams.
Wendling, a 25-year-old from Bellingham, and Squalicum graduate, was scouted by USA Rugby while playing at Central Washington University. In his fifth year at Central, he was offered an invite to a USA Rugby camp and performed well.
“I was always on the radar, but I never thought of myself as a sevens player solely,” Wendling said. “I was actually super blessed because my first camp was during COVID. When I first got called over, I actually made the team to play right away because a lot of people could not go to Canada because of the vaccination.”
Wendling made his debut in Vancouver, British Columbia, in 2021, then returned to Central afterward. He returned to USA camps and signed a trial contract to finish the year. During the 2021 season, the USA squad placed fifth in the HSBC World Rugby Seven Series. Wendling has been a member of the team since then.
The HSBC World Rugby Seven Series is an annual series of international rugby sevens tournaments run by World Rugby. Sevens rugby is a fast-paced, high-scoring game with two teams of seven players. Teams have 14 minutes to advance the ball by either running by defenders, kicking the ball forward, or passing the ball backward or laterally.
The defending team tries to tackle the ball carrier before they score a try, a five-point play when the ball carrier touches the ball to the ground in the endzone. Teams can also score two points after a try by kicking it through the uprights, or three points for kicking through the uprights before earning a try.
Ferndale native played for Eagle Impact academy
Before Ben made the USA Eagles team, the 25-year-old Ferndale native played for the Eagle Impact Rugby Academy (EIRA). The EIRA is based out of the Holiday Athletic Center at the Colorado Springs Air Force Academy in Colorado Springs, CO. The EIRA is a USA Rugby development program that tires to develop players for the highest level of the sport. After winning a couple of tournaments, he drew attention from the USA Rugby scouts.
“One of the coaches for the USA team came up to me and said ‘ Hey, I want you to continue doing this,’” Ben said. “I just kept playing with EIRA and eventually made it to the USA team. I just remember going out there and being a small fish in a big pond.”
Jake also went through the EIRA and played until he finished with the U23 team. Jake was signed to the USA Eagles in January and said he’s been grateful for the opportunity.
“The coach gave me a shot on the team,” Jake said. “Luckily, I was doing well enough to make some tours, but the competition is tough. I have a lot of respect for not only the players I’m with, but players I’m against.”
Trio to compete in Hong Kong, Singapore, L.A.
Wendling and the Broselle brothers recently placed ninth out of 12 teams with the USA squad in Vancouver, B.C., from Feb. 21–23 in the most recent HSBC SVNS series matchup. Jake led with three tries and four tackles as wing, Wendling had eight tackles as the center and Ben had two tackles as a wing across five games.
“It’s funny because Jake and I look pretty similar so there are a lot of times we are mistaken for each other,” Ben said. “When he scored against Uruguay, the announcers actually announced that it was me and then they posted on the sevens page that it was Ben Broselle. I had to comment and tell them that it was my little brother.”
The trio will compete in Hong Kong March 28–30, in Singapore April 5–6, and in Los Angeles May 3–4. They hope to defeat South Africa, New Zealand and the other top teams while changing the culture of rugby in the United States. They are also hoping to at least reach the semifinals in the 2028 Olympics in Los Angeles.
Until then, they will try to make an impact on the next generation of players.
“I’ve realized how fortunate I was to be with Chuckanut from such an early age,” Wendling said. “I feel like being at Chuckanut has given me such an advantage over everyone else. If you aspire to be playing at the national level, put in the work like conditioning and watching rugby on your own.”
Nick Zeller-Singh is CDN's sports reporter; reach him at nickzellersingh@cascadiadaily.com; 360-922-3090 ext. 104.
