Dipnest Fest: Alaska Rugby Union Hall of Fame event with a Hall of Fame organizer

The Kenai Dipnet Fest Rugby 10s Tournament has been held at Kenai’s Millennium Square since 2010. Dan Balmer, president of the Kenai River Wolfpack, has been organizing the event since 2015.

But Saturday, July 19, was the first time the Dipnet Fest was held as an Alaska Rugby Union Hall of Fame event. It’s also the first time Balmer oversaw the event as a Hall of Famer.

Dave Delozier has been the president of the Alaska Rugby Union since 2017. He has been involved, off and on, in Alaska rugby since 1997.

He explained why the Dipnet Fest was voted into the Hall of Fame in November.

“This one’s just a great break from the smashing and everything that happens in town,” Delozier said of the tense matches in Anchorage. “Come down here, it’s like a vacation.

“You just watch the matches and the players after the games. It becomes more of a brotherhood. So it kind of resets the batteries.”

Brian Johnson, 41, of the Wolfpack has played in every Dipnet Fest.

“I’m afraid that when I stop playing contact sports, that section of my life is gone,” Johnson said. “I feel like I’m not ready to give up on that part of life yet.”

Johnson was recruited to the Wolfpack by Fred Koski, the club founder at a gas station just a block from Millennium Square. Johnson played in his first match in 2009.

Koski founded the tournament in 2010 with the idea of letting players get in some rugby while they did dipnetting.

That’s why the original name was “Between the Tides.”

“We’re not pro rugby players,” Johnson said. “We’re here to have fun.

“It’s easy. It’s a low-stress tournament. You can come down and do fishing at the same time.”

Balmer said a number of factors have fallen into place to make the tournament so popular it has attracted teams all the way from the Lower 48, though the six men’s teams and four women’s team this year all were from Alaska.

“We get a camping permit to host this event,” Balmer said. “It’s a Hall of Fame event partially because the City of Kenai has graciously allowed us to use the space for the field.”

There is a barbecue for the teams the night before the event. The social after the tournament also is a favorite, particularly since the Back Door Lounge is right across the street from the camping sites.

Johnson also said Balmer, who started playing with the club in 2014, has been a big part of the tournament’s success.

“He really brought a lot of business organization into it and has helped grow the tournament so much,” Johnson said. “He’s a great communicator with all the other teams.

“He does a great job traveling to other tournaments and makes people see, if Dan’s coming for us, we need to go down and show up for them.”

Delozier said Balmer hits almost all of the pillars the Alaska Rugby Union puts forward for the Hall of Fame. Rugby has been in the state since 1973.

“When someone like Dan’s been involved with it for a decade, that’s like one-fifth of the time we’ve been available,” Delozier said. “He’s been running it so well down here.”

Balmer said he was shocked by being named to the Hall of Fame because he thinks so many people are more deserving.

“I’m humbled,” he said. “I guess I’m old. I’ve run this for 10 years and played for 11.

“I’m 41 now, and based on some of my missed tackles today, I feel like I’m slowing down.”

That brings up the biggest challenge for rugby on the Kenai Peninsula.

Balmer said the Kenai River Wolfpack regularly have about 10 players at practice. As far as Balmer knows, all are 30 or over.

The Wolfpack were 0-3 at Dipnet Fest and finished sixth.

“We love playing the game,” Balmer said. “We didn’t play our best today.

“We’re missing some key guys, a couple guys that couldn’t make it for various reasons. We keep putting a squad out here, keep showing up and playing, and we have a good time doing it.”

This is the third year for the Kenai River SheWolves. The team had enough players to field a Dipnet Fest side for the first time last year, but this year Balmer said there have been six regular women at practice.

The SheWolves were able to combine with players from Fairbanks and go 1-1 in full-side matches at the tournament.

Balmer said rugby on the Kenai Peninsula needs more players like Jordyn Stock, a 23-year-old who scored three tries in the tourney.

The Kenai president said it was very rewarding seeing Stock have success after she showed up to the practices and improved all summer.

Stock, a hockey and soccer player in high school, said she’s having fun playing rugby.

“I think they’re scared,” Stock said of her friends that won’t play. “They don’t want to get hurt. I mean, it’s not that bad.”

The hope for more players and younger players in Kenai comes from the Wolfpups program.

After having a clinic for youth in 2024, Balmer said the Wolfpups had regular practices this summer, culminating in final games in late June. Youth rugby is noncontact.

Balmer said the goal is to get kids hooked on rugby so they are ready to slide into the men’s and women’s teams when they are old enough.

Delozier said this is a great time to grow rugby. Alev Kelter and Kathryn Treder, a pair of Alaska players, will compete for Team USA in the women’s Rugby World Cup this summer in England.

The Summer Olympics in Los Angeles in 2028 will bring more exposure to the sport, while the United States will host the men’s Rugby World Cup in 2031 and the women’s Rugby World Cup in 2033.

Delozier said central peninsula rugby is on the right track by getting programs started for women and kids.

He said youth rugby started in Anchorage in 2014, and there were 20 graduates of the program playing at Dipnet Fest.

“Rugby is not for everyone, but rugby is for anyone,” Delozier said. “That’s just kind of our motto.

“No matter where you are in life, you can show up and be part of this community.”

In the men’s tournament, the Pacific Navigators topped the Fairbanks SunDawgs 26-5 for the title. That broke the four-year winning streak of the Manu Bears.

In the semis, the Navigators topped the Bears 28-5 and the SunDawgs defeated Turnagain Bore Tide 47-22.

Kenai lost the fifth-place match 20-7 to the Bird Creek Barbarians.

In qualifying play, it was Bore Tide 15, Kenai 0; SunDawgs 31, Barbarians 0; Navigators 14, Bears 0; Barbarians 19, Kenai 7; Navigators 26, SunDawgs 19; and Bears 31, Bore Tide 19.

For the women, the Arctic Foxes went 2-0 to win, defeating SheWolves-Fairbanks Ravens 20-5 and Anchortown 28-21. MVP for Arctic Foxes was Lauren Boden. SheWolves-Ravens topped Anchortown 12-7.

The MVP for the Wolfpack was Mike Lundgren, while Danny Autrey was forward of the tourney and also recognized for letting the team use his gym — Anvil Strength. The Wolfpack also recognized Ben Richards, who joined the team from the SunDawgs for a match and scored a try.

The Fairbanks-Kenai women’s team recognized Stock as the MVP in the first tourney of her career.

In other tourney notes, Connor O’Farrell scored in every game he played, including for the Barbarians, SunDawgs and Bore Tide.

Also, for the sixth straight year, Anchorage’s Evan Walker was a player, referee and photographer at the event.

For more information on central peninsula rugby, see “Kenai River Wolfpack-Rugby” or “Kenai SheWolves Rugby” on Facebook.