NOLA Gold General Manager Ryan Fitzgerald confirmed that Christian Alvarez, the team’s 2021 MLR Collegiate Draft Round 2, Pick 22, has signed with the team for 2022. The 23-year-old scrumhalf, who will be 24 later this month, is 6’2″ and 205 lbs.
Christian was born in Sacramento, California, but moved to Auckland, New Zealand with his mother when she relocated for work when he was 10 years old. He played junior rugby with Waiuku Rugby Club and then Pukekohe Rugby Club from 2008-2010. He continued playing at Sacred Heart College Boys from 2010-2015 and was the Auckland School Boys 4A Champions in 2015.
He played senior rugby with the Papakura Premier Men’s Rugby Club in 2015-2016, and with Counties Manukau U18s in 2016.
Christian returned to Denver, Colorado in 2016 and enrolled later that year at Penn State Berk’s Campus, and played for PSU Berks’ Men’s Rugby Club from 2016-2018. He was also the team’s captain and club president. He was an NSCRO All-Conference Team selection in 2016 and 2017, a MARC Collegiate Men’s All-Star selection in 2017, and played for the Denver Black Dragons Sevens in 2017. By 2018, he moved to the State College campus of Penn State, playing with the Nittany Lions from 2018-2021, when he graduated with a Bachelor’s Degree in Business and Managerial Economics. He played with the team at the Collegiate Rugby Championship, and in the D1A Rugby East Conference.
In 2021 he played at the North American Invitational Championship with Oasis, in Salt Lake City. He also played with the American Raptors. and toured with the team in Montevideo, Uruguay.
To learn more about Christian, listen to his interview with the DNVR Rugby Podcast.
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