BY RACHEL CHARLTON, Staff Reporter
They’re admittedly polar opposites. One is a hard worker while the other prefers a more laid-back lifestyle. But if there’s one thing that can always bring Aladdin and Maverick Schirmer together, it’s rugby. Since taking Central rugby by storm, the brothers have contributed to the now varsity sport’s success, while strengthening their relationship on the pitch.
The youngest of four siblings, Aladdin; junior, exercise science major, and Maverick; freshman, accounting major, grew up in one of Seattle’s oldest neighborhoods, Georgetown. Money was scarce and the neighborhood was not where the Schirmers wanted to raise their children, prompting the family to move to Kent while the brothers were in middle school. However, the move did not resolve the issues they were trying to avoid.
“We didn’t fit in [in Kent]. I was getting in trouble a lot in middle school. My brother used to stay after school because I was in detention every day,” Aladdin said.
Although Maverick never let word of his detentions get to their parents, both brothers were relieved when the family decided to move to North Bend.
“Honestly, I’m really happy my parents moved me out of that environment because I was going down a pretty bad path,” Aladdin added.
While attending Mt. Si High School, the Schirmer brothers found their niche. Having played a multitude of sports that ranged from wrestling to basketball, Aladdin and Maverick became valuable assets in North Bend athletics.
Since the brothers grew up in Georgetown and then Kent, rugby hadn’t been a priority compared to other sports. Aladdin and Maverick have competed in football, wrestling, basketball and track and field but after deciding they wouldn’t wrestle anymore, they became eager to learn a new sport.
“We thought about lacrosse just because we wanted to do something physical that requires us to be fit and work year round,” Aladdin said.
It wasn’t until a high school friend suggested they come out to rugby practice that they became interested.
“It took me awhile to get used to it. I started my sophomore year but didn’t get serious until my senior year and that’s when I kind of fell in love with the sport,” Maverick said.
The love was mutual, but they quickly discovered that rugby was vastly different from any other sport they had played.
“With rugby you have to think. Instead of [football] thinking about the play, you’ve gotta think three steps ahead. It’s like a chess game but at the same time you’re getting hit,” Aladdin explained.
The brothers didn’t play alongside one another until Maverick’s sophomore year when Aladdin, acting as the team’s coach during the summer, asked him to fill a position on the team.
“We had a shortage of players so I asked [Maverick] to step up and he did. That year we won state,” Aladdin said. “As a sophomore he started for us, scrum-half, which he had never played before. He adapted well. I was proud of him, but hated him, you know, because he’s my little brother and I’m really hard on him.”
Both brothers agree that summer was their best in terms of rugby. The makeshift team (Eastside Lines), a bunch of ex-football player “misfits”, entered the Canada-America Tournament as the undeniable underdogs and came out as the undefeated champions.
“We were shocked. We got interviewed by Rugby Mag and they put this whole thing about ‘Eastside Lines comes out of nowhere, who are these kids?’ It was weird to think that we were actually pretty good,” Aladdin said.
The team’s winning streak continued, winning tournament after tournament, eventually obliterating everybody at state and claiming the state Seven’s Championship.
Prior to starting rugby his senior year in high school, Aladdin had focused on universities for their football programs. However, after getting exponentially better at rugby, Aladdin contacted Central’s men’s rugby coach, Tony Pacheco, and arranged a visit. While at Central, Aladdin was able to run defense with the team and experience the next level of play, which ultimately sealed the deal.
“At first I felt like a deer in the headlights,” Aladdin said. “I was so worried I’d mess up and [Tony] wouldn’t like me anymore.”
The worries were for nothing, however, as Pacheco and the players were accepting and soon took Aladdin under their wings.
“I’m proud to say that every single year I’ve gotten better because of the people that were here,” Aladdin said.
With his strong leadership skills and dedication, Aladdin quickly became a valuable asset to the team.
Jacob Bates, the club’s president before it went to the varsity level, stated, “Aladdin brings the type of leadership to the team that pushes everybody to become a better teammate and a better individual. He also brings a tremendous amount of talent on and off the field.”
While Aladdin was working to further his academics and rugby career, Maverick was on the other side of spectrum.
“I was thinking about going to school in Cali, because, before college and rugby I was a chill laid-back kid. I just wanted to go to the beach every day,” Maverick said.
The difference in lifestyle was noticeable throughout their teenage years and often worried his older brother who took pride in being a hard worker. Something started to change during Maverick’s junior year of high school when he started visiting Aladdin at Central and hanging out with the rugby team.
“Senior year something changed and I saw rugby in a different view. My brother talked to me about Central and that the rugby program was getting bigger and bigger. So I emailed the coach and he was interested. Now here I am at Central playing rugby,” Maverick said.
Bates recognizes the same traits in Maverick as he did in Aladdin.
“Maverick is following his brother in a way, but he brings his own type of leadership out to the team by being a good example of a new, incoming player to Central’s team by striving to become more knowledgeable as well as pushing himself to become better physically for the game of rugby,” Bates said.
Although they share a connection that most players don’t, the brothers know where to draw the line when it comes to critiquing the other’s performance on the pitch.
“We come home and talk about what we think we need to work on,” Maverick said. “Although we don’t want to hear it, we know that we need to. After that we leave everything on the field.”
Being the older sibling often puts Aladdin in situations where he’s forced to realize that he can’t be Maverick’s personal coach.
Maverick “knows when he’s done something wrong. I don’t have to re-iterate it. As his older brother he’s going to resent some of the things I say,” Aladdin explained. “It took me awhile to get that he doesn’t want to hear it from me so sometimes I’ll let someone else say it.”
While their relationship has undeniably been strengthened through playing the same sport, their shared love for their family brings them even closer. With parents that worked forty to fifty hours a week, Aladdin and Maverick have known what hard work was growing up. As head manager for an environmentalist company, Marine Vacuum Service (Mar Vac), their father would take them to his work every Saturday. Projects ranged from fixing up an old TransAm he had bought to shoveling piles of dirt.
The projects often meant that Saturdays were not the days to hang out with their friends and cousins. It did however, give the brothers priceless father-son bonding time.
“I couldn’t be more glad that he did that for us. Because that’s where my hard work stems from is from my dad. My work ethic completely stems from my father. He’s my role model,” Aladdin said. “My dad saw it as a way to teach us the value of a dollar and what hard work is.”
Nowadays, they use that hard work to motivate one another.
“If one of us is feeling lazy, the other one is always pushing the other one,” Maverick said.
Their shared dedication motivates others too.
Shelby Williams, a junior wing, stated, “Aladdin and Maverick contribute to the team by going 100 percent, 100 percent of the time. It motivates people to do the same.”
