“He’s awesome.”
That’s what Josh Bowen has to say about Edward Sun, the new Varsity Blues men’s rugby coach.
“He’s given the whole program direction. He’s pulled together a group of guys very quickly and made a team,” adds Bowen, a second-year peace and conflict studies student who is returning to the team for his sophomore year.
Although Sun is new to the position of head coach, the 34-year-old Taipei-born Canadian citizen has been the team’s assistant coach for the past three years, and a rugby player for much longer.
“I started at [age] 14 at Neil McNeil High School in the Scarborough/Beaches area. One of the biology teachers was from Oxford, and he played [rugby] for Oxford and got us playing,” says Sun, who was a member of the U of T rugby team for two years before he graduated in 1994 with a degree in biology, zoology and botany. “Eventually I took it really seriously and decided to go to Australia and New Zealand. The original intention was to go away for traveling, but I got a job and just stayed down there playing rugby as well.”
The clinical coordinator for nuclear medicine at Toronto General Hospital has also played locally for the Toronto Scottish Rugby Club and the Toronto Saracens Rugby Club since graduating. He continues to play the position of loose forward for the latter, “just for fun,” as he puts it.
The decorated player has won numerous awards, including being named the Saracen’s Most Improved Player in 1997 and Most Valuable Player in 2001.
The big switch from main man on the field to the main man off the field came in 2002,” continues the new head coach. “I was still playing pretty good quality rugby, but I think my body just couldn’t handle it anymore.”
Having Sun on the sidelines has enthused the Blues players.
“It’s great to have him on the team,” says Ben Loucks, a civil engineering student currently in his professional experience year, and in his second year on the team. “He brings confidence and knowledge to the side. He really knows individual skills.”
After last year’s 1-5 record, Sun has a big job on his hands to produce better results this season: “My goal right now for this year, and the next five years, is to rebuild the program, in terms of getting into the community,” says Sun, who plans on sending his players into the Toronto schools to help high school rugby teams and their players improve their skills. “Also, what we want to do is have good overall structure within the team, on the field and off the field as well. We’ve gotten more communication involved, have team meetings and players talking and setting goals for themselves. We start there and then set team goals.”
Having a coach like Sun, with an incredible playing history of his own, makes it possible for the team to achieve these goals.
“Being a player (before being a coach), you can actually know nuances, and you can get into their heads a little more, just because you have that perspective,” he adds. “Being able to think how a player thinks, you can adjust the training sessions or adjust the game to the skill level and the fitness level of the players.”
Sun’s biggest concern this year is to make the Blues a competitive club: “We’re not looking to take away a championship or anything like that. We just want to play good rugby for this year and just develop from there.”
The Blues play RMC on Saturday to open their home schedule.
