Similar to one of his bone-jarring hits on the gridiron and on the rugby pitch, Lyndon Bailey never saw it coming.
In early June, a couple of weeks after an impressive performance in the Boys Rugby High School Club National Championships, the 2024 Los Gatos High graduate received an email signifying he had been selected to play for the USA Rugby Eagles under-18 national team.
“I had no idea I was going to be selected for the national team,” said Bailey, who is currently with the Eagles in South America on a multi-match tour against the Chile and Uruguay U18 national teams and Buenos Aires rugby national academy squad. “I knew I was a talented player, but it really came to me as a surprise. When I saw the email, I was starstruck, really. I didn’t know what to say. It was probably the best news I’d heard in my life up until that point. It was amazing.”
Bailey had reason to be caught off-guard. Typically, players go through an application process and attend camps that serve as a pathway to the national team. Bailey didn’t do any of those things, in part because he was a late bloomer in the sport.
“A lot of other players on this USA team had gone to camps and been on tour with them before,” he said. “They’ve been woven into this system. So I never thought I’d be playing for the USA team now. It was very unexpected, but it was super special.”
Bailey has been thoroughly enjoying his time with the national team, which started its multi-match tour in Montevideo, Uruguay.
“It’s been a really awesome experience,” he said. “We’ve been putting in a lot of hard work everyday, and it shows. It’s been more of a business trip, and I like that. The coaches treat us well and there’s always something to be doing. I’m meeting many new people from all different backgrounds, making friends, and it’s been a great cultural experience.”
National team coaches saw Bailey play for the San Mateo Wolverines in the National Championships over Memorial Day weekend. The 6-foot-5, 225-pound Bailey earned tournament Most Valuable Player honors after San Mateo won the title in Elkhart, Ind.
“I got a lot of recognition in that tournament and it was enough for the USA coaches to think I would be a good fit for the team,” said Bailey, a Western Washington University-signee.
Locally, Bailey was more known for his work on the football field. Last year, as a starting two-way lineman for a Los Gatos High team that made program history by reaching its first-ever CIF State Championship Bowl Game, Bailey earned Peninsula Athletic League Bay Division Defensive Lineman of the Year honors.
Bailey started playing football and rugby when he was 8 years old, and both sports have been instrumental in developing his mental and physical toughness. Bailey’s greatest challenge often came in the spring, when he’d go from Los Gatos football conditioning workouts straight to rugby practice.
“I’d come home at night, do some homework and go to sleep pretty exhausted,” he said. “So it was definitely rough, but I think hard moments like that really shaped me to be the athlete and person I am now. So I would do it all again in a heartbeat.”
A few weeks after the High School Club National Championships, Bailey helped lead the NorCal Grizzlies U19 team to victory in the Great Northwest Challenge in Missoula, Mont. Playing the lock position, Bailey is known for his work rate, strength and ability to help his team keep possession.
As one of two locks on a team, Bailey needs to be explosive to win jump balls and strong enough to prop his teammates up on lineouts.
“Locks are pivotal for the flow of the game and being able to stay on the attack,” he said. “I think it’s the perfect position for me and I was born to do it. It’s a mix of a heavy workload with a lot of running and stamina, so it’s definitely a tough position.”
Bailey said being the captain of the Grizzlies meant everything to him. The select All Star team only had a few weeks to practice together before competing against premier teams from across the country. Bailey’s rugby career was at a crossroads as recently as two years ago. That’s when Wolverines’ coaches Ene Pifeleti and Leka Nemani saw Bailey in competition and offered him a spot on their team.
“They really salvaged my career and propelled me forward to great heights,” Bailey said. “I can’t thank them enough, and I certainly wouldn’t be where I am today without them.”
Make no mistake: Bailey’s perseverance put him in position to take advantage of the opportunity that came his way.
“I was (previously) playing for a team that didn’t win a lot of games, but the love of the sport kept me going,” he said. “I kept on working hard and when the opportunity showed up, it was due to all of the training I had done. I was ready for that opportunity and never looked back.”
