Goth Rugby player Zach Rademacher likely was ordained to play the sport. It's in the family's DNA.

His dad, Brett, played and was featured in a 1980s newspaper story, pictured tossing the pigskin while practicing - in the snow.

Nearly 30 years later Brett Rademacher is general manager of the youth Goth Rugby club, a year-old enterprise based in Liberty Lake.

"I tried soccer and it wasn't for me. I needed a contact sport," Zach, 17, said of his introduction to the sport. "My older sister got into (rugby). I got excited about it and said I wanted to try. There's tackling and everybody gets to run with the ball. There is really no other sport like it."

Brett harkened back to his playing days and the juices started flowing. He has four sons in the Goth program.

"I had played and loved it," says Brett, who spreads the rugby gospel with the zeal of an evangelist. "My wife was not too keen on it (at first), but we had a blast." 

Big or small, size doesn't matter. There's a place for everyone in a sport that is essentially football without pads, plus elements of other sports thrown in.

The object of the game is relatively simple even if terminology confuses: Move a ball that is bigger than a football with rounded ends forward non-stop and score by running, drop-kicking or after passing. The pass, however, must be thrown backwards with an underhand motion akin to lobbing watermelons into a bin. Any one of 15 players can touch the ball.

The halves begin with a drop kick. Stoppages for infractions result in different ways to restart play. Familiar to most is the scrum, where eight players a side lock arms, the ball is thrown into the middle where players called hookers battle to "hook" the ball back to their teammates.

Scrum positions have exotic names: loose-head and tight-head props; locks; open- and blind-side flankers.

Behind the scrum, seven players line up diagonally: the left wing, outside and inside centers, fly half and scrum half. To their right diagonally are the right wing and fullback.

In order to score five points, the ball must contact the ground once it crosses the goal line. Extra points are worth two and are kicked from wherever the ball touched down, somewhat comparable to a soccer corner kick. A penalty kick or drop kick during live play through football-style goal posts is worth three points.

Defensively, in the interest of safety, rugby's tackling style is being adapted to football programs.

"There're a lot of concussions in football. They wear helmets and think they're indestructible," Zach explained. "In rugby, you don't have pads on and hits can hurt more, so you have to have the right technique when tackling."

Legend has it that rugby evolved in the early 1800s when a soccer player picked up the ball and ran with it.

Local colleges have men's and women's club teams. More are becoming intercollegiate programs like at Central Washington University, which Brett says is one of the best in the country. He added that a survey concluded that rugby is the second-fastest growing sport in the U.S. behind lacrosse.

Back home, Post Falls had started a program and he took his sons there halfway through the season.

"The coach resigned and asked if I'd be interested in starting another team," Brett said.

He wears several hats, including that of a state commissioner, "So I help oversee the development of youth rugby, basically from Ellensburg to the Idaho Border."

Today, there are two teams in Post Falls, one in Coeur d'Alene, his program, a team in Yakima, another in Wenatchee and, he said, lots of teams in Seattle. Goth is made up of players from several area high schools.

"We're a first-year team with three experienced veterans," Zach Rademacher said, "so we're all still learning."

The youth version is fast-paced and has seven players a side and seven-minute halves. Tackling concept is like to touch or flag football "tackling."

"It's really easy to coach and really fun to play," said Brett. "Kids burn off a lot of energy, and the parents love it. It's not as complex as regular rugby."

Seven-a-side rugby will be part of the Olympic Games in 2016. The U.S. will defend the gold medal it has held for 92 years. So what if 1924 was the last time it was an Olympics event?

Brett says currently this country isn't among the top-tier teams. But as youth programs continue to flourish and the sport continues to gain popularity in college, it shouldn't take long to get there.