Seattle – Serevi Rugby™ has officially kicked off the first-ever Serevi Rugby™ Academy for promising rugby athletes with Olympic aspirations. The Academy is organized like a national team camp to help better prepare 18- to 24-year-old athletes for the demands of international competition. The camp features New Zealand All Blacks’ coach Gordon Tietjens, winner of nine of the 12 World Rugby Sevens Championships, as well as Al Caravelli, the head coach of the U.S. national rugby team, who is planning on attending to evaluate prospective players. 

“This is the largest group of elite rugby athletes ever gathered outside of a national team setting,” said Waisale Serevi, co-founder of Serevi Rugby™. “It is a testament to the quality of coaches and other players, the intensity of interest in the 2016 Olympics, and the fact that Seattle is becoming known as a hotbed of rugby in the United States.”

Players attending the camp include athletes from the University of Texas, the University of Arizona, Notre Dame, the University of Minnesota and the University of Nebraska, among others. It also includes two current U.S. Eagles players, several former NFL players and a cluster of players from Bermuda. The camp features conditioning, strategy and game management “chalk talks” as well as drills. The camp will wrap up with a mini-tournament at Magnuson Park on August 20^st from 9:00 a.m. to 11.30 a.m. The tournament is free and open to the public.

Several partners joined Serevi Rugby™ to sponsor the camp, including World Rugby Shop, United Health Care, Sports Reaction Center, Gametapes, Garvey Schubert Barer, Kibble & Prentice and T3 Recovery Mattress.  Full details on the Serevi Rugby™ Academy may be found at www.serevirugby.com. Serevi Rugby™ apparel may be found at www.worldrugbyshop.com.