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Written by RUGBYMag.com News Release
Friday, 01 July 2011 18:29 |
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USA 7s Women Group Announced |
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Sevens -
USA Sevens Women
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BOULDER, Colo. – USA Women’s Sevens Head Coach, Ric Suggitt has announced the roster of players who will attend an Elite Women’s Sevens Camp at the Olympic Training Center in Chula Vista, Calif. from July 8-17.
The roster includes players from the club, Women’s Premier League and collegiate ranks. The camp serves two chief purposes: to master sevens-specific gameplay and ball skills, and to continue to deepen the player pool for international selection.
“At this Elite camp, we are looking at some of our top prospects for international sevens,” said Suggitt. “We have a handful of wily veterans and some youthful enthusiasm. We believe we have the correct mixture for blending the squad for the 2011 season.”
At the camp, players will undergo fitness testing, skill break down, modified games and scrimmages.
“It will be a good measurement as the athletes will compete peer-to-peer in a controlled environment,” Suggitt added.
Suggitt and his staff used a January Women’s High Performance Camp, National Championships, and All-Star championships to scout and decide which players would receive invitations to the July camp.
The team is training with an eye on the Dubai 7s in December, a competition that the Women’s Sevens program is targeting.
USA WOMEN’S ELITE SEVENS CAMP | OLYMPIC TRAINING CENTER | CHULA VISTA, CALIF. | JULY 8-17
Beth Black (NOVA), Emilie Bydwell (Beantown), Ryan Carlyle (University of South Carolina), Erica Cavanaugh (University of Virginia), Amy Daniels (Beantown), Katie Dowty (Beantown), Jenna Flateman (New York Rugby Club), Victoria Folayan (Berkeley All-Blues), Corey Fredericks (New Orleans Halfmoons), Valerie Griffeth (San Diego Surfers), Lisa Henneman (Penn State), Lauren Hoeck (NOVA), Pam Kosanke (Chicago North Shore), Katie Lorenz (University of North Carolina – Chapel Hill), Kaelene Lundstrum (Twin Cities Amazons), Nathalie Marchino (Berkeley All-Blues), Blaine Martin (Brown), Christina Mastrangelo (Chicago North Shore), Vanesha McGee (New York Rugby Club), Tyra McGrady (Indiana University), Deven Owisany (Penn State), Jane Paar (Navy), Kimber Rozier (University of North Carolina – Chapel Hill), Rebekah Siebach (Cougar Women’s Rugby), Marie Timm (Army)
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Written by RUGBYMag.com News Release
Friday, 01 July 2011 14:01 |
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HSAA Hutchings to Leicester Academy |
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School Age -
Boys
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 High School All-American Charlie Hutchings is in good company. Hutchings was recently invited to tryout for Leicester Academy in England, whose notable alumni include current Eagle phenom, Chris Wyles. Wyles is a product of Leicester Academy and was an integral part of Saracens Aviva Premiership Championship this past season.
Charlie is 17-years old and has been playing rugby since he was eight. When Charlie and his family moved to Tampa Bay in 2006 there were no local youth rugby clubs. Having always played rugby in England, Charlie’s father Stuart helped found the Tampa Barbarians U19’s in the fall of 2007. Charlie was the only player on the team who had played rugby before, so naturally he was selected as the captain at age 14 and would remain as captain over the next four years.
Following the 2009 /2010 season, as a 16-year old, Charlie was selected to play for the Florida Juice U19 team in the Rocky Mountain Challenge. The summer following his selection to the Juice, he played for the Tampa Krewe and helped them to a victory in the Florida Cup. While playing with the Krewe, Charlie was exposed to the teachings of Dai Morgan, who has coaching experience and contacts in the rugby communities of Wales and France.
After the Florida Cup, the South U20’s and Florida U20’s were facing a touring U20’s club from New South Wales, Australia in consecutive weeks and Charlie was selected to both teams. His selection to the teams is notable because he was the only high school student selected to either squad, and was the youngest by two years.
The two matches against the young Aussies led to Charlie’s invitation to the High School All-American camp in December in Santa Barbara. He was selected to the team for the America U19’s vs. Canada U18’s match on December 31, 2010. Charlie started the match at scrumhalf and the U.S. team won the match 44-29. His performance against Canada led to an invitation to the USA High School All-American Sevens team in Las Vegas in February and attended camp in April. Charlie was most recently named to the High School All-American Touring Squad to South Africa this summer.
In recent months Stuart has been in communication with the Ospreys Academy in Wales, who he was put in contact with through the family relationship with Dai Morgan. Resumes were sent out to multiple academies, and Wasps, Gloucester, and Leicester responded with interest. Leicester needed a scrumhalf for their Senior Academy and in the end seemed the best fit for Charlie.
Stuart credits Charlie’s invitation to two things: his play with the USA Rugby High School All-American team, and his English birth-rite to be eligible for acceptance into the senior England Regional Academies. But, the game film from his competition at the highest age-grade level was a huge asset for his resume. This news is promising for all young American rugby players and we all hope it will soon become a common occurrence.
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Written by Pat Clifton
Friday, 01 July 2011 15:24 |
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CPD Deadline: Who's in, Who's Out? |
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Colleges -
College DI-A
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Last updated 4:57 pm CST July 2
College Premier Division teams have been working with the understanding that July 1 was the date by which they needed to declare their intent to either stay in the CPD for its second season or return to DI. At time of print, RUGBYMag.com had made attempts to contact every team that competed in the inaugural CPD and not already announced their return to DI. We can confirm San Diego State will be returning to DI and joining the Pacific Mountain West Conference. Claremont Colleges has also made the decision to return to DI, and they will compete in the Pacific Mountain West, as well.
Here are the teams that confirmed their intent to return to the CPD: Air Force, Rutgers, Cal Poly, Central Washington, St. Mary's, UC Davis, Arizona State, Colorado State, Utah, Arkansas State, Life, Texas A&M, Delaware, Kutztown and Navy. Arizona, BYU, Colorado, Wyoming, Notre Dame, Oklahoma, Ohio State and Penn State could not be immediately reached, but due to prior conversations with representatives of those programs themselves or independent sources, RUGBYMag.com expects all will return to CPD in 2012. Army coach Rich Pohlidal said the Black Knights have not made their decision yet, and Cal coach Jack Clark abstained from declaring the defending champs' intent, citing a desire to let those at USA Rugby handle the process how they saw fit.
Dartmouth has been expected to announce its return to DI, and as of last week Big Green coach Alex Magleby said that was still the plan. However, no official announcement has been made. Rumors leading up to the July 1 deadline indicated UCLA may join Claremont Colleges and SDSU in the Pacific Mountain West next season, but while UCLA could not be reached to confirm their intent to either return to the CPD or compete in DI, it is still believed by many CPD coaches that UCLA will remain in the CPD. Cal Poly has confirmed its intent to enter the Pacific Mountain West, but as a non-points-scoring member. Cal Poly will return to the CPD in the spring. UC Davis now has a new head coach -- Andy Acosta. The former backs coach took the helm when four others stepped down, including former head coach Andy Malpass, who cited the team's insistence on staying in the CPD as part of his reason for leaving. Malpass said he and the other departed coaches intend to immerse themselves in the high school rugby scene. RUGBYMag.com has also learned Notre Dame has expressed interest in joining Rugby East. With the expected departure of Dartmouth, the East will have six orseven teams remaining, depending on what Army does. If Notre Dame leaves the Mid-South, some remaining coaches (of which there are only four) believe they'll end up playing a home-and-away schedule. Texas A&M Director of rugby Craig Coates said a four-team, home-and-away schedule would actually be less expensive than the first year of the CPD for the Aggies. Stay tuned to RUGBYMag.com as we continue to cover the College Premier Division and changes in collegiate rugby. Since this article's original run, teams may have contacted RUGBYMag.com to confirm their status, thus the story has been made current.
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Written by RUGBYMag.com News Release
Friday, 01 July 2011 10:49 |
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Virginia, Virginia Tech Introduce Rivalry Trophy |
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Colleges -
Men's DI College
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 The men’s and women’s rugby teams from the University of Virginia and Virginia Tech have announced a new shield trophy match to commemorate their ancient intrastate rivalry. The creation of this annual event was inspired by the time-honored tradition of the two schools playing for the Commonwealth Cup in football. The University of Virginia will host the first of these matches on its home pitch in Mad Bowl on October 29, 2011.
Five matches will be held on a single day – men’s A and B teams, women’s A and B teams and a special match that pits the men’s alumni teams against each other. Separate shield trophies will be awarded to the winners of the men’s A team, women’s A team and the alumni team.
Ernest Marshall, head coach for the men’s team at the University of Virginia commented, “So many great things are coming together for rugby in this country right now. We are coming off our first season in the newly formed Atlantic Coast Rugby League and the creation of this Shield Match coincides with the 50th anniversary of rugby at UVa. Virginia and Virginia Tech have superb women’s teams and, should they come into this Shield Match undefeated on their seasons, they could well be playing for both the Shield and the women’s Virginia Rugby Union Championship. This Commonwealth Shield Match between these two great universities is a natural.”
“Now that rugby sevens is an Olympic sport, we are trying to raise awareness of the sport by leveraging a university rivalry that is over a century old,” said Andy Richards, head coach for Virginia Tech Men’s Rugby. “Because college rugby is a club sport rather than a varsity sport, many people fail to recognize just how dedicated these student-athletes really are.”
As members of the Atlantic Coast Rugby League, the Virginia and Virginia Tech men’s teams already play each other every year in league matchups. However, the Commonwealth Shield competition will be a separate match every year in the fall.
Admission is free to all the games at Mad Bowl on Rugby Road in Charlottesville. The schedule calls for the women’s A teams to kick off at 10:00 a.m. followed immediately thereafter by the women’s B teams, the men’s alumni match, the men’s A teams and then the B teams, in order. Trophy presentations will be held in Mad Bowl immediately following the matches.
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Despite the fact that the summer 7s season has hardly started, it’s time to speculate where teams will fall in the national tournament. 
