This year marks the first officially sanctioned Women’s Club 7s Championship, and while a couple of territories are well versed in the qualifying process, others are still racing to come up with a seeding process and struggling to get interest for a trip to San Francisco in early August.

The Mid-Atlantic has been blazing the trail in women’s club 7s for years, conducting territorial championships since 2004. NOVA has been the most successful club nationally and has captured the previous two club 7s titles when the competition was an invitational. They’re getting great competition around the region, as five other teams (including NOVA 2) are officially competing for MARFU’s two seeds to nationals. The DC Furies have been excellent rivals for the defending champs and are expected to take the second seed.

For MARFU’s women’s division, any tournament that hosts three or more teams vying for a bid to territorial championships is eligible to award points. NOVA, DC, Severn Exiles, Philadelphia and Norfolk (and Keystone, which hasn’t indicated interest in competing at MARFUs) will fill out this Saturday’s Cheesesteak 7s’ women’s premier division. NOVA will be missing Eagle 7s stars Lauren Hoeck and Beth Black, who will be attending the USA 7s camp in Chula Vista, Calif., but the roster still boasts great attackers in Monique McQueen, Meganne Atkins and Brit Alexander.

The Northeast women’s division mimics the men’s structure and has designated three tournaments – South Shore 7s, Midnight 7s and Cape Cod 7s – as events that may award points toward the NRU Championship at Hell Gate 7s on July 23. The Boston Belles are currently leading the standings after finishing second to the NRU at South Shore and head to New York City for the Midnight 7s qualifier. The 7s-only team will be missing some big names like Katie Dowty, who will be attending USA 7s camp, but will benefit from the expert experience of captain Emily Malkin and Kelly Seary.

Dowty highlighted a few up-and-comers making the trip to NYC this weekend, in particular Jessica Peterson, who turned heads at the Collegiate All Star Championship.

“She’s an all-around player, really smart, really versatile,” Dowty praised. “Sometimes we have the luxury of having her at prop when we have enough skilled players on the roster. She's an amazing play maker and runner who can play just about anywhere.”

Even though the Northeast boasts a slew of 7s teams and has two seeds to nationals, only the Belles and New York will be competing for NRU points this weekend at Midnight 7s. New York will miss USA 7s camp attendees Jenna Flateman and Vanesha McGee as they try for their first points in the NRU series. The Falcons are in second place with 20 points after winning the Plate at South Shore. The four-year-old team is also based out of Boston but is primarily composed of college athletes. The Falcons head to Springfield 7s this weekend.

The rest of the territories aren’t quite as organized, or in the South’s case, are hurting for genuine interest. The men’s and women’s South championships will take place at Life University on July 16, but thus far only Atlanta is slated to attend. But the Harlequins aren’t taking their automatic bye to nationals easily. The team won Cape Fear 7s last weekend after first defeating NOVA, South All Stars and D.C. Furies, and then came from behind with no time left on the clock to win 14-10 over NOVA in the final.

Could we see a rematch of the DI club championship in San Francisco? It’s definitely possibile as San Diego will likely take the #1 seed out of Southern California. The union hasn’t elucidated the qualifying process for the two seeds to nationals, but according to SD president Kirstin Hartos, it’s likely that Belmont Shore will take the other seed. There isn’t a tremendous amount of women’s 7s competition in the region, but the Surfers finished second at last year’s invitational and should take the #2 seed overall.

Glendale is the only team that has expressed interest from the West, which also has one seed to nationals. They’re being whipped into shape by outgoing West 7s coach Laura Hertel and Tracy Gola. Sevens veteran Claire Gregorich is returning from ACL injury and 15s captain Bethany Zick is trying 7s for the first time. The two anchor a team that has seen practices surge with an average of 20+ players.

The Pacific Coast and Midwest are also vague about the qualifying process. The Pacific Coast has stated that a team from Northern California – likely Berkeley All Blues – and another from the Pacific Northwest will represent the territory. The Midwest has held a couple of events, and will decide after this weekend’s Lakefront 7s and following weekend’s Rock Hard 7s which teams to invite to the Midwest Championship in Elkhart, Ind., at the end of the month. But the region’s strongest teams – like Chicago North Shore – have already indicated that a trip to San Francisco isn’t likely.

So that’s where the women’s club 7s qualifying stands now. Outlined below are some predictions of which teams will advance to the championship based on interest.

2011 Women's Club Sevens Pools

Pool A

A1 – NOVA (Mid-Atlantic 1)

A2 – Belmont Shore (Southern California 2)

A3 – New York or Falcons (Northeast 2)

Pool D

D1 – Berkeley All Blues (Pacific Coast 1)

D2 – Atlanta (South 1)

D3 - ? (Midwest 2)

Pool C

C1 – San Diego (Southern California 1)

C2 - ? (Midwest 1)

C3 – ? (Pacific Coast 2)

Pool B

B1 – Boston Belles (Northeast 1)

B2 – Glendale (West 1)

B3 – DC Furies (Mid-Atlantic 2)

One of the breakout 7s players from last season was powerful forward Nu’u Punimata.

The American Samoa-born 7s prop and former UTEP football player was a huge part of the Old Puget Sound’s championship run last summer, and Punimata then broke into the USA 7s team later that fall. He put in some outstanding play in the first three tournaments of the season, before suffering a bad leg injury in Las Vegas.

His season was over then, but Punimata is back once more playing 7s, and that’s good news for OPSB and for the USA.

“I feel 100 percent,” Punimata told RUGBYMag.com “It took me a couple of tournaments, playing in Victoria and Vancouver, but I got the rust off a little bit and feel good now.”

Punimata says he feels strong using the leg, and has been able to change directions despite the injury.

“I was pretty surprised that I was able to do that,” said the Seattle-based player. “The medical staff and physical therapy people at USA Rugby did such a good job. For me the hardest thing has been conditioning. For a long time I couldn’t really run. But once I was able to run I could do it with minimal pain, and now I feel I am back.”

Just in time to help OPSB challenge for another club 7s title. Punimata also reunites with his USA teammate Miles Craigwell, who was also new on the USA team this past fall.

“Miles and I first met in camp and we’ve been friends ever since,” he said. “We’re close off the field so to have him on the club now and for us to work out together, is great. I have learned a lot from him.”

He’s not only learning from Craigwell. Team captain Pate Tuilevuka and coach Waisale Serevi .

“Pate, man, is a phenomenal guy,” said Punimata. “I’ve been doing nothing but taking notes from him, seeing what a forward should be doing in 7s. I try to emulate how he plays. He’s a total playmaker, he has great fitness level, he takes charge, is sound on defense. In Vancouver I caught myself on the field watching him play. His rugby IQ … this guy’s the man.”

And as for Serevi, the 7s legend is held in very high esteem by everyone at OPSB.

“He’s been awesome. “His wealth of knowledge is amazing. I am trying to learn everything from him. He is able to critique our game as a team and make us better, more sound in our fundamentals. He also talks to us individually and make each of us better individually. He sees things almost before they happen.”

Maybe Serevi can divine what will happen with Nu’u Punimata; most figure he’s perfectly placed to push for a place in the USA 7s team once more.