French Int'l School Hosts 7s Tourney
Under beautiful blue skies and in crisp November temperatures, Lycee Rochambeau, the French International School of Washington, DC, hosted the first annual Yorktown Sevens Tournament. The tournament was a celebration of French culture in the DC area with French music, food and match commentary throughout the day. There were matches for high school girls and boys at the U19, U17 and U15 levels.
The tournament was also a history lesson for those that played. It named after the pivotal battle in Virginia during the Revolutionary War for Independence where French support for the American Revolution led to final victory over the British and the establishment of an independent United States of America.
Washington Names Select Side Pool
The Washington state Loggers boys high school rep-side announced its 2015 7s player pool selections, following trials in Seattle.
Twenty-three players were named, from over 40 players nominated by coaches from across the state.
At the core of the 2015 Loggers are experienced 7s players contending to play for the USA internationally, beginning with High School All-American Brian Nault (Shelton) who returns to the Loggers with age-grade tour experience at No. 8 against Argentina and Italy, as well as Portugal and France.
“Brian is a major young American rugby prospect from our state, similar to Titi Lamsositele,” said Loggers Head Coach Steve Brennan.
NorCal Youth Assoc HiringThe Northern California Youth Rugby Association is looking to hire. The organization currently has three vacancies:Youth Development OfficerThe successful candidate would assist in the sustainable growth of the sport at the youth level in Northern California.
EIRA Starts Up Again
The first round of Eagle Impact Rugby Academies has been completed as High School All American Head Coach Salty Thompson and a team of coaches got things kicked off over the past weeks around the country.
The second season of EIRA assemblies started in Southern California, and then Thompson visited Rockaway in New York, Seattle, Orlando, Fla, Culver Academy at Indiana, the Carolinas, and Texas.
More states are getting involved, with Thompson labeling SoCal, Seattle, Indiana, Carolinas, and Texas as the core academies, with other satellite academies sprouting.
In Florida, the event was more of an open camp, with Thompson casting a wide net to see what talent is there, but also targeting players out of the Florida Juice select-side program. The other academies are more invitation-oriented.
Teams Signing Up for Fullerton Tournament
The Fullerton Youth Tournament is set for March 2015 and already some impressive teams have signed up.
According to Tournament Director Ravi Perera, teams from British Columbia, Ontario, Northern California, and Mexico have already signed up, joining the coal Southern California boys and girls teams.
Several college coaches are expected to be in attendance.
The Fullerton High School Rugby Invitational is an institution in Southern California and provides teams from colder climes the opportunity to get some high-quality games in before the meat of their season.
For more, go to www.highschoolrugbytournament.com
Boys NIT Date Set
The 2015 Boys High School Rugby National Championship will be held on May 14-16, 2015.
The location of the 2015 tournament will be selected in the coming weeks, although the smart money is on an East Coast location. It has been confirmed that Elkart, Ind., which hosted the tournament the last two years, will not host in 2015.
The Boys High School Rugby National Championships fills the gap in elite high school rugby competition left by the discontinuation of the High School National Championship, and the Boys High School Rugby National Championship attracts the top high school teams in the nation to this premier event.
Aircraft Carter Solutions PoW - Hanco Germishuys
Hanco Germishuys may have been spending much of his summer on roofs, but that doesn’t mean he’s reached his ceiling. As he waits for a chance to try out with Gloucester, the HS All American and USA U20 flanker is working with his father’s roofing company in Nebraska. It’s hard, and often sun-scorching work, but it’s keeping him balanced for rugby opportunities ahead. The 18-year-old - he turned 18 in late August - needed a waiver to be allowed to play in the Junior World Rugby Trophy, and is young enough that he can play in that tournament three more times. But despite being among the youngest there, he was also one of the best. An athletic, uncompromising loose forward, Germishuys is poised for big things. “Playing in the JWRT was one of the top tours I’ve been on,” said Germishuys.
Pelham, Manhattan Celebrate Five-Year Rivalry
This past Sunday, the Pelham Youth Rugby hosted the Manhattan Youth RFC in a series of games born out of a rivalry that is now five years old.
The two programs both started as youth programs and have expanded to include older age brackets as their kids have aged. SO now the meeting of the clubs involves U12s, U14s, U16s, and U18s.
Both programs started five years ago with just middle-schoolers, and are co-founders of the Metro NY Youth Rugby League, which has also grown from just middle-schoolers to older ages.
Manhattan’s U12s won their game, and in fact Manhattan also won at U14 and U16 level, while Pelham took the U18 match 26-12.
Those oldest kids have played each other for five years, and Pelham has won all five of those games.
Eagle Impact Rugby Academy Season UnderwayThe season for the Eagle Impact Academy started this past weekend with the first of a series of weekend assemblies in Southern California. Run by High School All American Head Coach Salty Thompson, and with a number of other top coaches involved, the Eagle Impact Rugby Academy is designed to help develop the skills and rugby understanding of young boys players so they can succeed at the next level. The program has been working in Southern California, Indiana, Washington, Texas, Louisiana, Pennsylvania, the Carolinas, Virginia, and is expanding to New Mexico, New England, and other areas. Many of the camps are invitation only, bringing in only the very serious players.
Changing Sub Rules in High School Rugby
When USA Rugby stopped running a Boys National HS Championships and a new, privately run invitational was formed instead, the panel of teams involved voted to liberalize the substitution rules.
Too often, they reasoned, a team is winning an early-round game handily, and would have liked to run on some younger players - maybe to ease the pain for the losing side, and also to get a game for players who had made the trip to nationals with scant expectation of playing time.
The idea met with widespread approval. The championship game still follows the regular rules regarding squad size (23 with at least three front-rowers), but the earlier matches allow for maximum player usage which encourages participation, safety, and reduces blowouts.
Olive Kilifi's HS Past and Eagle Future
We call him Ollie because people get weird when you write Olive, but either way, Ollie, or Olive (pronounced o-LEE-veh) Kilifi is a key component of the USA Men's National Team and likely to see some action in the upcoming ARC. The Seattle Saracens prop forward got his start playing for the old West Seattle Stormers, which became the OPSB U19 team and then the Seattle Vikings as a high-schooler.
"I started before high school but started taking it seriously in high school," Kilifi told Goff Rugby Report. "I played for the Loggers [select side team] and that got me more excited about it, but I then had to go on Mission so I was away for a while."
A member of the Mormon Church (Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints - or LDS), Kilifi went on LDS Mission to Alberta in Canada for two years.
Rugby Indiana is Hiring
Rugby Indiana is looking to hire for several positions to help run high school rugby in the state.
The State-Based Rugby Organization has put out a call for applications for:
Executive Director
Part-Time Bookkeeper
Socia Media Intern
Rugby Development Instructor
For more go here:
http://www.rugbyindiana.com/page/show/934041-rugby-indiana-job-opportuni...
SFGG Launches Fall Academy
The San Francisco Golden Gate club is will launch their new Rugby Academy October 12.
The Academy is for players 14-18 years of age, and will meet for an intense series of sessions on Sundays.
The Academy is not designed to take players away from their current HS teams.
“We’re not even interested in recruiting players to SFGG,” said Academy Director and SFGG club director Bruce Thomas. “What we want is to give players a better grounding in the basics, and in turn they take those skills back to their teams.”
The sessions will be held on SFGG’s fields on Treasure Island, and also at St. Mary’s College - thus making it a little easier for both West Bay and East Bay players to make it. The eight-session Academy cost is $320 for early registrants, and while players can potentially show up for just one session, Thomas said it’s not recommended.
Fullerton Tournament Registration Open
Registration is open or the Fullerton Rugby International Tournament, an annual event that helps kick off HS rugby in Southern California and beyond.
The tournament will be held March 14-15, 2015 in Fullerton, Calif. at Ladera Vista School.
Teams from all over the USA as eel as Canada have competed at the tournament. In 2014 the Santa Monica club won the Boys division as they worked their way to a 2nd place finish at the Boys HS National Invitational Championship later that season. Fullerton took second.
Fallbrook won the girls bracket on their way to another NIT national title.
Column - A Case for HP 7s at Youth Level
There have been a ton of articles about the quality of play at the Jr Olympics and a ton of fingers being pointed and a ton of reasons offered but I would submit the biggest reason for our failure is the program as a whole, both for 7s and for 15s. What is the root cause, lack of meaningful competition for the HS age and a complete lack of HS age HPD programs.
