PRESS RELEASE (Greeley, Colo.) Creating an elite environment for players to grow and compete at the international level continued last week for the Women’s Eagles at the second National All-Start Competition (NASC).

Players filled out two senior and collegiate sides in addition to a Collegiate All-Americans Sevens training group at University of Northern Colorado.

For some, performing in an elite-level environment was a new experience.

“The players are very excited to be in this environment – it’s a great mix of experienced players and new players,” said Eagles Head Coach Peter Steinberg. “The big focus is on learning and growth.”

For the senior and collegiate levels, two competitions broke up the Wednesday-to-Sunday event with the intention of seeing how players react in a high-level game.

“We want to see very competitive games during the camp because it allows for us to truly evaluate a player and in turn have the athlete grow from the experience,” said Steinberg. “The players need to be in a position where their performance counts.”

In the short term, players competing at the second NASC are up for selection to the Winter NASC, which will see 200 players invited for competitions at the senior, collegiate, and under-20 level. In conjunction with the 15s priorities, Women’s Eagles Sevens Assistant Coach Richie Walker was scouting athletes that can help the team at the Rio 2016 Olympic Summer Games.

Player development and growth from the first NASC and individual academies is evident to the coaching staff.

“It is obvious what players attended the last NASC as they have come in with an understanding of what it is,” said Steinberg. “The new National Development Academies (American Rugby Pro Training Center and Northeast Academy) are having an impact as their players tend to have better skills and fitness.”

For the sevens group at the second NASC event, three competitions Wednesday were followed by three matches Saturday. These teams, led by interim Head Coach Brandon Sparks, were competing for spots on the new WCAA Sevens program.

Another function of the newly-designed pathway is the development of coaching staff, which continues with the second NASC, as well.

“We need to help coaches grow in a similar fashion to the players,” said Steinberg. “We need more coaches to be able to handle and function in an elite-level environment.

“The coaches have had more freedom in this stage to implement patterns they prefer. They have really stepped up and done a great job with handling the change.”

With more than a year to prepare for the World Cup, Steinberg has a bit more time to search for players.

“We are really excited about the continued growth in players,” said Steinberg. “We had the Super Series to start the World Cup preparations, but with how quickly players are developing we may have a completely different lineup moving forward.”

*Many players are with different clubs (and academies) during the summer - or have just reported to their new college teams - so we kept it simple and listed the last team with which athletes played 15s.

NASC Coaching Staff
Peter Baggetta
Emilie Bydwell
Sean Cobb
Martha Daines
James English
Tom Feury
Sefesi Green
Jon Mooney
Ken Pape
Ricardo Ramirez
Margaret Sharp
Brandon Sparks
Peter Steinberg
Susan Whitwell