The National Youth 7s Championships are set to kick off Friday with the first set of pool games.
There are 10 teams in the Boys U16 bracket in two pools of five.
"The goal for the tournament is the same as every other one with the U16s, which is to get better each game and leave the tournament a better player," sais Atlantis Coach Jack Foley. "Bit of a cliché, but every time I take a team to one of these events, I really don't know how we'll do compared to the other programs, so I don't really bother trying to. We have a mix of players with experience from Tropical 7's, and new players making their first Atlantis team, who are athletic and need to be exposed to the skill standards needed to improve."
For the Atlantis boys U16s, keep an eye on three young Pennsylvania players: Kyran Rautenbach out of North Allegheny, who has been a standout for the Atlantis U16s for a couple of years now, Joey Craig out of Doylestown, and Dominic Pepe out of Lampeter-Strasburg High School.
Canadian program Upright Rugby is bringing a team (initially they were hoping to bring four teams but thanks to some provincial rugby conflicts that is now down to one team).
Well, we HAD four teams going but slowly this number diminished all the way down to ONE.... our U16 Boys; there are a few reasons for this. On the girls' side, our provincial program added an extra trial this coming weekend, which will directly conflict with our U16s and a large number of our U14 girls who are also trying out for these teams. Province-wide, all club rugby started two weeks ago, which means that the majority of kids already have local club commitments, in particular, the U14 age group which competes on Sundays.
"It's a real shame as I'm a huge advocate for the younger age groups and really want them to get an international experience," said Program Director Tyler Leggett. "Moving forward, we'll just have to make sure that the families area well aware and better prepared to make the commitment in advance. From a performance standpoint, our U16 boys will be skilled and have some size but we also know we're facing very tough competition in this age grade, with the likes of Belmont, Charlotte (who have really come on the past couple years), and of course EIRA."
EIRA brings a team of players from eight different states plus one who plays his rugby in Ireland. The Menon brothers from Woodlands in Texas are a feature, but so are the two local kids, Hank McGowan and Levi Hoffman, who will be playing on their home field at St. Ignatius in Cleveland. Hoffman is a powerful runner and defender who can kick, and McGowan got some varsity time at flyhalf for his school team despite being just a freshman.
Head Coach Salty Thompson, who is assisted by Benny Mateialona, said his boys team is young but very competitive and should show well.
The Boys U16s is rounded out by some hugely competitive teams. Belmont Shore's coaching staff went right into training for this event after winning the HS Club national championships and they bring speed and plenty of passing skill. USA South Panthers has a talented, competitive side, and Charlotte Tigers, as Leggett said, should be a handful.
Boys U16 Pools:
| Pool A |
| Belmont Shore |
| Charlotte Tigers |
Upright Rugby Rogues |
| Badger Rugby Club |
| USA West Rugby Club |
| Pool B |
| EIRA |
| Atlantis Rugby |
| Panther Rugby Academy |
| San Diego Mustangs |
| Celina Rugby Club |
USA West has been slowly building its program in youth Boys and Girls at Tropical 7s, National Youth 7s, and NAI 7s.
The USA West boys team won the Open bracket at Tropical and about a third of that team will be in Cleveland, which means eight chances for other players to show what they can do.
"Tropical 7s was our first ever U16 squad, boys and girls, and we did not really know what to expect for either," said Program Director Trey Walker. "Being new to this level our goal was to make it out to the semifinals at Trop. We eclipsed that goal by winning the open bracket in several down to the wire games. We realize there is a single bracket and no separation of Elite and Open so we are expecting the competition level to be just that much higher at this tournament. That said, we accomplished our goal at Trop and a third of that roster is returning. We have several players new to West that we are really excited about and bring skill, physicality and IQ to what was already a strong player group."
Celina won the Tier II bracket in 2022 and now bumps up to the top tier.
