USA Women's 7s Head Coach Emilie Bydwell has named the squad to compete in the 2023 Pan American Games in Santiago, Chile.
The Games run from October 20 to November 5, with the 7s tournament running November 3-4.
The Eagles have never won the Gold Medal at this. The first ever PanAm Games to hold rugby was 2011, but that was a men's tournament only. In 2015 the USA finished second to Canada in Toronto. In 2019 in Lima, Peru they once again took silver behind Canada.
Of the 12 players named to compete in Santiago, seven were in Lima four years ago. Only Spiff Sedrick, Lauren Doyle, Sam Sullivan, Nicole Heavirland, and Nana Fa'avesi are new to this tournament.
“The Pan American Games is an important tournament for us," said Bydwell. "We are able to use this competition to look at different combinations off the back of the Fiji Invitational in late September, train behaviors that we have been developing throughout the preseason but most importantly cultivate the habits of winning that we need to refine throughout the season. This is a long year, but we will be treating every competition as an opportunity to win a gold medal and find our best with the players we have selected for that event. Further, being present in the moment enables us to maximize both our on field development and our culture; we are looking forward to seizing the opportunity to do this in Santiago.”
The USA women will be in Pool A with Jamaica, Colombia, and Paraguay. Canada, which is looking for its third straight Gold Medal, is in Pool B with Mexico, Chile, and Brazil. Pool games are November 3 and knockout games are November 4.
