LA Tribe Grillin' Dogs and Taking Names
LA Tribe Grillin' Dogs and Taking Names
As we look ahead to the NAI 7s and look back at the National Sevens Youth Championships, here's a nice story from a team that won in the latter and will be playing in the former.
The LA Tribe boys won the U14 bracket at the Youth 7s in Cleveland, playing a nice brand of 7s and benefiting from a distinct size advantage at times. But that wasn't the whole story ...
We heard about this from someone at the event. He was walking near the main field at the National Sevens Youth Championships when he saw a man working in the concessions. The man didn't seem to be anyone the fan knew, and he struck up a conversation. Ah, said the man, I'm just helping out. The lady here at the concessions seems a little overwhelmed.
Oh, that's nice, thought the fan. Not very long afterward the U14 final was kicking off, and there on the sideline was the guy who'd been helping out ... it was LA Tribe Head Coach Steve Faupusa.
"My wife and I were relaxing under the tent an hour before our final match enjoying the shade when I noticed there was only one lady running the snack bar and she had quite a line forming," Faupusa told GRR when we pressed for the story. "She was flipping burgers and dogs and then running back-and-forth taking orders and being cashier. I was amazed at how she handled it because she didn't complain or look frustrated. She continued to run back-and-forth from the grill to the register. She is the one that should be recognized for that because I'm pretty sure she did it by herself the entire tournament that day!
"I only stepped in for maybe 30-40 minutes. I would've stayed there grilling the rest of the day if I wasn't pulled away for our final game."
Faupusa seems pretty nonchalant about that—instead of being obsessive about the championship match, he was flipping burgers to help someone else. But of course that's just how he rolls.
"This was my third time at this tournament so it felt like home," he said. "The Ohio crew ran a great tournament as usual and I really got to know them better this year and am looking forward to seeing them again next year."
SO what does Faupusa have cooking for the NAI 7s? Well it's a different team from the one that won it all in Cleveland. Power runner and tackling machine Jeremiah Laban won't be with the squad. First-year player Kingston Fatu, who is very quick, also is not planning to be there. There's a wieght limit for NAI 7s so that rules out power forwards Juju Luatua and Bubba Toloai as well as David Sanchez—Luatua and Toloai will play U16s instead.
"With all those guys missing, I'm replacing them with a little bit of power and speed," said Faupusa. "We need quite a few more practices to create the chemistry with the new additions. Playing against the Panthers [in the final in Cleveland], we knew they'd be fast and try to work the ball to the outside. They have really good support runners which gave them some break away plays. What I've been working on is more defensive pressure and forcing turnovers. I know our boys can score; now it's about seeing how well we can hold a team from scoring on us."
Sounds like a recipe.
The NAI 7s will be held July 21-22 at the RAC just north of Salt Lake City. The tournament boasts as many as 170 teams with competition in U12, U14, U16, U18, and U23. For more go to: https://nai7s.com/
