Simon Amor's Plan for the USA Men's Sevens Team
Simon Amor's Plan for the USA Men's Sevens Team
Goff Rugby Report sat down with new USA Men’s 7s Head Coach Simon Amor late last week and we discussed several topics of interest to fans and prospective players.
The key takeaways from this conversation are that Amor puts a high importance on knowing the players as individuals, not just athletic commodities, and as a result he isn’t making any decisions until he sees the residency players in action; he is also very concerned about 2029—after the LA Olympics, how does the program move forward?
Here we go:
Why Simon Amor and Why the USA
“I did a lot of research before I applied for the role, in two areas: Do i think I can make a difference in this program [and] do I think I’m a good enough? Because the opportunity is incredible. It;s an amazing opportunity and the thing that inspires to the most is the transformational change you can make in the country. And that’s even more inspiring when you hear more from the players and their stories.
"You think if we can be successful in the Olympics how that can be a springboard to grow the game and change so many lives. I did a bit of research and spoke to a few people and felt I could make a difference. Then it was a case of checking in with the family. You’ve got a full-time program [in Chula Vista] and you need a full-time coach. To achieve the goals the commitment’s got to be 1000%."
Living in the USA
The press release announcing Armor’s hiring said he would be moving to the USA as soon as visa issues were straightened out. We have seen those types of issues drag out before so we confirmed with Armor. He is moving to the USA, and in fact did so on Sunday. His oldest son, who is still in high school in the UK, will remain in England, but his family could well move to the USA once he graduates.
Who Does Talent ID?
This is an interesting question because, in some ways, the talent ID has been done … there’s a window for a few more, but not a huge window.
“One of the benefits of being based [in the USA] is I can do that on the weekend.” He added that he does have other people helping with talent ID. However, Amor added: “I don’t know the breadth of [the task] at the moment. The risk is just the size—you can lose yourself in trying to cover everything.”
The USA team will be very different this year with a high number of retirements after the Paris Olympics.
Looking at Olympic teams since 2016, Amor added, the average age of players is 26, and the average number of tournaments they have played in is 28. With the SVNS Series being just eight tournaments, that means a new player needs to be playing international tournaments almost immediately. And that's not to say a younger player can't burst onto the scene, but he needs to burst onto the scene.
Someone coming in now …”the chance of them being ready for the Olympics is a very outside shot,” said Amor. “So where do you spend your time as a head coach? Are you spending your time looking at these players who may not make it, or are you trying to make [the players you have] the best they can be? That’s the judgment call.”
But that doesn’t mean he won’t be looking at new talent.
“What we need to have is, if we achieve our goal of medaling in Los Angeles, we need to be ready and we need to have the next group ready to come in and fly through.”
That, by the way, includes a coach. While a staff is in place right now, that could change over the next few months. Amor said he wants to identify and mentor an American coach who can take over in four years.
Is This a Rebuilding Year?
With the player changeover it has to be. Right?
“Is it a rebuild or is it an evolution? It’s somewhere between the two. There’s a lot of senior players gone and that creates opportunities. But there’s bucketloads of potential talent there. The challenge is can we get the buys up to speed quick enough and change the style of play that we need to with a youngish kind of group? We have seven weeks before Dubai. We’re under no illusions; this first year is going to be some highs and lows and loads of growth, loads of learnings. But the foundation will definitely be set.”
Style of Play
There is no set Simon Amor style of play. Amor has met with all of the players via Zoom and said he is going to spend his first week on the job just watching the players and the team in action. Only at the end of this week will be start to unveil a plan.
Why?
“I need to get there first and get a feel for what’s going on,” Amor said. “I need to speak to people and understand them more. There’s no point in putting a plan in place if you don’t know exactly what the strengths and weaknesses are of the individuals you’re working with. “I don’t have a game philosophy. My model is what are the strengths of the individual players? What is the culture of the nation and the people? And on the back of that, what is the style of play that you want to do? There’s no points in coaching in saying ‘I want to do this’ and the players going … ‘that’s not what our strengths are.’ It’s common sense.”
So his first job has been to learn about the players, which he did on Zoom. Then it’s to learn about the players as athletes and the team dynamic. He hasn’t picked a captain or captains—again, common sense, why would you pick a captain until you see how the players interact?
“It’s not about me as the Head Coach; it’s about the players, about the country, about the transformational change that you can create. The challenge is how you get everyone on the same page. Every team’s leadership model is different. You need to get in and understand the people. Is it one captain, co-captains, or a leadership group, or do you rotate? There’s no one way of doing it.”
Goals and Expectations
The process stuff leads to specific performance goals.
“How can you build confidence? How can you build self belief? How can you take away anxiety, take away doubt? This first year building it… if we can get into that 8th spot it would be one place better than last year. That would be a good outcome goal. But we need to identify our style of play. And we need to transition a number of these players who haven’t played to grow in the game, and the big thing around that is how do we connect with each other.”