Talent, Variety, Competition Sparkle in Tropical 7s
Talent, Variety, Competition Sparkle in Tropical 7s
By our count the Tropical 7s has over 170 teams signed up for the April 7-8 event.
The tournament covers U12 to U23 brackets, with the largest being U18 Girls Open, which has 24 teams.
That might seem surprising as usually tournaments have a higher percentage of boys and men than women and girls, but the U18 Girls bracket shows a strong desire within that part of the game for new and challenging competition.
In fact, tied for the second-largest bracket is the U16 Girls bracket. The split between number of women/girls teams and men/boys teams is almost exactly 50-50.
“We are spreading geographically,” said Tournament Director John Siner. “We have two teams from New Zealand and we’re excited to see more teams from Canada now that it’s easier to travel.”
The competition and the weather are major attractions to the Tropical 7s, and a rough late winter / early spring in North America has teams realizing that an April trip to Tampa, Fla., might be just the ticket.
Teams from as far away as Wisconsin, Colorado, California, Texas, Ontario, British Columbia, Quebec, and Alaska will compete, and certainly being able to play unfamiliar foes is a big part of why.
Another attraction is that the Tropical 7s is an official USA Rugby Talent ID event. What that means is that USA Rugby scouts will be in attendance to look for future national team prospects.
“It’s certainly a validation of what we’re doing,” said Siner. “The players definitely like that aspect.”
Who to Watch Out For
There are so many brackets, we can’t talk about them all, so here’s a look at programs that are covering multiple levels:
USA South has multiple boys teams and girls teams in just about every level and is probably the one program with the most athletes playing.
Atlantis is strong in U18 Boys Elite and U18 Girls Elite, as well as U16 Girls, U16 Boys, and U14 Boys
Hawkeyes, whose coaches have previous connections to the old Celtic Barbarians, are covering multiple brackets and saw are the Misfits and Upright Rugby, both out of Canada. Mostly Texas-based Gorilla has several teams and mostly Colorado-based USA West covers much of the younger levels.
Upright is making a big comeback into this arena.
Watch out also for the Bears, which is a new group out of the Carolinas.
For more on the Tropical 7s see here>>
U18 Elite
These bracket often gets the most notice and they are pretty well packed with talent.
The girls include: Atlantis, The Rugby Advantage, Hawkeyes, NRU, Toronto Reds, Utah Cannibals, All-Midwest Thunderbirds, Badger Rugby Academy, Majestics out of Utah, and MacDowell Rugby, which is an academy program out of Western Canada that we haven’t seen before.
The boys include: Atlantis, Bears, Hawkeyes, Eagle Impact Rugby Academy, Gorilla, Upright Rugby, USA South, Layton Christian Academy out of Utah, and Rebel Rugby Academy out of the West.
In addition, UK team Future Elite Sports will suit up as will Rangataua Rugby, part of the Rangataua Sports and Cultural Club out of Bay of Plenty in New Zealand.
U23 Men and Women
With collegiate 7s final tournaments on the horizon several college teams are looking at the Tropical 7s as a buildup event. But it will be a tough go. The Canadian Maple Leafs national development team will be in the men’s competition, so the likes of St. Bonaventure and St. Joseph will be tested. Équipe Quebec, NAV 7s, USA South, Misfits, and Bears all make the men’s U23 bracket a tough one.
In the Men’s U23 Open bracket we’ll see more straightup college teams such as Alabama, Cincinnati, and Middle Tennessee State.
The Women’s U23 Elite bracket is a bit of a preview of the CRAA Elite 7s in May with Dartmouth, Life, Lindenwood, Long Island, Army, and Harvard in action. More colleges, including Queens, Lander, Davenport, Clemson, FIU, and Durham College of Canada are in the open bracket
