The invitations started going out Sunday night, a day after the Women’s Junior All American (WJAA) selection camp wrapped up in Greeley, Colo. Interim head coach Wil Snape and staff have the Can-Am series for which to prepare, and the team will reassemble on August 15 at Central Washington University for matches against Canada U20s on Aug. 19 and 22.

“I was really happy with the players who showed up,” Snape said of camp attendees. “The talent pool has grown in the last couple of years. It used to be concentrated in Penn State and a few of those leading colleges, but now it has spread across the country. We got the selection right for camp, too; the right players were there.” (Click here for the WJAA camp attendees.)

Most of the attendees came from the June National All Star Competition (NASC), and they had a slight edge in terms of familiarity with players, coaches, and the carried-over mindset from NASC.

“’Disadvantage’ is too strong a word,” Snape said of those players who didn’t come out of NASC. “Those athletes at NASC had the experience of being challenged in that environment – picking up systems quickly and adding new systems on top of them. Those at NASC benefited from that, but most of them picked it up quickly.”

One of those systems zeroes in on “attacking intent,” and considering Snape is the Attack Coach, it’s a concept to which he often refers.

“It’s hard to coach attacking intent,” Snape said. “Normally, you learn a structure, a formation, and it’s rigid. Players ask, ‘Should I being do this?’ No. It’s, ‘Get in the right position, see who’s with you, and then play how you would play.’ Play what’s in front of you. You want them to understand what they’re doing, and then attack where they’re good at attacking.

“We’re trying to create a system in which they can express themselves,” Snape summarized. “We’re not trying to change the players that they are, but everyone has to have the same mindset, not just, ‘This is my role.’”

Much of camp was spent ingraining these principles, and the group of 35 didn’t split into teams until the final day for a scrimmage. There, Snape – along with assistant coaches Kate Daley and Kitt Wagner Ruiz – were able to gauge who was embracing those concepts.

“It was some of the most exciting rugby I’ve seen by any youth group,” Snape said of the Saturday scrimmage. “I was especially pleased, having worked with this age group for the past three years, and working on attack. It was really good seeing them express themselves. All of the coaches were excited.”

Now comes the tough part: selections. With a bevy of talent, the dilemma won’t be finding a good-enough wing or center; it’ll be organizing the right combinations of players. The Junior Eagles will then test themselves against the Canada U20s in Ellensburg, Wash. The last time the teams faced each other, Canada dominated, winning 94-11 across two games.

“The good thing is that players won’t have any fear,” Snape said of the 2014 Can Am returners. “They know what happened last time, how they played, how we played. But we’re a totally different team now playing a new style. We know we’re going to be better. There were a lot of reasons why we weren’t successful [in 2014]. We have a proper set-up this time – longer selection period, among other things. That’s a big difference – not meeting two days before a test match.”

Stay tuned for the All American squad, which will be announced in the coming weeks. Who is Canada considering? Click here for Canada's long list.

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