USA Pathways Under Scrutiny Now More Than Ever

Competition

The question every year is: “what are these age-grade teams going to do?” Last year was a bit of a pleasant surprise because after little expectation that anything formal would happen, the U18s, U20s, and U23s all went to a tournament in the Netherlands.

The two younger teams played other national teams and won all of their games. The U23s played senior professional teams and went 1-1.

Was this Corendon Summer Tour the perfect opportunity for these teams? Maybe not. The U23s or Collegiate All Americans seem to have been promised a regular game with their Canadian counterparts, but it never comes off in any consistent manner.

The last time they played in 2019—we asked Keane if we might see a regular U23s/All Americans series with Canada, but it didn’t seem like that will be easy to accomplish.

Summer games for collegiate talent is difficult—summer jobs or internships often get in the way, and with rugby taking up sometimes nine months of the year anyway, some players need a break. Still, they all went to the Corendon Summer Tour in 2022 in part because the programs had been so dormant that they really needed to compete and set a bit of a benchmark.

The RugbyTown 7s works well for the U23s, said Keane, and serves as a good venue for some players to play at a higher level.

The U20s will be playing Canada U20s in a qualifier series in order to make it to the Junior World Rugby Trophy (to be held in Kenya this year). The big problem with this plan is that the team that loses the series then is done for the year, or quickly has to find something else to do.

The U18s could very possibly return to the Corendon Summer Tour. The 2022 tournament was a good test for the USA U18s. They beat the Netherlands 31-23, Canada 38-10, and Belgium 47-20. So those games weren’t blowouts.

One idea, then, for the U20s is to book a spot in the Netherlands for whichever team doesn’t qualify for the JWRT. But neither program is thinking about plans if they lose.

Pay to Play

“We need to get pay-to-play under control,” said Keane. Certainly it remains an issue where players who can afford it are more likely to be on major tours—some players might not have the funds, or have to work jobs during breaks to ensure they have funds later, or didn’t have the funds to make a tryout or an ID camp. It remains an issue.

For the summer of 2022 donors stepped in to help the programs, but that’s not sustainable. You can’t just keep depending on the kindness of donors each year to bridge the gap.

A player who makes every assembly and every game for a U18 or U20 team might pay $5,000 or more. That can be seen as an investment by parents for their kids’ futures—other sports or activities cost around the same or more. The difference is those are often for-profit camps and summer assemblies, not the National Governing Body-organized national team. The USA Hockey U20s in the recent World Juniors spent a slot of money to become great hockey players, but once they get to the national team, the costs are basically covered. 

Still, with a roster of 50 players you can be looking at a total bill of $250,000. For the age-grade women, the costs aren’t much different. Is that where the funding should be focused?

Recruiting and Identification

As Keane said, players at the recent camp aren’t the only ones that are being looked at, but there is a nomination form and Keane said he is available to answer questions and entertain suggestions on players — bkeane@usa.rugby.

There is also a player development and nomination form that remains active. It's right here: https://pathways.usa.rugby/join-the-pathway/ 

Regardless of Money or Anything Else

This area of USA Rugby, the identification, development, inclusion, and preparation of the age-grade talent is going to be under intense scrutiny over the next few years.