The Belmont Shore Family Seeks Hardware at NAI 7s
The Belmont Shore Family Seeks Hardware at NAI 7s
Belmont Shore enjoyed a pretty great spring.
The Boys HS team won Southern California and the National HS Club Championship. Two weeks later the club sent two girls teams and one boys team to the National Sevens Youth Championships. They did pretty well there, too, with their A-side girls taking second, and the boys team also taking 2nd.
For outside observers that was impressive. After all, getting to three major national finals in the space of two weeks takes some doing.
But the players wanted all three championships, so they weren't satisfied.
Lucky for them they have another chance. The North American Invitational 7s is in just a few weeks in Salt Lake City, and Belmont Shore is taking six teams (!): U18 Girls, U18 Boys, U16 Girls, U16 Boys, U14 Girls, and U14 Boys.
"Obviously our Girls and Boys U16s are looking to redeem themselves at NAI 7’s after the Ohio Finals loss," said Head Coach Johnny Pua—who never seems to be tense despite all the high-profile finals where he paces the sideline. "Both teams are strong and are fired up for some redemption."
That's kind of the way it goes with Belmont Shore. Quite possibly the best Youth/HS club in the nation in terms of how they balance participation numbers, high performance, mentoring young and at-risk athletes, and their overall family atmosphere. We at GRR were lucky enough to be invited to a Belmont Shore team dinner and we saw that family atmosphere first-hand.
Everyone supports each other, and they don't back down from a challenge, or a road trip.
The Spring of Lenny Ibarra
Starting flyhalf as a 16-year-old for the National Champion Belmont Shore team, Ibarra then turned around to lead his Youth 7s team at the National Sevens Youth National Championships in Cleveland. Not content to rest on that, he then helped lead the North American Lions on their tour of Germany, where they won the U16 Boys bracket of the United World Games. All Ibarra did was lead the team in points.
If NAI 7s goes well he might cap off one of the most successful and well-traveled two months for a young American flyhalf. And right by his side has been Jasiah Lolesio-Pua, and that combination remains a deadly one.
Little Fixes
There are things to improve on, certainly.
"We need to better prepare physically in between games, especially when there is an hour to two-hour break between matches," said Pua.
Managing those peaks and valleys of activity and rest are crucial in the dry, windy heat of the Wasatch Mountains. The NAI 7s has a laudable plan for keeping athletes cool and comfortable in between games, but how you manage that and then re-energize for the next game will be a task for the coaches.
That Championship Mindset
While some of the players on the HS championship team are young, not all are, and a majority of the U18 Boys team that will play at the NAI were on that team that won it all in 15s in Elkhart, Ind. Might we see Elijah Lolesio-Pua, Ryan Curtis, MIlo Tusa, Brayden Evers, or Noa Tuiolosega? We might. And when they do play in SLC, they will know what it takes to win.
"Same mind-set and same goal," said Coach Pua.
Of course they have won at NAI before. In 2022 Belmont Shore won Boys U18s, Girls U16s, and Boys U14s.
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/
