The Men’s USA 7s team High Performance camp is done, and with another three months until the Sevens World Series season starts, Mike Friday has some time to think about how he constructs his team for the 2015-16 season.

For Friday, he knows he will have(barring injury) players who are in the 15s Rugby World Cup back for the opening tournament December 4 in Dubai, and he’s got a snappy group of players returning from last season. 

But first of all, he wants to think about the future, bringing in young players who could be a part of the 7s team of the future. And if they are, they need to meet the standard and enter the Yaka Yard (Friday’s name for his and Chris Brown’s grueling conditioning environment).

“We’ve been busy,” said Friday. “Every position is up for grabs, but at the same time  it’s immensely difficult for anyone to do it considering how far the original core group has gone.”

Among the newer faces who impressed were Aaron Davis, who is basically new to rugby and played football at SMU, AIC All American and former HS All American Seth Halliman, and Wheeling Jesuit captain and former HS All American Peter Malcolm.

“We gave them all an introduction to what’s required, and they’ve risen to that. But, as I’ve said before, if it was easy, then everyone would do it,” said the coach. 

Friday was continuity of talent and development, and is looking to get some players involved in the USA program with an eye toward grooming them for the future - perhaps a step between development academies and the Eagles.

Of course, there’s the little case of the upcoming season. The 2014-15 core squad is expected back in Chula Vista (barring an overseas pro club enticement), and Friday has about 25 spots available for players in residency. Realistically, there might be five open places.

“Some might say we’re preparing for the Olympics now, but the reality is we’ve got a Sevens World Series to perform in, and we need to continue our evolution and get better. The boys were hugely disappointed in taking Bronze at the Pan-Am Games. We lost on the last play of the game to a full-strength Canada team. We didn’t take a couple of chances we should have taken. And the lesson learned is that it won’t be handed to us because we’ve won a couple of tournaments. Hopefully those lessons will stand us in good stead, because we’ve got to start it all over again.”