The USA Women's 7s team is training at Life University this week as the all-important Atlanta 7s looms starting Friday, April 8.

As the premier rugby program in the southeast, Life University’s facilities provide the ideal location for the Eagles as they train at the Life U Rugby Complex. Life University’s rugby complex is one of four regional Olympic Development Academies (ODAs) designated by USA Rugby in 2014 to identify and train rugby players for inclusion in the pool of players from which the U.S. Olympic men’s and women’s rugby teams will be selected.

In addition to the USA players working under new coach Richie Walker, one Life U player, Nicole Strasko, has been invited to train with the team, with a chance to be added to the player pool for upcoming events. Additionally, the rest of the Life U women’s rugby team will get the rare privilege to learn by watching U.S. National team train while they are on campus.

“We've been so lucky the past two years to welcome the U.S. Women's 7s National team and are excited to do it for a third,” said Life U Women’s Head Coach Rosalind Chou. “The team has been so generous with their time and our women are so lucky For release 5:00 p.m. EDT April 1, 2016 to have exposure to some of the best women's rugby players in the world! It's such a treat to see the coaches and players in action and get a chance to support our national team in any way that we can. It's a huge honor to host them at Life University and in Atlanta.”

For the USA team, this is a crucial week. Walker was brought in as the new coach in place of Julie McCoy. Walker's job is the get all of the players playing as a unit, and to get them playing smart tactical 7s in a way that plays to their strengths. The Olympic Games are four months away, and there is previous little time, and previous few opportunities - just three more World Series tournaments - to get Eagles back to form as a medal contender. Right now they are not at that level.

In the last two tournaments the USA women are 4-7, but it's a somewhat deceptive 4-7 in that all four teams they have defeated were in poor form. Of those four wins, only one, a 33-0 shutout of Spain, was a game where the Eagles looked impressive. Meanwhile, the losses have been hard to swallow, either being at the hands of teams the Eagles should beat regularly (Ireland, Fiji, Japan), or blowouts at the hands of teams the USA needs to challenge to win an Olympic medal. 

This season, the USA team has faced New Zealand, Canada, and Australia a total of four times. The result? Ten (10) points for the USA, and 132 for the other guys. That won't get you on the podium.

So the biggest favor the Life University team could do for the Eagles is to shelve the hero worship and maybe provide an air of cold expectation. 

Among the things fans might wish to see from the USA team would be:

Direct, level passing, meaning the ball takes less time to go from player to player, and thus gives defenses less time to react. Loopy passes make it much easier for defenses to adjust.

Players who make a break to take a quick look for support and use that support before contact.

Players who go into contact do so on their terms - fend off and hold, or lower the boom, or make a sidestep, with eyes open, and ready to make a steady offload.

Tackle under the fend and into the rib cage.