GRR: Youth
Quick notes from National Youth 7s and a lot of interviews.
Overall we have to say the standard of play was excellent—kids knew what they needed to do; they could pass and catch and tackle; they were smart and exciting to watch. In some respects, such as the girls goalkicking, and teamwork in all brackets, the standard was better than college 7s we have seen.
The National Youth 7s Championships are set to kick off Friday with the first set of pool games.
There are 10 teams in the Boys U16 bracket in two pools of five.
Rookie Rugby Cleveland had about 500 kids in the spring of 2021.
Last year the number improved to over 600, and now they've topped 800. If there's a bigger Rookie Rugby league in the country, we haven't seen it (if you have, let us know).
We decided to sit down with Dan Arbeznik, who runs Rookie Rugby Cleveland, to talk about how it's done and how you can do it, too.
The youth sections of the Tropical 7s bring 24 teams to Tampa for this coming weekend's massive event.
Over 170 teams in various brackets will compete, but right now we're looking at the U14 and U12 teams.
The National 7s Youth Rugby Championships is now pretty much fill, with just a few open spots in the Girls U14 bracket.
There is, however, a waitlist for some brackets.