BOSTON – (February 25, 2014) Serevi Rugby® (serevirugby.com) will hold a USA Rugby High Performance Training Camp at Harvard University in Boston on March 1-2 as part of the USA Rugby Academy. Aimed at identifying the Northeast region’s top rugby players and providing them with a specific development pathway to the men’s and women’s U.S. National Teams, the two-day camp is one of seven nationwide stops in 2014. U.S. National Team head coaches Matt Hawkins (USA Men’s 7s), Ric Suggitt (USA Women’s 7s) along with Richie Walker (USA Men’s and Women’s 7s Technical Coach) and Justin Fitzpatrick (USA Men’s XVs assistant) will be in Boston to help train and identify young players who may be invited to USA Rugby Academy Elite Residence Camps during summer 2014 run by Serevi.
Take the jump to read more.
“Young men and women attending the Boston camp will receive a unique national team experience being able to work with Serevi and U.S. national team coaches no matter what their individual goals are,” said Matt Hawkins, USA Men’s 7s Head Coach. “The Northeast is a hotbed for high quality rugby, so we’re coming to identify tomorrow’s Eagles and train players to be the best they want to be.”
In advance of this camp, Serevi Rugby has been working closely with Massachusetts Youth Rugby Organization to increase awareness across the state and invite the best rising stars at the high school level to improve their game and have access to national team coaches. Players from several prominent rugby universities in the region including American International College, Bowdoin, and Brown University are confirmed to attend the camp.
"Serevi’s camps are a great opportunity for rugby players in the region to gain access to high performance coaches they would never come across otherwise,” said Josh Macy, Director of Rugby at American International College. “New England has a rich rugby tradition, and it's encouraging to access a fresh perspective and the national team pathway. I knew we had to get involved as a team."
Rugby is now the fastest growing team sport in America. A growing number of major universities now offer rugby scholarships to boys and girls, and rugby will re-join the Olympics at the 2016 Rio games, opening the opportunity for many new athletes to play for their country.
“We’ll be looking for athletes with an appropriate mix of skill, athleticism and potential to invite to train in an immersive, high-performance environment during our summer residence camps,” said Ric Suggitt, Head Coach of the U.S. Women’s National 7s Team. “As we build towards the 2016 Olympics, these camps will be the foundation of finding and developing the next generation of women’s and men’s Eagles.”
Most sessions will be held at The Bubble at Harvard Stadium, ensuring weather won’t be an issue in a season difficult for many rugby players to get outside to train. Training sessions will be led by U.S. national team coaches Hawkins, Suggitt and Fitzpatrick, along with current USA Eagle and Serevi coach Emilie Bydwell.
The USA Rugby High Performance Training Camps series emphasizes skill development, situational awareness, the ability to play creatively, manipulate defenders and exploit and preserve space, all while providing opportunities for high-potential crossover athletes new to rugby.
Having already completed stops in Glendale, CO and Atlanta, the High Performance Training Camp series moves on after Boston to San Diego, College Park, MD, New Orleans, and Minneapolis. The series camps are part of the recently announced multi-year partnership between Serevi Rugby and USA Rugby designed to identify top players and provide a specific development pathway to the men’s and women’s U.S. National Teams. The partnership also creates a series of youth development programs which introduce and build a core set of skills applicable to both XVs and 7s rugby and across the youth, high school and collegiate player spectrum, as well as to coaches at all levels.
Full details about the upcoming series of Training Camps, including registration, is available at www.serevirugby.com.