USA Rugby Rolls Out Women's Pathway
USA Rugby Rolls Out Women's Pathway
USA Rugby Rolls Out a Pathway for women's high-performance rugby.
Courtesy of USA Rugby
LAFAYETTE, CO — After several months of preparation, USA Rugby has rolled out a comprehensive women's schedule for the remainder of the 2018 calendar year. By leveraging existing resources and prioritizing age-grade assemblies, the schedule makes a commitment in looking ahead to the 2021 World Cup, with a shared emphasis on succession planning for the 2024 Paris Olympic Games and 2025 World Cup.
Each event focuses heavily on talent verification, player development, and competition. In alignment with the restructured American Rugby Model, the schedule incorporates nine total age-grade assemblies which capitalize on breaks outside the scholastic year; as well as a comprehensive camp and tour schedule for the sevens and 15s senior programs.
Selected from Project SOAR, each assembly will feature a talented and experienced coaching staff with the knowledge to help athletes accelerate their development and perform in increased pressure situations. Coaches will highlight and foster the critical performance actions and behaviors required to thrive in international competition, also providing athletes with a plan to build on those skills so they can maximize time between events.
"Assembling the top currently identified players across all age groups will give an excellent snapshot into several elements of our high-performance program," said Emilie Bydwell, USA Rugby's general manager for women's high performance. "This will help us finalize our campaign plan for the 2021 World Cup, along with not only ensuring success in Tokyo [2020] but looking beyond to Paris 2024. We will be utilizing this summer to make sure players and their needs are at the core of this ongoing planning process."
On the women's national team side (15s), an August training camp, as well as segments of the Women's Premier League and collegiate sessions, will select the player pool for the 2018 November tour. Overall, the fall tour will consist of three Eagles test matches and an "A" level game for the Women's Selects.
On the Olympic women's sevens side, USA rugby will introduce programming for a specific talent development group geared towards 2024 Paris and 2028 Los Angeles Olympic Games. Termed as Hawk-Eye (Talent Development Program), a training camp will be run alongside final World Cup preparation in early July to evaluate and accelerate potential athletes. Subsequently, a Hawk-Eye training group will also assemble for an inaugural summer intensive residency program, including an apprenticeship at the senior women's national team camp.
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SCHEDULE OF EVENTS
EVENT | DATE | OUTCOMES |
| Collegiate All-American 7s Camp (~U23) | June 13-17 | Provide identified athletes with an opportunity to develop and compete in a High-Performance 7s environment. Assess and verify potential to join Women’s Falcons or residency |
| National Development Academy 7s Tournament (7 NDA teams; age 18+) | June 16 & 17 | Identify athletes who may be eligible for 2018-19 Women’s 7s contracts and/or contribute to Women’s 15s setup |
| Collegiate All-American 15s Camp (~U23) | June 19-24 | Identify athletes who have potential to track to the 2021 World Cup, develop longer-term plans for players projecting to 2021, 2024 & 2025, develop critical actions and behaviors for players needed to project to senior 15s. |
| Junior All-American Camp (U20) | June 28 - July 1 | Select team to compete in August International competition, ID athletes with immediate potential to track to senior program for 2021 and develop longer-term plans for athletes projecting to 2024 and 2025 |
| Women’s Sevens Hawk Eye Training Camp | July 2-6 | Provide development experience to next generation of athletes (98,99,00) in the 7s HP camp environment. |
| Rugby World Cup Sevens 2018 | July 20-22 | Pinnacle event for Women’s 7s Program |
| Hawk Eye Development Program (Elite Athlete Training Center Residency) | July 23 - August 9 | Immerse next generation of athletes into training environment; increase depth chart for 2020, 2021, 2024, 2028 |
| U18 CANAM Futures Sevens Tournament | July 24-30 | Identify and develop athletes with potential for senior setup, install actions and develop behaviors needed for players to develop in women’s pathway. Provide access to increased pressure in competition. |
| USOC Next Olympic Hopeful Final Testing (7s) | July 27-August 1 | Athletes undergo rigorous training at the Colorado Springs Olympic Training Center for the chance to be invited to a high-performance training camp. |
| Women’s National Team (15s) Pool Camp | August 1-5 | Identify player pool for 2018 November Tour and develop 2021 player depth chart; introduce culture, install critical action and Principles of Play needed for the performance of the Senior Ws Team |
| Junior All-American Competition v Canada & England (U20s) | August 13-19 | Provide international experience to high potential players, develop critical actions and behaviors for players need to project to senior 15s, challenge players to make decisions and perform in a highly competitive environment |
| Women’s National Team (15s) November Tour | October 28 - November 19 | Three international test matches including Black Ferns (Nov 3), TBA nation and Ireland (Nov 18). |
| Women’s Selects (15s) “A” level Game | November TBA | “A” level match during Women’s National Team’s November tour; opponent TBA |
| High School All-Americans North American Competition (U18) | December 27-30 | Identify and develop athletes with potential to project to the senior women’s programs, install actions and develop behaviors needed for players to develop |
| Stars & Stripes Competition (U19) | December 27-30 | Develop U20 pool for 2019 Summer International Competition. Identify and develop athletes with potential to project to the senior women’s programs, install actions and develop behaviors needed for players to develop |