CHULA VISTA, Calif. – Twenty-eight athletes will get a final opportunity to impress Men’s Eagles Sevens Head Coach Mike Friday this week at the third Men’s Eagles High Performance Sevens Camp of the season. The HP Camp runs Sunday, Sept. 21, through Saturday, Sept. 27, at the United States Olympic Training Center in Chula Vista and is the last opportunity for athletes to play their way into the 12-man roster for Gold Coast Sevens, the first tournament of the 2014-15 IRB HSBC Sevens World Series, and most importantly, the first of the Olympic qualifying events.

 

While 15 residency athletes will hope to make the Gold Coast Sevens squad for the Oct. 11-12 event, others – like recent Saint Mary’s College graduates and D1A Rugby National Champions Garrett Brewer and Kingsley McGowan – will not count out their chances to help the U.S. qualify for the Rio 2016 Summer Olympic Games. Friday had said in his first assembly with the team that in-residence players were not sacred cows, and anyone invited to camp had an excellent chance to make the team.

 

“I am really excited and looking forward to this camp where I am hopeful to see some real visible improvement from our last High Performance camp with the boys having worked incredibly hard in the last four weeks,” Friday said. “I am eager to see the level of competition between the residency and remote players for the 12 places on offer in the Gold Coast squad.”

 

Current or former USA Rugby AIG Men's Collegiate All-Americans Pat Blair (Central Washington), Madison Hughes (Dartmouth), Rocco Mauer (Bowling Green), Aladdin Schirmer (Central Washington), and Peter Tiberio (Arizona) are joined by Northeast National Development Academy standouts Derek Lipscomb and Sean Rafferty (Stony Brook) in a return to the OTC following strong performances at the second HP camp in late August. Blair, Hughes, Mauer, and Tiberio have each gained Series experience in recent years, which could prove beneficial to a team that finished 13th last year. Hughes continues his rugby education as captain of Dartmouth College, the perennial Ivy League Rugby champions, while Schirmer comes from the recently-minted varsity program at Central Washington University under MCAA 7s Head Coach Tony Pacheco. Blair, Mauer, and Tiberio continue to progress at the Serevi Institute and with Seattle-Saracens under the tutelage of former internationals Justin Fitzpatrick, Ben Gollings, and Waisele Serevi.

 

The Eagles were drawn into Pool D at Gold Coast Sevens alongside Argentina, Canada, and England. All three of the Eagles’ opponents finished the 2013-14 Series in the top 10, with the Eagles posting only one win and seven losses combined against these opponents last year.

 

“We recognize as a group we still have a long way to go, currently ranked 13th in the Series, but we aim to become competitors at this leg, not participators,” Friday said. “Whilst we have a tough pool in Gold Coast with England, Canada, and Argentina, we are ready and excited by the challenge so we can get a perspective of where we are.”

 

With major club sevens competitions like the 2014 USA Rugby Emirates Airline Club 7s National Championship, the Elite City Sevens, Serevi RugbyTown Sevens, and World Club 7s at Twickenham Stadium concluded, players across the country have set their sights on the 15s season.

 

Resident Danny Barrett, who is currently on a trial overseas, is unavailable for this camp along with remote athletes Colin Hawley, Kevin Swiryn, Miles Craigwell, Ben Pinkelman, and Shalom Suniula.

 

 

“The boys are once again going to be physically and mentally tested as the resilience required to be successful in a sevens environment is a non-negotiable,” the head coach said. “The boys have a lot of rugby learning to get though this week and will have plenty of opportunities to compete so they can all individually put their hand up and stake a claim for a squad spot.

 

“I have told the boys, ‘If you want to enjoy the fruits of the harvest you’ve got to work hard in the fields.’”

 

Former Scotland 7s coach and London Wasps and England hooker Phil Greening will join Friday and Eagles Assistant Coach Chris Brown in focusing the players at the OTC on the technical and tactical aspects of the contact area and set piece. Men’s Eagles 15s Kicking Coach Chris O’Brien will be at the front end of the camp to continue to work with the kickers.

 

“With the addition of Phil this week we continue to add quality Sevens World Series experience in our coaching ranks.X Ben [Gollings] with the Youth Olympics, Wais [Serevi] with Seattle and Serevi, Billy [Millard] in HP 15s, Ric [Suggitt] with the Women’s Eagles Sevens, and of course Mike and Chris, we have brought years of international sevens IP here to the U.S.,” noted USA Rugby National Sevens Director Alex Magleby. “Our challenge will be to prioritize that knowledge, streamline it through the national teams first, and then disseminate through the development pipeline.”

 

For more updates on the Men’s Eagles Sevens, follow USA Rugby on Twitter (@USARugby) and “like” the official Facebook page.