The new approach to USA Rugby’s Men’s All American programs is still undergoing some growing pains, but it’s underway as the second wave of National Tracking Camps ended this weekend.

USA Rugby Director of Performance Alex Magleby told Goff Rugby Report that athletes and Tracking Camp hosts are still getting the hang of it - the energy at Saturday’s camp in Utah was very high, while Colorado’s camp in Infinity Park wasn’t as well attended.

“A lot of players just don’t know how it works so there’s a learning process,” said Magleby.

So how does it work?

Players have to apply to attend a Tracking Camp https://hiperforms.com/AddRugbyPlayer-AllStar.php

It costs $60 to apply.

Payers can be in high school, young college, veteran college, or older. The camps are there to find players at all levels. Then you’re in the system.

“We know the standards for the 7s and 15s national teams, and these camps are partly about getting data,” said Magleby. “We need data to assess what athletes are out there and make direct comparisons - are you a good player on a good team, or an exceptional player on a poor team?”

The Camps provide the data to answer those questions, and to get players into a data base to track.

After that, it’s about working with those players and their coaches to get them where they need to go.

So 18- and 19-year-olds are being identified for the U20 team. Players who are 16 or 17 could be looked at for the HS All Americans, although the age divisions in the application form start at the U20 level; the camps go on up to full Eagles.

In the first tracking camps, two players made the 7s national team - not a bad return. Magleby said more players will be identified as the camps become more popular. He is looking for Rugby World Cup 2019 players - the right athletes, who want to devote the enormous amount of effort required, and who will use the resources given.

Resources means coaching and advice, and it also means money, and here’s where things get a little dicey. Fans, players, and followers like tours. They like games with a trophy given at the end. The Collegiate All Americans go on a tour every year. The U20s play in a competition every year. The HS All American program is centered around taking trips and playing games. This new Tracking Camp plan doesn’t eliminate tours, but it back-burners them to a certain extent.

Magleby said the feeling is that USA Rugby’s resources (money and effort) should be put into identifying, tracking, and developing large numbers of athletes with potential - several hundred, just three squads of 25 or so.

“Look at the Collegiate All Americans,” said Magleby. “What is that team? It has two roles - the honor the best college players is #1. And then #2 is to find the college players that best project to the national team. It’s not always the same group of guys. But do we put our resources into a tour for some of those guys?”

The answer is, you do. USA Rugby is expected to announce a tour to the Southern Hemisphere this summer. But that tour has to be underwritten by sponsors. Sponsors like tours, so they pay for them - that’s the idea. USA Rugby likes developing players for its national team, so USA Rugby pays for that.

This year, the HS All American team’s tour to South America was called off, basically because sponsor Aircraft Charter Solutions (a sponsor of Goff Rugby Report) could not carry the entire cost on its own. One USA Rugby source told Goff Rugby Report that the HSAA and Aircraft Charter Solutions CEO Robin Reid should have known that would be the case in a Rugby World Cup year - unfortunately, it’s a special kind of year every year. Yes, 2015 is Olympic qualification, Pan-Am Games, and Rugby World Cup. But 2016 is the Olympics and 2018 is the 7s World Cup and the Women’s 15s World Cup. It’s hard to imagine a year where there isn’t something big going on.

So while tours need to be accepted as an annual thing, they have to be planned for. Magleby said taking a team on a trip is still part of the plan, but a different part of the plan.

“There should be more in it other than some games,” said Magleby. “If the tour is connected to something greater - an immersion opportunity, connecting to teams in a major competition, then it makes sense.”

It appears that the U20s will be part of a Junior All American program that includes U21s. Ironically, while the value of tours is under question, we might see more tours from tat age group, and less involvement in World Rugby’s U20 competitions.

It’s unclear whether it’s all be sorted out yet. Certainly the Collegiate All Americans will be on a plane somewhere this summer. But the future of how teams will assemble and play is hazy. Getting clearer, it seems, is how players for these teams will be discovered.

The Tracking Camps are for any age. Players will be slotted into their appropriate age group and given coaching, direction, and will be tracked. A large number of athletes will go into a data base and will be part of a process to filter them up to the major national teams.

But just getting players to the national team isn’t the only thing the sport is about. Players, coaches, GRR readers, and fans know that rugby is the best team sport in the world because it’s about camaraderie - it’s about that team. And the team needs to play to be a team. USA Rugby’s plan, under Magleby, is to put in extra work before the games get played. But since USA Rugby has a Collegiate All American Head Coach in place (Gavin Hickie), and a HS All American Head Coach in place (Salty Thompson), and began a search in May for a Junior All American Head Coach, you have to believe that these tracked athletes will play a game one of these days.

Notes: We’re just talking about the men right now, but an analogous program for women is un development.

Here is the list of Tracking Camps, including the ones already done.

May 17 New York City - Columbia University's Baker Field
May 30 USOC Olympic Training Center - Chula Vista, CA
June 6 Camp Williams - Salt Lake City, UT
June 7 Infinity Park - Denver, CO
June 14 Tiger Academy - Columbus, OH
June 20 Life University - Marietta, GA
June 21 Cal Maritime - Vallejo, CA
June 28 Philadelphia, PA
September 5 Chicago, IL

Here’s that link to apply again. https://hiperforms.com/AddRugbyPlayer-AllStar.php