More exciting firsts for the women's side of the game! The Elite City 7s held its first women's division this year, and the Women’s Collegiate All American 7s (WCAA) made good use of the event for its debut outing. Led by interim head coach Brandon Sparks, the All Americans swept the competition, defeating American Rugby Pro Training Center (ARPTC) 17-10 in yesterday's final. 

"Developing the right culture" was a major theme for the weekend. Sparks and staff did a lot of work with the 12-player squad – sourced from coast to coast (read more) – off of the pitch, so everyone was ready to fulfill their respective roles with the right high-performance mindset.

Current Club 7s National Champions ARPTC, which is the only full-time Olympic Development Academy (ODA) for women, posed the biggest challenge. Six of the ARPTC residents have received invites to the next Olympic Training Center (OTC) assembly with USA 7s coach Ric Suggitt.

"The ODA is an emerging program and can sneak up on you," Sparks said. "I knew they had talent. The Armed Forces is always just a hard team, no matter what – go forward, be dominant. They did push us."

Sparks credited his squad's high level of athleticism for helping the WCAAs over the three-team field.

"They were a great group of athletes, who are all serious about the game, so that helped a lot,” Sparks said. “On attack, they changed direction, ran dynamic lines, and kept the defense constantly moving from sideline to sideline – that was hugely important. And one aspect that is often overlooked – defense – was phenomenal. When there were linebreaks, players did an excellent job chasing, helping the sweeper by flooding the offload options, and setting up a one-on-one situation. We saved a lot of tries that way.”

Leading the way in terms of performance was recent high school graduate Richelle Stephens, who competed on the USA 7s team during the NACRA 7s qualifier and Pan Am Games.

“She really stood out, especially considering how young she is,” Sparks said of the Fallbrook High School graduate. “She wasn’t playing against high school kids or even collegians, but against adults. We had some good finishers and supporters – Nia Williams – but Richelle was good everywhere the entire weekend.

“From the developmental side, it was Alena Olsen,” Sparks said of the Michigan sophomore. “She had the least amount of experience in the high-performance environment, and didn’t play 7s over the summer because she was in Istanbul doing important things. She went out there and made some phenomenal defensive plays and showed great decision-making on attack.”

With the remainder of the squad being relatively familiar entities in the collegiate sphere, eyes were on Central Washington’s Megan Pinson, who was playing in her first major competition since injury.

“That kid’s dominant,” Sparks said. “There isn’t a bad thing you can say about her. She was a little rusty the first day, missed one tackle and knew it. When she was subbed out, she said, ‘I know. It’s just rust; it won’t happen again for the rest of the weekend.’ And it didn’t. She made positive tackles, pushed on defense, and ended day one with an awesome run. She pushed past two Armed Service players for a 40-meter try. I’m excited she’s back.”

With the Elite City 7s’ conclusion, USA Rugby will open up the WCAA 7s head coach position to the general public. Sparks, who took a week away from the University of Michigan men in their pre-season build-up to the Big Ten season, has made it clear that he wants the job, and was certainly scouting for the All American 7s this weekend. Top of the list? The Northeast Academy’s Tess Feury and Frankie Sands, who call Penn State and Norwich their respective homes during the regular season.

“As coaches and administrators, it’s our duty to push the event and make sure that the kids know they have this opportunity,” Sparks concluded. “Chase that 7s dream and take control of your own development.”

Women's Collegiate All American 7s > Elite City 7s
Nicole Benedetti - West Chester
Meya Bizer - Penn State
Ashlee Byrge - Davenport
Megan Foster - UC Davis
Jessica Lewis - Cal
Amy Naber - Life West
Alena Olsen - Michigan
Megan Pinson - Central Washington
Nate Serevi - Central Washington
Richelle Stephens - USA 7s/Fallbrook HS
Nicole Strasko - Life
Nia Williams - Life West