GRR: Columns
There have been a ton of articles about the quality of play at the Jr Olympics and a ton of fingers being pointed and a ton of reasons offered but I would submit the biggest reason for our failure is the program as a whole, both for 7s and for 15s. What is the root cause, lack of meaningful competition for the HS age and a complete lack of HS age HPD programs.
Well we learned something from Nanjing, and the main lesson is, you can’t half-way the Olympics.
Now, I’m not saying that the coaches phoned it in or the players didn’t care, or anything like that. What I am saying is, it’s not that easy to just get a bunch of young players together, most of whom can count the number of 7s tournaments they’ve played on one hand, and win a medal.
Tackling in football is changing in large part as a response to the long-overdue increase in concern about concussions, and as those changes filter through the game, American football’s pa