USA Rugby & Serevi at KSU looking for future Olympians

As part of the USA Rugby Academy, Serevi Rugby® (serevirugby.com) will hold a High Performance Training Camp at Kennesaw State University on February 14-16.  Running alongside the “Atlanta 7s” – the U.S. leg of the International Rugby Board Women’s World Series – the three-day camp will identify the top young men and women rugby players in the Southeast region and provide them with a specific development pathway to the U.S. National Teams. National Team coaches Ric Suggitt (USA Women’s 7s Head Coach) and Richie Walker (USA 7s Men’s and Women’s Technical Coach) will be in Atlanta to help identify players with the potential to be invited to USA Rugby Academy Elite Residence Camps during summer 2014 run by Serevi.  

“Young men and women attending the Atlanta camp will receive a unique national team experience being able to work with Serevi and U.S. national team coaches no matter if they aspire to be a Eagle or play rugby in college or for their local club,” said Ric Suggitt, Head Coach of the U.S. Women’s National 7s Team. “Running our camp the same weekend the World Series stop provides a unique opportunity for young players to build their skills and watch international rugby all in one place.”

All Serevi camp attendees will receive a ticket to watch the international rugby tournament happening in the adjacent Fifth/Third Bank Stadium at Kennesaw State University.

Rugby is now the fastest growing team sport in America. A growing number of major universities now offer rugby scholarships to boys and girls, and rugby will re-join the Olympics at the 2016 Rio games, opening the opportunity for many new athletes to play for their country.

“We’ll be looking for athletes with an appropriate mix of skill, athleticism and potential to invite to train in an immersive, high-performance environment during our summer residence camps,” said Suggitt. “As we build towards the 2016 Olympics, these camps are the foundation of finding and developing the next generation of Eagles.”

The USA Rugby High Performance Training Camps series emphasizes skill development, unit skills, situational awareness and decision-making for seasoned players, all while providing opportunities for high-potential crossover athletes new to rugby. Coaching sessions will be led by U.S. coaches Suggitt and Walker, along with Serevi coaches Emilie Bydwell (Current USA Eagle) and Phil Theil (Former USA Eagle & Life University player).

After Atlanta, the High Performance Training Camp series moves onto Boston, San Diego, College Park, MD, New Orleans, and Minneapolis. The series camps are part of the recently announced multi-year partnership between Serevi Rugby and USA Rugby designed to identify top players and provide a specific development pathway to the men’s and women’s U.S. National Teams. The partnership also creates a series of youth development programs which introduce and build a core set of skills applicable to both XVs and 7s rugby and across the youth, high school and collegiate player spectrum, as well as to coaches at all levels.

Full details about the upcoming series of Training Camps, including registration, is available at www.serevirugby.com.