If you have any questions, contact me at nrfcken@cox.net

Ken Simmons

Hotel Info:

The two hotels will be the Holiday Inn Express in Tavares and the Best Western Tavares. The Best Western is pet friendly up to 50 lbs, so anybody who shows up with a pet will have to get a room at the BW because there will be zero tolerance for pets on the field this year.

Tell the front desk you are with the Central Florida Sports Commission Rugby block when making reservations.

BOULDER, Colo. – The Collegiate All-Americans, presented by Royall Lyme, returned last Sunday from their centennial tour of the UK. 

“The goal is to create an international level test environment for these athletes,” said former Eagle and All-Americans head coach, Alex Magleby.  “We set out to play against some of the best rugby athletes at this age-level and to give our players confidence in their future test careers for those that continue to push for higher honors.”

On top of top level competition, various on field and off-field events added to the overall experience: 

While on tour, the All-Americans received some extraordinary instruction from London Wasps personnel like kicking coach Dave Walder, scrum coach and 2003 World Cup-winning prop Trevor Woodman, and defensive coach Rob Hoadley.  Perhaps most notable was former England and British and Irish Lions coach Dick Best.  Best is currently an agent and was joined by another of his agents who wanted to survey the crop of All-Americans and discuss future opportunities abroad to America’s best up and coming players.

Elite academic institutions such as Oxford, Cambridge, and Durham passed on information to players interested in playing overseas while pursuing postgraduate courses of study. 

In addition to the coaching expertise, the team had visits from Eagles Robbie Shaw, Tim Usasz, and Chris Wyles who popped in for a visit.  Former All-Americans and current Eagles Mike Petri, Mike McDonald, and Hayden Smith also showed their support in person.  The All-Americans watched Wyles and Smith play for Saracens, who both played exceptionally well against Esher in a preseason match.

The All-Americans were visited by a “Total Rugby” crew, who recorded a segment for their show featuring the All-Americans.  To listen to the segment, visit http://www.irb.com/totalrugby/ or http://irb.edgeboss.net/wmedia/irb/radio/total_rugby_radio.wax.

While these enriching off-the-field experiences are wonderful, the pressure of facing sides like Richmond, Saracens, and Leicester was eye-opening for many players.  Having never faced competition as fierce as that of these professional sides, each match proved to have a steep learning curve.  However painful the losses were, exposing players to that level of play is crucial, according to Magleby, in order to help develop a growth mindset and, eventually, a habit of victory.

“We need to give these athletes more of these pressure-filled experiences, and we also need to continue to develop a winning confidence.”  According to Magleby, the tour provided athletes with that test-level environment, but the winning habit aspect is a work-in-progress and a habit that the USA needs to “collectively continue” to develop. “That will come through better preparation, consistent and deliberate practice throughout the year, and more opportunities like these,” the coach noted.

USA Rugby’s age-grade director and former Eagle, Matt Sherman, had a similar view as far as the tour’s outcomes were concerned.  “While the tour showed that the players that they are capable of playing with some of the best young players abroad in spurts, it also exposed them to a higher level of play than most had experienced, and gave them direction on where they need to focus on improving going forward.  All players, to a man, seemed thirsty for this experience and challenge, and we have no doubt that they will use it going forward as they return to their respective teams and look to continue to improve.”

Chris Parker, who scored a rumbling forwards try against Leicester Academy, was honored for his overall performance and behavior throughout the tour by receiving the Doug Edwards Best and Fairest Tourist Award.  The award, established in 2001 by then General Manager Jack Clark, is given annually to an All-American player who shows outstanding ability on the pitch, and a high level of character off the field, during the course of the tour. The honor is named in memory of long-serving Midwest rugby man Doug Edwards, who was an integral part of the All-Americans management team during the late 1980’s.

Parker, showing his character, distributed the individual honor to his entire team. “Receiving the Doug Edwards award in front of my teammates is something I won’t forget.  To be honest, I don’t believe in single awards, because I believe every man on this tour played his heart out.  But respect from teammates is something every player strives for, so it was definitely very humbling.”

Magleby recognized Parker’s commitment to improvement from last year to this year.  “Chris was an All-American last year, yet continued to improve from there through lots of hard-work. He made a big impact on the field on this year’s tour as a lock and a blind-side flanker, demonstrating a high work-rate, and a team-first attitude.” 

Parker realizes he has progressed as a player since last year, but also realizes that there is more work to be done.  “My goal is to one day play rugby at the professional level and this tour was pivotal in outlining where my weaknesses are and where my strengths are at the same time.  The tour made me realize that I am another rung up the ladder in reaching my goal.”

All-American Fundraiser Raffle Winners Announced:

Following the team’s final match at Welford Road, the team held a random drawing on the bus ride home from Leicester to London.  Remarkable prizes were won by five of the fundraisers donors drawn randomly.  Marvin Silverman won a signed All-Americans jersey; Rudolf Mel won a ball Autographed by the 2010 Churchill Cup Eagles, and Enrico Sanguinetti won a year’s supply of Royall Lyme.  Gary Caswell won tickets to Dubai for the IRB Sevens World Series, and Dan O’Leary won a ticket to the 2011 Rugby World Cup in New Zealand.  The All-Americans would like to congratulate the winners and to thank all of those who donated to support the tour. 

Head to Head Rugby Competition:

The All-Americans tour was made possible by private donations, but also by a generous sponsorship from Royall Lyme.  The All-Americans and Royall Lyme seek to further the sport of rugby in the United States.  Royall Lyme, in association with Oktane Media, have created a “Head to Head” competition between some of the elite collegiate players, many of whom are All-Americans.  The link to the competition is http://rugbyh2h.com/ .  Go online to vote for your favorite collegiate player!

The Union needs to get its mind around my successor before the end of the year. The process is for a nominee(s) to be proposed and seconded at or preferably ahead of the meeting and then a vote by member clubs in good standing.

I will happily help the new incumbent through the transition.

Time to give back to the game that has given you more than you can ever give back. The position is supported by excellent VP’s – it just needs a leader of the orchestra.

Please feed nominations through myself or Brian Richardson Secretary of the FRU and call me if you need any questions answered about the role.

By Alex Goff (The South 7s All-Stars youngsters learned a lot this past weekend. Ed Hagerty photo)

So what’s a winner?

Certainly the Pacific Coast 7s All-Star team was a winner, taking all six of their games. Certainly the Southern California team were losers simply because they weren’t there – finances preventing the players from being able to show what they could do.

But what about the teams that finished in the middle? Mid-Atlantic, 4-2 and being defeated only by Pacific Coast (twice), can count their tournament successful. Northeast, which finished up 3-3 might be disappointed, but actually performed better than we expected them to.

And then there’s the South, who ended up 1-5 and last. Hardly winners right? Right?

Well it depends how you measure it.

“We had an average age of about 22,” said head coach Julie McCoy, who was the USA women’s 7s head coach from 2006 to 2009. “Take Ben Jones out of it and the average age is about 20.”

In the five games the South lost, they were within a try in three of them, lost by nine in another, and in their biggest loss, 21-5 to eventual champs Pacific Coast, the game was 7-5 with about four minutes to go.

Everyone coming out of the tournament had to agree, 1-5 and last place seemed harsh for a team that was in every game. And McCoy did it with kids – the only way, it turned out, she was going to do it.

“As a territorial coach I wanted to be the type of coach I wanted when I coached the USA team,” explained the Arkansas-based surgeon. “I wanted to bring a young team of players who had potential and ability and develop them so they could be part of the national team’s future. Winning is one goal, but the main goal was to develop players.”

In fact, it was the overriding goal. McCoy stated outright that is what she wanted to do as coach of the South men’s 7s team, and the South concurred. It was the South that had previously cut the 7s all-star budget to $1,000, but upped it once the idea of developing young players like Adam Ducoing and Joey Luttrell, Sam Anderson and Benji Goff was the plan.

“If the goal had not been to develop young players, the team wouldn’t be here, and I wouldn’t be the coach,” McCoy said.

They did have former England international Ben Jones is as experience and an assistant coach, and he was invaluable. McCoy said that is the best use of a foreign or very experienced player.

“Those types of players need to be a mentor,” McCoy said. “But if I am filling my team with 28-30-year-olds, then I’m not doing my job.”

McCoy said the young players embraced her approach and were eager to learn, and while the wins didn’t come, the performances were there, and the experience will be invaluable.

“We got a bunch of young kids out there playing high-level stuff and that was great,” she said.

Overall, the South scored 75 points (average of 12.5) and allowed 104 (average of 16.3). Not exactly a case of being outclassed. And maybe those young players got more out of it than the scoreline.

“It is tough to see them lose,” said McCoy. “I love these guys and to see them lose is like watching a son or daughter lose. But we got a bunch of terrific guys, and two terrific coaches in Ben Jones and Greg Schor, and I am having a blast.”

Hickory Point Park

Tavares, Fl

The schedule has been finalized for All Florida 2010. 

 The Men’s Florida Cup format will be a 2 day tournament.  Saturday’s qualifying games will decide which competition you are in on Sunday.  Top team in each bracket plays for the Cup, 2nd place plays for the plate. And 3^rd place plays for the Shield.  Each team will play 2 games on Saturday and at least 1 on Sunday.  All Men’s Florida Cup games will be 25 minute halves except for the finals.  They will have 40 minute halves unless both teams agree to shorter games.

 Division 1 Brackets

 Division 2 Brackets

Let me know ASAP if I included a team that cannot commit or if I missed any teams. ( nrfcken@cox.net )

 Colleges, please note there is a short collegiate meeting scheduled at 12:30.  I would like to get some input from all of you on what the FRU can do better for the college program.  Please send me any proposed agenda items.  An agenda will be sent our prior to the meeting.

 Women’s games will be announced as soon as they are finalized.

 If you have any questions, please contact me.

Thanks

Ken Simmons

239-410-3032

Schedule

Saturday Oct 16

 Sunday October 17

Two top teams will go forward to the South.

FINALD2SCHEDULE (.xls)

4-Sep Boca @ Miami Friendly Mike Kennedy
Boca B @ Miami B Friendly Ross Devonport Martin Gardiner
Krewe @ USF Friendly Tom Galante

For Immediate Release August 17, 2010

USA Rugby U20 Women Crush Carribean Senior Side

Two individual records broken in the 85-0 USA victory in the Bahamas.

  NASSAU, Bahamas – The U20 Women’s National Team won their opening game in the 2010 North American Caribbean Rugby Association Championships as they defeated a spirited Cayman Islands Senior Women’s side by a score of 85-0.    Kick off was pushed back by thirty minutes due to heavy rain and lightening, but the U20s were clearly unfazed by the delay.  From the opening kick off they strung together a flowing multi-phase attack that saw ten different players touch the ball before a knock on in the Cayman red zone brought the play to a halt. Two plays later, Bui Baravilala went on the first of many hard-charging runs of the day and went in under the posts for the first try. Chelsea Garber kicked the conversion and the USA was up seven points. The U20s struck again right from the kick off as several of the American forwards were linking well on attack and keeping the ball moving before lock Alycia Washington offloaded to Kiki McKnight who beat a couple of defenders to touch down for the second try.

The Cayman team plays predominately sevens rugby and they had a difficult time adjusting to the hard-running American forwards. With a strong pack moving the ball forward, the U20 WNT backs had plenty of space to launch their attack.  As a result, the U20s scampered over the try line six more times, going into halftime with a healthy lead.

The coaches of the American side used all the reserves in the second half as they took the opportunity to experiment with some different combinations. The Junior Eagles scored another five tries in the second half along with five conversions from Chelsea Garber and Bui Baravilala took the final score to 85-0.

Head Coach Bryn Chivers was pleased with the result but was cautiously optimistic about the team’s upcoming games. “The team played well tonight but we saw the Canadians look equally impressive against the Caribbean Select Side. It’s easy for a young team to let down after a big win and the Caribbean women have the size and speed to cause us some problems if the players don’t stay focused”.   Chiver’s was pleased with the performance of several players such as Chelsea Garber from Brown University and Bui Barivilala from Hawaii. “All the vets played well and several of the rookies stood out. Bui was a force all game and scored a couple of nice tries.  But it was Chelsea Garber who was the revelation. With Garher at flyhalf, we wanted to test the move to fullback, which was a big experiment for us. She turned in a great all around performance.”

While Garber’s total of twenty-five points (3 tries, 5 conversions) in the game made her the top point-scorer for a single U20 game and in total points for the U20 WNT program, it was another milestone that was Coach Chiver’s highlight of the game. “We were all excited for Peach (Haley Anderson) as her try tonight made her the youngest American woman to ever score a try in an international game.”

The U20 Women will play their next game against the Caribbean Select Side who lost their opening game to the Canada U20’s.   For updates from Coach Chivers, visit the team blog: http://womeneaglesu20s.blogspot.com/

Tries: Chelsea Garber (3), Bui Baravilala (2), Katie Johnson (2), Kiki McNight (2), Ann Marie Bowlus, Candace Barley, Haley Anderson, Wendy Sherman, Katie Hathaway.

1 Kelly Sager Penn State (Replaced by Sherman)
2 Rachel Ryan U of Wyoming (Replaced by Hathaway)
3 Andee Samborski Livingstone, MI
4 Alycia Washington U Conn
5 Brittany Rose Unattached (Replaced by Humphreys)
6 McKenzie Lewis Mesa State
7 Katie Johnson Hopkins, MN (Replaced by Gessner)
8 Candace Barley Lee Univeristy (Replaced by Svatos)
9 Haley Anderson Summit, CO
10 Hannah Lockwood Oregon State
11 Holly Zoeller U of North Carolina (Replaced by O’Brien)
12 Bui Baravilala Aliamanu, Hawaii
13 Kiki McKnight U of Central Florida
14 Anne Marie Bowlus U of California – Santa Cruz
15 Chelsea Garber Brown

16 Mileka Grager (injured) Washington State
17 Wendy Sherman Colorado State
18 Katie Hathaway Norwich
19 Katie Humphreys Kent, WA
20 Amee Svatos Canby, OR
21 Brittany O’Brien U of Rhode Island
22 Jozy Gessner Colorado State.     Inspiring America to fall in love with Rugby
Jarrod Beckstrom | Interim Director of Communications & Public Relations | USA Rugby
2500 Arapahoe Avenue, Suite 200 | Boulder CO 80302
W: 303.539.0300 x124 | C: 303.501.9692 | Fax: 303.539.0311 Follow the Women’s National Rugby Team as they prepare for the Women’s Rugby World Cup in London!

Pool Play
Friday, Aug. 20 – USA vs. Kazakhstan
Tuesday, Aug. 24 – USA vs. Ireland
Saturday, Aug. 28 – USA vs. England

USA Women Dominate Kazakhstan in Opener

The first Pool B match of the Women’s Rugby World Cup concluded with the USA putting a definitive stamp on the competition.