(Frankie Deges photo)
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The goal of these national Age-Grade programs is to identify and develop the best up-and-coming players, who can potentially represent the national XVs team and national Sevens team, including potential future Olympians for 2016.
The program will be changing to a schedule that will give the programs the best chance to assemble all of the best players in the country, playing in various competitions and levels, at times that won’t compromise their ongoing development within their current teams or their academic commitments.
“The purpose of the shift is to align with the American calendar, USA Rugby Age-Grade Director, Matt Sherman, points out.
“It is very important for us to build a calendar that coordinates our High Performance needs with the players’ club, high school and collegiate teams’ needs, since they are the daily development vehicles for our athletes.
“We want to partner with them in developing players and then provide those players with an opportunity to develop and challenge themselves at another level at a time that isn’t conflicting with their athletic or academic schedules to maximize availability and performance.”
This means that in 2010 and beyond, both the High School All-Americans and U20s will be focusing their assembly windows over the summer and winter break windows.
This winter break, for instance, both teams will be assembling in Santa Barbara, Calif., where the High School All-Americans will play two matches against the Canadian U17s, while the USA 20s will play two matches against the New Zealand University U21s.
USA U20s national team head coach Ray Lehner is excited about the change saying, “USA Rugby is taking the right direction by aligning age-grade rugby with the American scholastic calendar.
“This move will serve all interested parties, the age-grade programs, the players and their schools, universities and clubs. We can now get busy preparing to develop these athletes as players and as a team with two matches against tough international opposition on home soil.”
High School All American coach Scott Lawrence notes, "By having camp times at the beginning and the end of the high school season, we can define measurable goals for our athletes and work with their coaches to help them meet those goals throughout the regular season, benchmarking them against their peers in the High School National Championships and June regional tournaments."
Looking forward, the USA U20s will not participate in the IRB Junior World Rugby Trophy in 2010, which is held in spring and conflicts with the domestic season, as well as the USA academic calendar.
The IRB recently restructured the event, resulting in a smaller competition and only one spot for both Canada and the USA.
The USA has agreed not to participate in exchange for financial support for the U20s to assemble and tour over the summer. Furthermore, the IRB has agreed to allow USA Rugby to host the event in 2011 and to move the playing window to a more agreeable June/July time frame.
The collegiate All-Americans will also continue to pursue an assembly in the summer window following the domestic collegiate season, the national collegiate playoffs, and collegiate All-Star tournament, which all serve as pathways onto the team.
The collegiate All-Americans are exploring the creation and hosting of a University Cup competition during this time period that would include the All-Americans, Canada Universities and select other teams which are currently interested.
