Today marked Day
Three of the Women’s High Performance 7s Camp hosted by former USA Women’s 7s
Coach Julie McCoy at the American Pro Rugby Training Center in Little Rock,
Arkansas. The camp partnered Atlantis, Stars Rugby 7s and Tiger Rugby to bring
in 33 women’s players identified by their coaches and by camp staff.
Players convened in Little Rock on Wednesday for a team
dinner and camp introductions to prepare for an early morning on Thursday. The
first day opened with fitness testing where Josie Ziluca of the San Diego
Surfers, Stephanie Parma of W1823 and Katy Stewart of the DC Furies took top
honors. Focus then transitioned to offensive principles of play led by Coach
Jules. A huge emphasis of the offensive cycle was on possession, stressing
defenses, and identifying weaknesses – factors focused on during the drill
portion of the day. Players additionally
worked on the differences between transfer and attack opportunities to create
and attack space. The afternoon session emphasized core strength in passing
with breaking down the anatomy of a pass and repeated drilling. The day
concluded with revisiting a “rugby basketball” game from earlier in the day. The evening meeting recapped the
camp so far with feedback from players and staff alike.
Day two focused entirely on defense and contact – with
defensive patterns and alignments, the different “shapes” on the pitch, about
how to dis-possess the other team and regain possession to transition to the
offensive cycle. Drills and skills broke down the footwork in contact (to step
and pop and leg drive), how to use the core to initiate and finish the
tackle. A wrestling session helped
players with body control, pinning opponents, using low body leverage, and
generating and leveraging lower body power. Cynthia Wright and Katy Stewart of
the DC Furies, Nene Persinger of Tulsa, and Abby Gustaitis of NOVA each shined
in the head-to-head matchups.
Double-touch rugby put the drills to use in a practical, game situation
setting.
A free evening allowed the players to rest prior to this
morning’s tournament action. The staff once again reviewed player performance
and conducted their player draft for Saturday’s games. Saturday morning saw the
players take the pitch after an hour with their coaches to review set pieces,
general game play, and lineups/subsitutions. Billy Nicholas of Old Blue Women’s
led the Blackballerz side, assisted by Liz Entwhistle of Stars Rugby 7s, against
Karl Barth’s (APEX Academy) White Lightning (aka Moonshinez). The Lightning
took game one 10-0 with Rhiannon Clark of the DC Furies standing out as a game
changer with her breakaway speed to open the try scoring. After a break for the
heat (temperatures have been in the upper 90s for the duration of camp) the
Lightning took on the Razorbacks led by Dana Creager (and draft advisor USA
Rugby Women’s 7s Head Coach Ric Suggit). The Razorbacks won that match 26-10
behind tries from Nene Persinger, Jen Harig of Davenport University, and
kicking from Jessica Turner of the Berkeley All Blues. Game three matched the
Razorbacks against the Blackballerz with the Blackballerz finding their scoring
form early and often; five different players from the Ballerz side dotted down
tries and Maggie Olney of the DC Furies converted three of the five kicks. With
each team finishing 1-1 the Blackballerz won the tournament pool play based on
point differential.
A finals matchup pitted the Ballerz against the Lightning in
a rematch of game one The Lightning took an early lead and went into halftime
with a 3 try to 1 lead off of strong play from Ashley Perry of the Youngbloodz.
The second half saw the Ballerz nearly battle back with tries from Josie Ziluca
and Old Blue’s Hannah Gauthreaux, but ultimately the game was won by White
Lightning by a score of 24-21.
The afternoon sessions started with film review of the pool
play matches and later included a strength and conditioning talk hosted in the
American Pro Rugby Training Center’s on campus gym from Sean Ross of Ross
Strength and Speed. The classroom time
continued with a Q & A from international referee Leah Berard and was concluded
with additional film review of the final match followed by team and individual
goal-setting. Tonight’s team activities include a barbeque hosted by the Little
Rock Rugby Club while the coaches meet to conduct another round of player
evaluations and re-draft for tomorrow’s tournament play.
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