HS title revamp sets teenage strategy

High school XVs are to be based on players from a single school, a strategic shift commencing with a new division at the 2008 schoolboy championship.

Also yesterday, USA Rugby said it is rescheduling next year's playoffs to avoid the Memorial Day holiday, and adding a girls' championship.

Outlining a vision of 'the development of rugby as a mainstream high school sport' through a 'long-term transition,' the union said its secondary school playoffs will henceforth consist of two divisions: one for teams comprising players from a single institution, and one for teams of players who are under the age of 19.

'The strategic goal for USA Rugby is to have rugby formally recognized and supported by high schools,' Peter Steinberg, the union's youth manager, said in a prepared statement. 'The new championship structure will support this goal by encouraging the formation of single high school teams, while allowing multi-school club teams to continue to compete.'

The announcement settles a running argument among youth officials, in which one side contended it's most important to foster any and all age-grade competition, and the other asserted the primacy of aligning with high school athletic departments. The varsity model has won out in that so-called single-school teams are to be the bedrock of teenage rugby.

But the union's intended resolution is neither zero-sum nor immediate. USA Rugby took pains to emphasize it would continue to encourage U19 sides, in an apparent effort to avoid undermining senior clubs such as the Dallas Harlequins, Kansas City Blues, Santa Monica, Golden Gate, and others which have built up notable youth programs, and did not say did not say when and how the high school championship's transition would be complete.

If successful, rugby could go down the path of baseball, basketball, or soccer, which have age-grade tracks that parallel high school competitions. Effectively the age-grade sides are miniature all-star teams.

The union also did not reveal how it would allocate playoff berths for the 2008 championship, other than to say each division will comprise eight teams. There are seven territories, and in cases of eight-team events, generally the final berth is given to the territory that produced the year-ago champion. Highland of Salt Lake City captured the 2007 title, defeating fellow Pacific Coast side Jesuit of Sacramento; but two heavyweights may well be in different divisions this season.

The 2008 playoffs had previously attracted well-founded criticism for being scheduled during a difficult and expensive time to travel. As with other domestic championships, many territorial representatives don't qualify until just a few weeks before the event, meaning tickets already are pricey. Students are least able to afford the incremental costs.

Accordingly, the event was pushed back one week, to June 6-8 in Pittsburgh.

Lobbying for sanctioning the girls event has building over a longer time. An unofficial national tournament began in 2000.

Separately, Takudzwa Ngwenya’s World Cup try against South Africa won the wing honors as the International Rugby Board's try of the year. The length-of-the-field score, launched by 7s teammate Todd Clever's intercept on the Eagle tryline, was heavily touted by Setanta during the past weekend's finals.

Intended for mobile devices, the clip is here.

Related:
        State-based youth model poses questions for traditional unions
        2007 HS championship: Highland 24 Jesuit 8

Comments

[Hook]

I think this is probably the right move, but I don't like that the implementation is being done so quickly. Here it is almost November and they are just anouncing this. My feeling is that large changes like this should be anounced at least a full year ahead of time. USA Rugby gave short notice when they originaly changed the competition from U-19 to highschool based. There was less than a year of lead time and no one was grandfathered in. Unprofessional in my opinon. This will affect a lot of players and they should have had well over a year to plan for it.

[DJLitten]

I am shocked this came about without discussion from the territorial and state unions before implementation. Especially after USA Rugby wanted states to incorporate Youth Rugby Associations to handle all U-19 teams.