USARFU college 7s title gets the big calls right

The birth pangs of USARFU's college 7s championship have renewed talk of the ideal season for the abbreviated game, the better of the union's international platforms and its leading connection with America's sporting mainstream.

Billed as a starting point for the USA's 2016 Olympic team, the 24-team men's tournament lacks TV arrangements and commercial backing to offset the participants' costs, while the College Station, Texas, locale was announced just yesterday. So much is typical of Boulder's business development efforts, and the drab debut markedly contrasts with the Collegiate Rugby Championship, the rival effort of the USA 7s.

From a technical perspective, however, USARFU's difficult but well-reasoned decision to choose fall as the time to play school 7s remains sound. The real perils of a middling tournament lie in trying to perfect the context rather than improve the execution.

Fall 7s mostly precedes the International Rugby Board's 7s World Series, as does senior 7s in the summertime. Both are rare instances of American alignment with the global calendar.

7s training better precedes 15s, not vice versa, and fall 7s steers rugby around the football juggernaut more adroitly than its cousin. One-off tournaments can be squeezed in, as 2011's nimbly arranged slate of qualifiers demonstrated, making the June CCR, for all its commercial success, now seem the outlier.

15s has never successfully competed with gridiron for fields and trainers to mind contact-sport athletes, save for the military academies and some Ivy League teams, and calls for for fall 15s to precede spring 7s founder on the matters of technical progression and tracking international competition.

The scenario admittedly runs up against leagues which traditionally determine national 15s berths in autumn. Though the invitations have been released, one Eastern qualifying tournament is yet to be played. This partly explains the December 16-17 event dates, which are so late as to conflict with some final exams and even holiday travel.

Then there are meaningful questions about the well-being of players gearing up for multiple peaks in a given year. Most NCAA sports have just one.

The timing also reflects USARFU's stop-start rush to market. Senior officials overruled a committee charged with overseeing the event, which had recommended beginning in 2012, and then effectively delayed vital planning, according to people familiar with the matter. But seven-a-side's rising importance has been apparent for nearly a decade, punctutated by the International Olympic Committee's vote include the abbreviated game in the 2016 Olympics. In this light, Boulder is not too soon but too late: the CRC beat USARFU to the punch.

Though the commercial record is discouraging, it is feasible that scheduling and technical issues can be mitigated. The college 7s tournament may become a proving ground for USARFU's idea that devolving responsibilities to Peter Seccia's university committee will advance the ball further, faster than Boulder has previously managed.

As is often the case, the teams themselves look to be adaptive. 'We played developmental 15s for our new and young players in the fall to prime them for spring 15s competition, and we have been able to peel our best 7s players out of the mix for a few weeks' time frame in the late fall to prepare for the 7s window', one coach noted in an email.

Only 4 (or 5, if Navy qualifies) of the 2011 CRC teams will be in Texas. But next month's field includes more than half of the top 16 from last year's division 1A competition (then called the College Premier Division). With Army, Dartmouth, the Utah schools, and Cal missing, the College Station group thus looks like an emerging generation of contenders. Handicapping will be difficult.

2011 College 7s National Championships
Air Force, Arkansas State, Boston College, Cal Poly-San Luis Obispo, Central Washington*, Colorado*, Florida, Kutztown State*, Life Chiropractic*, Louisiana State, Miami (Ohio)*, North Carolina State*, Oklahoma, San Diego State, St. Mary's*, Tennessee*, Texas, Texas A&M*, Univ. of California-Davis, Univ. of California-Los Angeles, Virginia, Western Washington, Wisconsin*, and the winner of Empire 7s on Nov. 19
* denotes qualifying tournament champion and automatic qualifier

Comments

[pacific nations cup]

It's life university not life Chiropractic

[Hugh Jorgan]

It is easier to snark at Life if you demean them into the category of a "trade school".

Let's ignore for a second that Life grads tend to walk straight into jobs, compared to the hundreds of thousands of recent grads from the "real universities" who are unemployed.

[bone cracker U]

Life College (now university) is a trade school. A successful trade school. It graduates chiropractors who go straight into small business at the local level. This is heart of America stuff. It is too bad that so many chiropractors have such a chip on their shoulder.

Gentlemen, you get two things from us. Main street can use your business and you are a hell of a good rugby team. Now what the hell else do you want from us?

Life, is not a "university" because you say so with that little undergrad nothing program you've started meant to produce more tuition paying chiropractic students. Good internal business move possibly, but no you are not a real university.

Nor are you even a real college with your NAIA basketball team and your rugby team.

You must not claim to be what you are not. You should however be proud of what you are.

Life is a chiropractic trade school, producing mostly successful small business men and women. You have a really good rugby team, comprised of scholarship chiropractic students and some younger scholarship students pursuing a questionable undergraduate "degree".

We are not going to refer to you as doctor, so don't even ask. You will forever be Jim or Bill. You will only be called doctor by those on your payroll and in your profession.

Life isn't Harvard or UVa so quit acting like it is. Your players are not scholars, it was Life Chiro or straight to work. Enjoy your advantage over the non-scholarship teams you compete against and knock that chip off your shoulder before life (the real life) does.

[slow start to good idea]

This USAR 7's championship is needed. USAR should have had this competition up and running two years ago at the latest. Not sure what to make of the college committee wanting to wait until next year, other than if that is true they should be replaced.

The timing needs to be earlier in the fall. The week before Thanksgiving would provide for a season which is plenty long enough for sevens. Teams could play in two to three tournament, then a qualifier, then the nationals. 4-5 tournament can easily be played in part of September, all of Oct and the first couple weeks of Nov.

There is no reason for this competition to be played during finals or the academic break. Did USAR ask anyone or just trust some committee sitting on their thumb?

[back bitches]

Hacks & Quacks. Such a joke.

[bruce mclane]

life is a university. life has a good rugby team.

look at the world today, wars without congressional declarations, fiat money, crony capitalism (used to be described as fascism), fractional reserve banking on fiat currency (to make something bad even worse), rampant worldwide inflation, a senseless drug war,empire building, out of control gov't spending and control,college debt that has spiraled to unpayable, and unfunded gov't liabilies in scores of trillions of dollars.

that is what pseudo educated nitwits from elite universities gave us.

while the SAT's at life may not be stellar, they have an affordable school, they teach a healthy lifestyle, they generally support liberty (unlike power elite schools), their students get a good rugby experience and want to become productive members of society, to me this is good, so get off the high horse.

[Sevens]

Not sure why bashing Life is so important relative to the other issues facing rugby. I'm guessing any open admission college could form a rugby team and compete in USA Rugby sanctioned comps. The criticism of Life is the same as Cal. It is jealousy. The effort would be better spent improving your own programs rather than tearing down others.

[wayyyy off base]

Bruce, I hope one day you find your way into a truly libertarian civilization and learn what the real free market is all about.

[idea]

University of Building Security Professionals

We should have a university for security guards. Big tough bastards that can tackle. Base it in the south where there are lots of football players with no ability to continue. Piece together a group of security man courses which won't get in the way of playing rugby.

Because the potential students and security guards are so desperate for a job, they will pay a reasonable tuition, kind of like bar tendering school. From this "university" income we can offer the rugby players scholarships. We will kick the hell out of the SEC schools and make a name for our university. This should create more students for our university which will make us more money and further build up the rugby team to premier and super competitions.

What do you think, other than the idea has been done?

[LOL]

I waz a student atholite

[sevens]

Can a two year community college compete in the USAR comps?

[Sergeant Hulka]

Life University is accredited by the same regional accreditation board that recognized all SEC and ACC schools, and every other university in the Southeast, UVA included. If you don't like it, don't apply to go to school there.

[College #4]

Life spent a lot of money getting its university accreditation back.

2 year Community Colleges are allowed to play in LAU comps - not sure about nationals though. Lord Fairfax CC is competing in the VRU D3 league this year.

[sevens]

Using community colleges to develop players would be a useful addition to the player pipeline.

[back bitches]

Go watch more Fox News Bruce.

[10th Amendment Solution]

Fox News has a problem with crony capitalism, a senseless drug war, and empire building? They seem to have been great cheerleaders for those things.

[University of Phoenix Rugby Club]

I am going to predict that the next collegiate rugby hybrid to try to keep up with the only real varsity club in the country (Cal) will be the creation of an online university team using a local park for facilities. They can join the religious university with ties to the Pacific Islands model, the import South Africans model and the most amusing of all the newly accredited university model.

[sevens]

And if such a University of Phoenix Rugby produced Eagles and Olympians, do we care?

[wayyyy off base]

Yes you idiot. Who gives a flip about the eagles?

[True Religion sale]

In coaching these leaders I often hear the same thing said again and again: "They are going to have to understand that I am going to be a missional leader now. I'm not going to be in the hospital or at their homes holding their hands like I used to." Half of me wants you cheer, "Hurray!" when I hear that. The other half cringes in fear that the baby may be getting tossed out with the bath water.

[sevens]

So college rugby devlopment is the priority over the Eagles and rugby should make sure all players get a good education (however that is defined)?

[wayyyy off base]

No. Has nothing to do with the education. Has to do with the fact that people/fans will never take trade/community college athletics seriously as a sport entertainment spectating option. Which means little progress in mainstreaming rugby into youth/HS/college which means there will never be support for a legitimate professional domestic league, which means we will never compete for international championships in Fifteens or Sevens.

Put the cart before the horse at rugby's own peril. It is the long game or no game. We build our infrastructure first and then reap the benefits in international quality players or we get nothing at all. There are no short cuts. Besides, the main goal of everyone should be to bring serious rugby playing opportunities to as many Americans as possible (HS/youth/college) because it is the best game on Earth to play and because we want everyone to play it. And that doesnt happen unless the aforementioned steps are taken.

[sevens]

Agree with your points, but rugby also need a much larger player pool than it has now. Many football players go to junior college and move on to the bigger four year schools. Not every top HS player will be able to get into a top 4 year college. Right now the only option for that kis is to play with a senior club. Less oompetitive four year schools and community college could be a useful part of a player pipeline.

[Associates Rugby]

I have no problem with JC rugby, but it would be hard to make even a single program work. Students are (typically and ideally) only there for 2-3 years, so continuity is a huge issue. Also, students tend to be just a bit more transient, unfocused, and dumber than their counterparts at the 4-year schools.* Much more than at 4-year schools, I don't think a JC program is even viable - and I don't mean good, I mean viable as a lousy D3 team that sustains itself year after year - without significant adult leadership.

I'm aware of one program in Northern California that has done quite well, and then the Santa Barbara Rugby Academy has spawned a regular team in SBCC. Are there any others?

*I realize that I'm tarring a lot of very good people with a very broad brush and that I'm being very unfair to many excellent students and people. But when speaking of the aggregate...

[Sergeant Hulka]

Santa Rosa Junior College and Sierra College both compete successfully in NorCal Div. 2.

[Associates Rugby]

You just doubled my awareness of NorCal JC programs. Any idea how these clubs are operated? Are they tied in with a senior club, intimately connected with a 4-year college club, or otherwise have strong outside leadership?

If it can be pulled off, it's not a bad idea. There's a massive JC student population, and it's one way to reach them. The problem, of course, is how it can be pulled off.

[Sergeant Hulka]

They are run just like any other college club. They have volunteer coaches that keep the program running. I'm a bit more familiar with SRJC. They have some loose ties to the Santa Rosa Men's Club, share the same field, etc. There is a good amount of high school rugby in the Santa Rosa area as well, which helps. The main issue would be getting coaches to run the program since the students are there only 2 years on average. In fact, SRJC just beat UC Davis at a pre-season tournament this weekend. Not sure if it was Davis' top team.