HS Girls is Falcon 7s Focus

The ARPTC team that featured at the 2021 Tropical 7s (ARPTC Instagram @arptc)

High school rugby is active through most of the country, but the tournament circuit is a bit slower to regroup due to Covid-19 restrictions on large groups at a single location. The American Rugby Pro Training Center (ARPTC), however, is hosting the Falcon 7s on June 26-27 in Little Rock, Ark., and will field high school elite, high school club and adult competitions for girls and women’s teams.

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ARPTC is the only USA Rugby National Development Program (NDP) that focuses solely on girls and women, which might not come as a surprise consider founder Jules McCoy is a former USA Women’s 7s head coach. New this year, ARPTC is in the middle of its comprehensive, year-round curriculum for high school athletes and will move into the residency phase starting in June.

“We’re aggressive about our programming,” McCoy said. “We provide lots of opportunities at different levels of play, because we want to make sure all our athletes feel like they belong somewhere. With the Falcon 7s, we wanted to do something that brings kids back together, with a renewed focus on both fun and enjoyment, and improvement.”

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The Falcon 7s occurs at the end of the first high school residency block, and the tournament will serve as a culminating event for the campers (the second block funnels into the NAI 7s in Salt Lake City). ARPTC will compete in the High School Elite division alongside other NDPs like the Northeast Academy and Panthers Academy, as well as state all-star teams like the Iowa Hawkettes. The High School Club division is for stand-alone teams and has drawn notables like The Woodlands from Houston and Fallbrook from SoCal.

“And since we’ll already have adult residents here, we’ll have an Over-18 level for NDPs, basically a Premier Division,” McCoy said. “We already have two NDPs committed, and Life West is waiting to see if the college will let them out of state. We Invited the USA academy team – the USA Falcons – and they’re looking to try and do it, which would be great for everyone. [USA Rugby Women’s High Performance Manager Emilie Bydwell] is going to try and make it work but it’s not confirmed. It’s the same weekend as the LA international event but I don’t think [the Falcons will] have other teams there to play.”

There’s also a novel promotion / relegation element to the high school divisions. On Saturday, the two competitions will evolve like a standard 7s tournament and name champions, who will receive trophies. Then for Sunday, the top HS Club team will join the HS Elite field, and test themselves against a whole new competition. The bottom finisher from HS Elite will join the HS Club for Sunday.

“The MVPs for the high school and adult women will get a full-ride scholarship to ARPTC, if they want,” McCoy added. “You can get better than you already think you are.”

The Falcon 7s also has a pathway for individuals to sign up for the tournament, too. If a player’s home team is unable to travel, then that person can register as an individual and compete in the event. For $250, ARPTC will put individuals in a hotel, supply kit, place them on a team with a coach, and everyone will practice together before game day. So it’s not just a motley team. ARPTC knows everyone’s logistics in advance and is planning for their attendance.

“We’re the ‘red-headed stepchild’ to begin with,” McCoy said of the NDP and the residents who find their way to Arkansas. “We get kids without the most organized rugby around them. Players from Life West don’t call me and come to ARPTC, because they feel like they’re getting what they need at home. We don’t recruit. We take whoever signs up. We get the Nicole Heavirlands from Montana of the world. So we’re already getting those kids who are one-offs anyway.”

There will be a live-stream for the Falcon 7s, and it will feature teams and players who are looking for reliably good competition, and with the girls and women’s game as its main focus. To boot, it’s not cost prohibitive to travel to Arkansas, and June is a good time humidity wise to be in Little Rock.

“Maybe you can’t be here full-time [as a resident] but you can be part of the movement and growth of girls and women’s rugby,” McCoy said. “We want women to lead women; that’s our motto. And Falcon 7s is an example of women leading women.”

For more information, visit the Falcon 7s homepage.