USA RUGBY – The USA Women’s Sevens program is putting out a call to elite athletes from various sports to try out rugby.
Headed by Talent ID Coordinator and US Women’s Rugby Foundation Vice President Kerri Heffernan, athletes will have an opportunity to showcase their skills at a Talent Transfer camp, to be held Nov. 12-14 at the Chula Vista Elite Athlete Training Center.
“The crossover ID program is not premised on the belief that there isn’t a great deal of talent in the women’s rugby community,” Heffernan said. “We know there is a lot of talent but we also recognize that many of the top US players crossed over to rugby from other sports (ice hockey, field hockey, soccer, and track and field). So my role is to build relationships with coaches and administrators in a range of sports and try to find athletes who might thrive in high performance rugby. It’s also a nice way to promote rugby – one of the challenges I am facing in the first few months of the program is dispelling the misconceptions other sports have about rugby. I see this not only as an opportunity to identify talent but also an opportunity to promote the quality of US women’s rugby and the success of the national teams.”
Heffernan is working alongside USA Women’s Sevens Head Coach Emilie Bydwell to organize the talent transfer camp as they search for high performance athletes from diverse sports who may be interested in crossing over to rugby. As an elite HP program training one of the top teams in the world, the USA Women’s Sevens program and pathway is looking for participants with transferable elite level skills. The most important attribute being speed, with athletes being explosive and fast. Prospects need to be comfortable in contact and durable enough to take on some of the best athletes in the world.
Heffernan also said the prospective athletes should possess the ability to read a field, understand passing lanes, and the ability to strike alongside the mental skills of resilience, courage under pressure, and a fierce competitive desire.
As Bydwell and Heffernan continue to spread the word about the program, they encourage anyone interested to contact Kerri Heffernan at kheffernan@uswrf.org.