USA Women 7s coach Ric Suggitt has named his squads for this weekend’s Houston 7s as well as the following weekend’s Las Vegas Invitational.

The Houston 7s, due to kick off this Friday, marks the second leg of the inaugural IRB Women’s Sevens World Series. It’s a hallmark event for the USA, and the host nation plans to make their best impression, staffing the 12-player roster with full-time athletes. It’s the first time since the USA professionalized 7s that the entire roster was composed of athletes training at the OTC full-time.

Half of the players in Houston represent the “original eight”: Katie Dowty, Kelly Griffin, Vanesha McGee, Deven Owsiany, Jill Potter and Kimber Rozier. Nathalie Marchino and Christy Ringgenberg, who were signed in the fall, are also making the trip to Texas. And from the most recently signed athletes, Emilie Bydwell (full-time athlete, not contracted), Ryan Carlyle, Lauren Doyle and Vix Folayan round out the roster.

Those 12 athletes will look to improve upon the USA's current 9th place ranking, earned after winning the Bowl in Dubai 7s, the first leg of the series. The Eagles will have their work cut out for them, taking on Canada, South Africa and Argentina during pool play.

The players will have little time to recover, as the following weekend (February 8-10) the USA will enter two sides into the Las Vegas Invitational’s Women’s Elite division. There they will be joined by two of Canada’s teams, Argentina, Trinidad & Tobago, Japan, and a handful of domestic and international all-star teams.

The residents are split between the USA Stars, coached by Jo Kos, and the USA Stripes, coached by Julie McCoy. The Stars have Griffin, Owsiany, Ringgenberg, Doyle and the newly contracted Sadie Anderson and Jane Paar. They’ll be anchored by the experience of Beth Black, Lauren Hoeck, and Meya Bizer, who played 15s and 7s for the USA last year. Getting their first taste of international 7s are Hannah Lopez, also a full-time athlete, Katie O’Malley and Sherri Villa.

Former USA 7s coach Julie McCoy gets the eight remaining OTC campers for The Stripes: Bydwell, Carlyle, Folayan, Dowty, Marchino, McGee, Potter and Rozier. CJ Hildreth and Irene Gardner boost the pool of experience, while Amanda Street and Natalie Kosko play in their first games with the 7s outfit.

Rosters are still subject to change, but below are the most recent lineups:

Houston 7s Roster (Feb. 1-2)

1. Kelly Griffin

2. Deven Owsiany

3. Christy Ringgenberg

4. Lauren Doyle

5. Jillion Potter

6. Ryan Carlyle

7. Vix Folayan

8. Katie Dowty

9. Kimber Rozier

10. Nathalie Marchino

11. Vanesha McGee

12. Emilie Bydwell

LVI – Women’s Elite 7s (Feb. 8-10)

USA Stars

Coach: Jo Kos

1. Kelly Griffin

2. Deven Owsiany

3. Jane Paar

4. Sadie Anderson

5. Beth Black

6. Christie Ringgenberg

7. Lauren Doyle

8. Hannah Lopez

9. Katie O'Malley

10. Meya Bizer

11. Sherri Villa

12. Lauren Hoeck

USA Stripes

Coach: Julie McCoy

1. Jillion Potter

2. Ryan Carlyle

3. Vix Folayan

4. Katie Dowty

5. Kimber Rozier

6. Nathalie Marchino

7. Vanesha McGee

8. Emilie Bydwell

9. Irene Gardner

10. Natalier Kosko

11. Amanda Street

12. CJ Hildreth

The USA 7s tournament in Las Vegas is now only two weeks away, and with it comes an important time for the USA men’s national 7s team.

The South DI league gets started again in nine days when the Atlanta Renegades visit New Orleans.

In a previous article, Eamonn stressed the point that the warm up is the least attended to part of the training session. He surmised that many coaches allow the players to complete a warm up of their own which is unimaginative or does not prepare the athlete for the session they are about to complete, therefore contributing to the coaches inability to meet whatever the outcome of that session is. Following much discussion on the subject here at Rugbymag.com, we have asked Eamonn to follow up his article and give a little more guidance as to what basic ideas a coach could have regarding their planning of the warm up

Shalom Suniula has been a regular with the USA National 7s team since late 2008, appearing in the 2009 7s World Cup, and playing in more than 30 IRB World Series tournaments, captaining the team on numerous occasions during that time.

Editor's note: This is Shalom Suniula's latest column in his series of RUGBYMag.com The USA 7s team's most-capped player will be updating readers on life in the 7s team, the players, the coaching, and notes from the IRB World Series. This column is now available to RUGBYMag.com Premier Subscribers. - AG

Pila Taufa, the former U19 flyer, is the only extended camp member to be retained at the Olympic Training Center longer than previously scheduled. Gabe Adler and Madison Hughes also remain in Chula Vista, but are scheduled to leave at the end of January.

Taufa, 23 years old, will stick around until at least through the USA Sevens. He will be playing in Las Vegas next month, whether it’s with the Eagles in the IRB 7s World Series or in the LVI with the USA Falcons or another developmental team. His stay at the OTC could be extended further after Vegas.

A teammate of contracted Eagle Tai Enosa on the USA U19s, Taufa has been on the radar of Team USA coaches for years. He played a little with Eagles assistant Andy Katoa in Aspen several years ago, played League in Australia, and he’s most recently been playing with the Tama Laie Lions in Hawaii while working and supporting his parents.

Taufa is fast, really fast. He actually timed faster 10-meter and 40-meter sprints than Carlin Isles last week. (Isles casually clocked a 4.18 40-yard dash for fun between training sessions Monday). Taufa is also a little bigger than Maka Unufe, and could easily be confused for Jack Halalilo. But, he has little high level experience and improvements to make.

The book on Taufa in the past has been that he’s not committed to rugby, which is understandable considering he is financially supporting his parents. But this time, Taufa appears to be all in.

Blaine Scully and Andrew Durutalo are back training with the 7s Eagles, ahead of schedule, following bad injuries. They’re participating in every drill and available for selection for the Wellington and Las Vegas stretch of the IRB 7s World Series.

RUGBY Magazine is a digital magazine you can read on your laptop, tablet, or other electronic device.

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This month, we complete our review of 2012, looking at club and college championships, and the All Americans.

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USA Men’s 15s Head Coach Mike Tolkin spent the past extended weekend at the USA 7s team camp and watching Belmont Shore defeat OMBAC in a club game in Long Beach.

Karen Fong is a college admissions expert with specialized knowledge of the collegiate rugby landscape. She is a credentialed guidance counselor backed by a team at Dunbar Educational Consultants with over 130 years of combined experience in this field. She is also a former Division I Rugby player at University of California at Davis, National U-23 Team player, currently on the USA Rugby Referee circuit, and the new academic advisor for the USA Rugby High School All-American Program.

This is our latest reprint excerpt from RUGBY COACH WEEKLY details how you can help players respond to, and play through, mistakes.

Club, like college, has a split season, so ranking teams is not a cut-and-dry process. Some teams, such as in Northern California or the South, haven’t played much in the way of meaningful games, yet, while lots of other teams have played the bulk of their seasons.

We will include the New York Athletic Club in our DI rankings. Sure, they don’t technically belong to DI, but there’s nowhere else to classify them, as it doesn’t make sense to do separate Elite Cup and DI rankings. NYAC won the final Super League championship and looks set to return pretty much all of its firepower, plus, coach Bruce McLane usually has an ace or two up his sleeve when it comes to player acquisition. So we put the AC at No. 1

Life is No. 2 for its impressive dominance over the South so far. San Francisco Golden Gate has looked good in its opening two games, pounding Old Puget Sound Beach and St. Mary’s. Boston went undefeated in New England in the fall. Belmont Shore is currently undefeated and fresh off a hiding of OMBAC. OPSB is still very early in its season, especially for a team not used to starting league play for well over a month from now. We still think the 2012 RSL runners up are pretty good, so they slot in at No. 6.

So we don’t really run into controversy until we get to the West-North group. The Denver Barbarians lost at Provo but beat Glendale narrowly. Glendale tied Provo in Utah. So even though Provo hasn’t lost to Glendale or Denver, they also haven’t gone on the road in league play. We think travel will prove the great equalizer and that the Barbos and Raptors will finish ahead of the Steelers by the end of the season.

The rest of the list is pretty easy to sort out. Santa Monica played Belmont really close before winning huge over the Old Aztecs. So they are rated highly. The Chicago Lions came out of the Midwest, which might be the toughest league in the country, in the best shape, so they get kudos.

Buffalo and the Potomac Athletic Club both went undefeated in fall league play, but they will have to prove something in the playoffs to climb much higher than their current positions.

The only teams from Texas are both 2-0 and from Austin. We give the Huns the slight nod in the rankings for having a better point differential against HARC, their only common opponent with the Blacks so far.

1. NYAC
2. Life
3. SFGG
4. Boston
5. Belmont Shore
6. OPSB
7. Denver Barbarians
8. Glendale Raptors
9. Provo Steelers
10. Santa Monica
11. Chicago Lions
12. Metropolis
13. Buffalo
14. PAC
15. Old Blue
16. Palmer
17. Maryland Exiles
18. Austin Huns
19. Kansas City Blues
20. Austin Blacks
21. East Palo Alto Bulldogs
22. Chicago Griffins
23. Cincinnati Wolfhounds
24. Sacramento Lions
25. New Orleans

Attorney, former rugby player, current rugby coach, and sports agent Jon Velie brings the first of his series of columns on working with international issues and laws and how they affect rugby clubs.

“Your mind will always fail before your body…keep pushing. I guarantee you can do more than you ever thought possible.” – My College Tennis Coach

“Your mind will always fail before your body…keep pushing. I guarantee you can do more than you ever thought possible.” – My College Tennis Coach

USA Women 7s coach Ric Suggitt has signed five more professional athletes, bringing the total to 15 residents at the Olympic Training Center in Chula Vista, Calif.

During the previous round of contracts, Suggitt added some experience to the original eight, taking on Nathalie Marchino and Christy Ringgenberg last fall. In 2013, it was all about youth.

Vix Folayan (top photo, Dobson Images) is the oldest and most experienced of the crop. Her interest in 7s heightened after the 2010 Women's Rugby World Cup, where Folayan was one of the best finishers for the USA. Since then, she's been in regular rotation on the USA 7s roster. Folayan's fitness has improved over the last year, and she's becoming even more threatening on the wing.

Ryan Carlyle (second from top, Dobson Images), as reported late last week, was also rewarded for her hard work. The 23-year-old relocated to San Diego last winter, booting up with the San Diego Surfers and attending the majority of the OTC training sessions. Carlyle played for the Stars & Stripes at last year's Women's International Invitational in Las Vegas, but now that she has access to all of the off-field benefits that the rest of the professionals enjoy, she should see her level of play improve as well.

Lauren Doyle (middle photo, Ian Muir photo) was a late addition to the USA 7s cycle in 2012, competing at the China International Invitational in October and then Dubai in late November. The Eastern Illinois senior impressed Suggitt immensely, and once Doyle made the commitment to leave school, she got the contract.  

Doyle is one of two seniors finishing out her final semester at school remotely. Penn State great Sadie Anderson (second from bottom, Kelley L. Cox photo) signed on the dotted line, and represents the second collegian finishing school from San Diego.

"Lauren and Sadie are completing their classes online," Suggitt said. "This will be tough, but they are both disciplined athletes, and they should be able to excel at both school and training."

Anderson grew up with rugby. She was a star for Fort Collins, Colo., captained the USA U20s for years, and helped Penn State to two DI national championships during her tenure. She made her debut for the 15s national team in 2011, then traveled to Europe last fall. The flyhalf hasn't represented the USA 7s team since 2011 in Las Vegas, so it appeared that she was focusing her energies on 15s. Apparently, that is not the case, and one can wonder what a professional environment will do for someone so young, yet already so experienced. 

A final surprise occurred in U.S. Naval Academy graduate Jane Paar (bottom photo, Dobson Images). We last saw Paar at the Hong Kong 7s last spring, and as graduation loomed, she indicated she would try everything in her power to stay in the system. While her Navy requirements are yet unknown, it appears she's lobbied for a sabbatical to pursue a professional career in rugby or is possibly looking at a World-Class Athlete Program track. We also know that Suggitt has a soft spot for ground-and pounders, and this hard-nosed worker will make a great addition to the group.

Two more athletes continue to work with the Eagles on a non-contract basis. Contrary to previous reports, Emilie Bydwell has not been contracted but continues in her full-time status alongside fellow San Diego Surfer wing Hannah Lopez.

Including the aforementioned, that means 17 players are available for selection to IRB Women's Sevens World Series stop in Houston in early February. The following weekend, the USA will enter two sides - the Stars and the Stripes. Teams for those two competitions should be announced after this week.

Coach Eamonn Hogan discusses the warmup, and how the frequent auto-pilot approach to pre-practice and pre-game warmup short-changes a team's preparation.

Rugby season doesn’t usually start on the first weekend in January for players at Old Mission Beach Athletic Club in San Diego.

College Apps - Wheeling Jesuit University  http://athletics.wju.edu/index.aspx?path=rugby&tab=rugby

Karen Fong is a college admissions expert with specialized knowledge of the collegiate rugby landscape. She is a credentialed guidance counselor backed by a team at Dunbar Educational Consultants with over 130 years of combined experience in this field. She is also a former Division I Rugby player at University of California at Davis, National U-23 Team player and currently is on the USA Rugby Referee circuit. With her deep knowledge and strong ties to the collegiate rugby world, Karen is the best resource for families searching for the best fit college for their young rugby player. Various packages are available to suit every family’s needs. To schedule a consultation and discuss client options, please call Karen at (310) 497-0619 cell or email This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. www.DunbarConsultants.comSmall town community. Jesuit education. High performance Varsity rugby program.

Being winless in the Rugby Super League isn’t fun, and rumors were rampant last summer that the Dallas Harlequins were seriously considering leaving that league.

2012 was a tough year for the Los Angeles Rugby Club. They went 2-8 and finished second-to-last in Southern California. LA was crippled by a rash of defections and the lack of a coach. With some key additions, this year should be much better.

Ryan Carlyle is proof that hard work pays off. The 23-year-old, Nyack, N.Y., native has accepted a professional contract for the USA Women’s 7s team.

2012 ended very differently than the 5’6”, 140 lb. power wing expected when the year began. The University of South Carolina graduate had just finished her first semester of law school, and was still indulging elite rugby by commuting from North Carolina to California for USA 7s camps. She’d been on USA Women’s 7s coach Ric Suggitt’s radar for a couple of years now, having debuted for the Eagles at the 2011 Hong Kong 7s tour.

But when American 7s was professionalized in early 2012, Carlyle found herself re-evaluating rugby’s role in her near future.

“Once rugby 7s officially became an Olympic sport, I realized I could have a future playing if I wanted it,” Carlyle said. “Ric approached me at January Elite Trials to talk about my plans. I was limited in my rugby options in the South, and we both knew I needed to be in a place where rugby can become a bigger part of my life.”

Carlyle took some time off from law school and moved back home to New York to consider her options. She recalled Suggitt’s advice: Do whatever makes me happy, and whatever it is that I decide I want to do, I have to jump in with both feet and have fun with it.

As the snow poured over the Northeast, Carlyle’s decision to move to San Diego became much easier.

“Seventy degrees and sunny everyday at the beach sounded pretty nice in that moment,” Carlyle reminisced. “I booked one last coast-to-coast flight, this time a one-way, and was in San Diego the first week of March ready for the 2012 Hong Kong prep camp and my new life in California. If you want to be the best, you have to train with the best.”

Carlyle didn’t make that Hong Kong team, but she did make her intentions clear: Rugby 7s is a top priority. But since she wasn’t a contracted player, she had to field other concerns, like finding a job and joining a domestic club. In that sense, San Diego couldn’t have been a better fit. The San Diego Surfers had welcomed several players who had aspirations to join the Chula Vista crew, including recently contracted Emilie Bydwell and Katie Lorenz. She then joined the staff of Serevi Rugby’s coaching staff.

“I think it says a lot to a coach when you quit your job, drop out of law school, and move 3000 miles across the country, without being offered anything accept the possibility to play and train with the first eight contracted female rugby players,” Carlyle surmised coach Suggitt’s reaction. “If he didn't know then, I'm sure he figured it out when I was at practice every day – if not twice a day – in between jobs and Surfers practice.”

Carlyle was off to a good start. Not only was she training alongside the country’s best 7s players every day, but she was playing with one of the best WPL teams in the country. Carlyle helped the Surfers to a Club 7s National Championship and later captained the 15s side to a fifth place finish at the WPL championship.

But frustration soon set in as the 40-minute commute to the Olympic Training Center and demands from work and the Surfers took their toll. And without access to contracted athletes’ trainers, doctors and recovery procedures, Carlyle saw her training plateau, and her body began to burn out.

As the international competition restarted in the fall, Carlyle wasn’t selected for the China Women’s International Invitational or the Dubai 7s. More frustration, but Carlyle relied on her teammates’ support to keep her afloat.

“I may not have been a resident, but they treated me just the same,” Carlyle said. “We push each other and bring the absolute best out of each other both on and off the field. Watching them grow from being 10 girls from all over the country into a close-knit family of the best rugby players in the country was and still is beyond inspiring.”

The wait and the work eventually paid off, as Suggitt offered Carlyle a contract at the end of 2012.

“I was excited to hear he wanted to see me keep growing as a player and to go further with the program when he invited me to sign as a full-time athlete,” Carlyle said. “I am looking forward to showing the world he made a good investment.”

Carlyle has moved into a condo one mile from the OTC with four other teammates. She’ll continue to coach Serevi youth clinics as her schedule allows.

“Other than that, it’s just another day at the office.”

A lot has changed since last year for San Francisco Golden Gate.