The Women’s National Team program has invited an unprecedented number of athletes to the upcoming player camp, set to kick off this Saturday, June 30 through July 7. One hundred athletes, which include the Collegiate All Americans, will assemble at the University of Northern Colorado in Greeley, Colo., for camp and three games.

There are no summer tests scheduled for this summer, so this three-game assembly is particularly important in terms of the players’ individual development, which has been the focus since last summer’s Nations Cup, the Eagles’ last series of international tests. The games will provide more opportunities to build targeted athletes’ profiles, as the staff have integrated a video-coding system to break down the players’ performance.

“We’re going to take the video and code all of their involvements,” USA Women’s National Team coach Pete Steinberg said. “They’re going to get the results of all that coding. So over three games, they’ll know how they were tackling, rucking, kicking and catching.

“We took the World XV teams and coded all of their involvements at the last world cup,” Steinberg continued. “So, for example, we know the number of tackles that Maggie Alphonsi makes. We then go to our flankers: This is what a world-class flanker does; this is what you do and here’s what you need to work on if you want to be world class. Players need to know that everything they do on the field will be measured, and that will help develop growth.”

Twenty-seven clubs are represented by the 75 athletes invited by the senior program, while five players are At Large. The Twin Cities Amazons send the most representatives with nine, the Berkeley All Blues have seven, and Beantown and Glendale are sending five apiece. All of the USA 7s residents will be in attendance – save Kimber Rozier – as well.

“Our deal is that our players don’t play enough high-level rugby,” Steinberg said of his relationship with USA Women’s 7s coach Ric Suggitt. “His girls only play four tournaments a year, so he wants his players to play with us. All of the Olympic Training Center players are in the 15s and 7s pool.”

Four college players also populate the senior roster: Penn State’s Sadie Anderson and Lauren Poole, Stanford’s Molly Kinsella, and Norwich University’s Annis Baylee. And there’s one high school player who made the cut: Kent (Wash.) High School’s Cassidy Meyers. Meyers caught Steinberg’s eye at the Girls’ National High School Championship, and the small, scrappy flyhalf has a ton of potential, which Steinberg felt might fit well in the 7s game.

At the end of the assembly, the USA WNT staff will have a good idea of the 40 players who will travel on fall tour. The Eagles will head to Europe after the finale of the club season and will play Italy and France twice.

USA Women’s Player Development Camp