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As seems to be the trend with tournaments that enjoy successful inaugurations, their growth can be fairly rapid. The Bath Charity Sevens is a case in point. After a quietly effective first year in 2007, last year saw it doubled in size and made a new home at the superb University of Bath. Played out for a superb cause in the Help for Heroes charity, there is still a tasty matter of £7,000 in prize money to be squabbled over.

The man behind the event is John Gould who also manages the West Country Cavaliers team. Gould saw creating a Bath tournament as an ideal way to market his team, who aim to play in around five tournaments a year, by making them hosts for the day. The nucleus of the side are guys who used to turn out for Bath Academy and Bath Rugby respectively.

2007 saw the first staging of the tournament held at the intimate Stothert & Pitt RFC, where a talented RBS Royals side won, setting the precedent for the event from a playing quality wise, in the RBS Royals team that day was a certain young Daniel Norton. The quality of the inaugural tournament paved way for 2008 when the tournament doubled in size, with Gould facilitating the move to Bath University.

With £30 million sports facilities on tap its a great move for the event. With the facilities being used by Olympic and world-level athletes as well as local, regional and national sports groups, squads and individual members of the public, not many 7s tournaments can compete with the Bath set-up.

Team Bath is the University’s sports brand covering the family of sports and recreation related activities at the University and of course enter a team here. Their rugby is in good hands also with Brian Ashton, who led England to the finals of 2007 World Cup, operating as Director of Coaching on a consultancy basis at the institution. With members of the Bath team regularly using the facilities it gives the students at Bath a genuine feel of how professionals train.

With 5 superb pitches used, sponsorship from Wilts Electrical Wholesalers with liquid refreshments from Blackthorn, 2008 saw major growth for Gould’s gig. Indeed the winners had that little bit star quality about them too with the Men’s Cup won by Seru Rabeni’s team, the Kaiviti Krusaders, who defeated Oakmedians in the final. They had respectively beaten Glantaf Old Boys and Camarthen Warriors in the last four.

The plate was won by the Smashtown Cavaliers who defeated Withem's Elves in a tight final, whilst the Ladies title was taken by the Pink Ba Ba's, who defeated Susie Appleby's West Country Cavaliers in the final, and Oakmeadians Ladies walked away with the plate after defeating the Pink Ewes.

This year the standard is set to rise again such is the look of the form guide. Seru’s Krusaders are back again to defend their crown and after a disappointing run at some tournaments already this summer, they will be looking for some consistency in stringing some performances together. The Oakmedians, with a strong Fijian influence courtesy of the Army will also be looking to go one better. The Army themselves will be there as will the Royal Navy Sharks.

The Scorpions are a team seemingly peaking at the right time as well and after their win at Church Sevens will make their Bath debut in pool C, the Scorpions are confident with a young and talented batch including old heads such as Kiba Richards. Elite ID are another side looking to make their mark and have put together what they consider to be their strongest team of the year and are riding a wave since a good showing in Brighton.

RuckU Spartans are another side hoping to get some silverware under their belt after impressing in patches this term, though it has to be questioned what state the boys will be in post-antics in Las Vegas this past weekend. On top of these sides when you throw the home team HOH West Country Cavaliers, Apache, Akuma Scorpions and Ronin Impact into the mix, straight away you can see Gould’s claim of this being the strongest 1 day tournament of the season is not far off the mark.

In the Open expect the likes of Marauders Academy, Pink Indians, RAM Stallions to feature heavily. In the Bath Spa University sevens earlier this season it was the West Country Cavaliers who beat The Godfathers to the title, both could meet here in the Open again with Adam D’Arcey Wass’ side looking for some revenge. Though this time it will be the Smashtown Cavaliers who represent the organisers. Marauders Academy manager Henry Pinto will have his side confident they can get over the final hurdle and into a final this weekend having fallen at semi-final stage 3 times so far this summer.

With charity playing such a big part it’s important for us to recognise Help for Heroes, a charity that supports and recognises injured servicemen directly and also through the work of other charities. The rugby community has already helped out noticeably in the Help for Heroes match at Twickenham last summer, which raised £1.44m to go directly towards the rehabilitation the British troops seriously wounded on active duty in places such as Afghanistan and Iraq. Gould has put in place a big emphasis on branding for the Army alongside recruitment and information tents.

An RFU O2 roadshow will also be at the event stoking interest for kids and newcomers to the game with games and entertainment run by the RFU leisure rugby. Watch out for the roadshow at other events primarily on the O2 on the beach series.

UR7s will be at the event with the UR7s speed cage which measures the speed of players pass. The fastest pass of the day will win tickets for the Middlesex Sevens and be invited to the ‘National UR7s Pass-Off’ which will be in the west car park at Twickenham on August 15th where the fastest passes in the land will battle it out for prizes.

Moving away from the rugby for a moment (which can be notoriously difficult in this part of the world) there are a host of things to see in this beautiful city, for those wanting to make a weekend of it. A stroll through historic Bath is like visiting an open-air museum with the world famous Roman Baths, the magnificent Abbey, and a collection of Georgian Homes making for a unique and outstanding setting. With a lively but small town feel amonst the various bars and clubs it’s a city that seemingly caters for all.

From the somewhat humble beginnings of a team wanting to host a tournament to cover their entry costs to other tournaments, the Bath Charity Sevens is now considered a must for the elite and social alike, in a setting where the facilities are second to none with a number of side attractions off the field. What is great to see is that even in this period of growth for 7s, young tournaments such as Church, Brighton and Bath still consider charity as a vital part of their tournament.

This is in keeping with tournaments that are now 50 years old and shows that even as the game moves forward into new waters, the traditions that rugby holds so dear (and hopefully does not go unnoticed by the IOC) are still apparent up and down the country throughout the summer.