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Dallen Stanford explores the possibilities and opportunities for the USA 7s team with Olympic inclusion. He looks at the side going professional, entering more tournaments, and applying training software used by the NBA and NFL…

Can you believe the biggest ever decision in rugby history is only a few days away?

It has been a long and exciting journey for the sport we love, and inclusion into the Olympics would be unbelievable.

Rugby is played in more than 100 countries around the world, but is not a major sport in many of them. Getting rugby into the Olympics would change the face and the profile of the game forever.

I know that passionate fans of sports like Soccer, Rugby League, Aussie Rules and others are now very jealous of the rebel William Webb Ellis.

Rugby Sevens – previously not taken particularly seriously by fans and rugby enthusiasts until a few years ago – has put the sport back on the map.

What does this mean for developing rugby nations like America?

A career back home

The fact is this Olympic decision will do more for these countries than the traditional playing ones. Countries that compete in major rugby competitions like the Tri Nations and Six Nations will now have a massive pool of players who will be available for the Olympic Games. Many traditional 15 a-side players will be knocking on the selection doors, which will increase the level of play in the IRB Series.

But the above-mentioned countries already have full time contracted rugby players. Hence the biggest step in the development of the game will take place in minor rugby nations like America, Russia and the continent of Asia.

These are extremely exciting times – particularly for the USA - with many of the country's best players applying their trade overseas. While this is great for the player’s development experiencing different cultures and playing styles, there is no potential rugby career at home. Until now that is.

I have been part of the USA Sevens setup since 2006, and there has been plenty of talk and speculation about USA Rugby contracting full time Sevens players. When I first played on the IRB 7s circuit in 2006/2007, the USA was invited to Wellington, San Diego and Hong Kong. The squad spent one week together at a training camp before each tour, as well as travelling to Singapore and Bangkok ahead of the season.

This small amount of preparation together worked very well, as the USA knocked off some big teams earning an invite to 6 IRB tournaments in 2007/2008!

The tournaments that were added were Dubai, George (SA) and Adelaide. Not only did this mean getting more experience at that level by playing in double the amount of tournaments, but double the amount of training time as well.

This led to the IRB making the USA a core team in 2008/2009 – playing in all 8 tournaments. However the recession has played its part in delaying the contracting of a group of USA 7s players. But after Friday’s hopeful positive outcome, things will be back on track.

Contracts

USA Rugby’s goal is to contract 7s and 15s players, but this will take time and finances. I would think that due to the success of the 7s side and the Olympic decision that it'ss almost 100% certain that a group of 7s players will become full time rugby professionals this year.

That group could be anything from 15 to 18 full time players, with plenty of others trying out at each selection camp. USA Sevens coach Al Caravelli will have access to many of the USA overseas players (some of them will ensure that their club contract includes a clause releasing them for a few months during the 7s season). Some of them may even return to the USA and join that group of 15-18 players sooner than later.

I would guess that this will probably happen in 2012 and closer to the 2016 Olympics. The next goal right now for the 15s players would be the 2011 Rugby World Cup in New Zealand so star players like Chris Wyles, Todd Clever and Taku Ngwenya will be focusing on that.

The Sevens contracted players will probably move to San Diego California, home of the Olympic Training Center. This facility has been the venue for most of the USA 7s training camps over the past few years, and even has decent housing facilities onsite.

The tough decision for Caravelli will be which group of 15-18 to contract. The players that do not make this cut will still be heavily involved, and based on form, could make the travelling squad. There will of course have to be different compensation packages for those players.

With the increased funding from the IRB and new corporate sponsors Caravelli will then be able to enter many of the other warm up international 7s tournaments. There are fantastic high-level tournaments all over the globe, and this will give the USA 7s team the tune up required before the Series.

Pushing boundaries

I also remember Caravelli having access to a state of the art high performance training facility, but due to the lack of funding we never attended it.

One of the major advantages of having hugely professional American sports like Football, Baseball and Basketball at our fingertips is that we can take the best training techniques, both on and off the field and use them in rugby.

Caravelli is well aware of this and started using a basketball computer application that helped with player’s decision-making. Advanced technology is readily available here in the USA, hence sports coaches from all over the globe travel to America in the attempt to gain that competitive advantage for their team/county. It’s what I call the American dream…

Dallen Stanford played 54 matches for the USA 7s team throughout his career spanning from 2006 to 2009, including 13 IRB 7s tournament appearances. He was part of the Belmont Shore side that recently won the USA National Sevens competition.

www.pakiscorner.com

Read more from Dallen:

Caravelli's killer fitness tests

Inside the latest USA Sevens camp

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