UPDATE 6/8/2010: A location for this tournament has been chosen, go here for details.
This week’s Guest Blogger Phil Killham is asking some rather brash questions! Along with the recent email circulating that the Women’s 7s Club Championships do not have a home yet…and the fact that this tournament has not been endorsed by USA Rugby…these questions needed to be raised!
Guest Blog by Phil Killham:
“There is none.”
That was the reply I received from USA Rugby’s Matt Trenary when I asked what was the date for this years women’s club sevens championship.
Stunned I forwarded this reply to Lindsey Tiernan the contact listed as in charge of Championships. Lindsey replied that “As of now, USA Rugby only recognizes the Women’s All-Star 7s. Last year there was an invitational run in conjunction with the men’s club 7s event but this was organized separately. I have copied Alex Williams, our women’s High Performance manger, who can let you know what is in the works for adding this or a similar competition at the national level.”
How do we have All Stars without a club level competition to select from? Are selectors traveling around the country to various tourneys to scout out potential All Stars?
There is no National Club Sevens Championship for women. Women play sevens and have for some time but there is nothing that leads to a sevens championship. USA Rugby does not plan on adding a women sevens championship anytime soon either. It is USA Rugby’s stance that there has been no demand for a women’s sevens title tourney and without demand they will not host or sponsor such an event. This was the response I received from Alan Sharpley at USA Rugby.
“We add a National competition in response to demand. Until your note there has been little demand for a women’s Club 7’s National Championship. We saw some level of interest last year just before the Men’s Club 7’s Championship but never received a request to start the process moving. Note that a single inquiry from a club representative is not sufficient grounds for establishing a National level competition. Our most recent new National Competitions were Women’s Club Div.2 and Girl’s U19. But those were approved after widespread grass-roots support which took the form of several years of Unofficial competition and an Ad Hoc organizing committee which did the background work to show that the competition was truly National in scope – i.e., interest, participation, and commitment throughout much of the country. You have certainly started the ball rolling but we need to see more widespread demand from the Women’s Sevens Community.”
This is a woefully neglectful approach and USA Rugby needs to be held accountable for their utter lack of vision and planning when it comes to women’s rugby specifically sevens. We have all heard the adage failing to plan is planning to fail which succinctly describes this scenario. USA Rugby is our governing body and charged with the progress, development and success of our beloved sport. How can women’s sevens, recently added to the Olympics, be so overlooked?
Why is acceptable for USA Rugby to sit back and do nothing for women’s sevens?
Mr. Sharpley stated that he needs to see more widespread demand from the womens sevens community. asharpley@dynastat.com
Are you ready to be heard?
Phil Killham
UPDATE 6/8/2010: A location for this tournament has been chosen, go here for details.
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Remember that running national championships costs money. Also remember that senior championships and senior WNT/WNT A budgets already exceed what could possibly be coming from senior club cipp, senior player cipp and sponsorships (meager.) So whatever costs are incurred by this tournament will either be paid by the clubs involved or off the back of other groups’ CIPP…
It is great to see that there is no accountability at the national level to take responsibility to drive something forward that is in the best interest of the sport.
Demand, interest, money, sponsors can and should all be developed with USA Rugby leading from the front rather than waiting to ride on the coattails of some grassroots movement.
Their WAS a Women’s 7s Grassroots movement that had executed extraordinary tasks for growing 7s in the USA. As I see it, the foot soldiers for this movement, whom I had left in my stead, namely, Chris Ryan, Sue Parker, Pete Steinberg, Peter Baggetta were all dismissed in the name of “aligning the Women’s Programs”
These are the most experienced Women’s 7s people in the USA, yet, they were not allowed to express themselves freely, even after the Olympic vote.
All the work done by Emil Signes, Sue Parker and myself, seems lost.
Regretfully written,
Julie McCoy
I worked for 2 years to get a national club 7s tournament organized. I had many conversations with Dan Payne and Alex Williams about USA Rugby hosting the event. I worked really hard to get teams from every territory and was hoping to have 16 teams total. I also did everything I could to get the tournament to run in conjunction with the men’s tournament to show that we were able and willing to travel if USA Rugby would host both events in the same location (which wouldn’t add that much extra cost). At the time, I was told that if there was enough interest from all territories then USA Rugby would consider picking up this tournament. Last year- we ended up with 10 teams from 5 territories which I thought was a great start. I again approached Alex and Dan after the tournament and was told that they probably wouldn’t be able to host the tournament this year and I figured it was because not all TUs were involved. I have “passed the torch” and am hoping that Stacy Bennett will be able to organize an event this year to continue our “grass roots” efforts. It’s a huge task for a single person to take on, but some of us have been willing to try so that it may be possible in the future.
Dana Creager
“unless interest is shown…..” this sounds eerily similar to opponents of Title IX. If women were interested, there’d already be sports teams. We just haven’t seen a demand.
In the last 30 years, the number of female athletes has grown by 1000%.
Wonder what would happen if the 7s tournament turns a profit this year, gets a sponsor, and USA wants to buy the rights? Maybe Stacy Bennett will have to wait to see if it’s a “high enough level of interest” before selling.