South Surrey Athletic Park played host to a regional BC Elite Youth Sevens tournament over the weekend where U15 and U17 teams from across the province were in action.
The U15 boys title went to the Vancouver North regional team and Valley West won the U17 men's division.
"There was some very exciting sevens rugby being played and from the BCEY7s perspective it’s great to see players improving throughout the day," said Shane Thompson, head coach of the BCEY7s program. "A number of the U17 players have been in the program for the entire 18 months of BCEY7s existence, and they continue to keep getting better and have a much improved understanding of sevens rugby."
Thompson was also pleased to see a number of the more senior players stepping up helping to coach their team mates in the abbreviated, high tempo version of the game.
"Some of the 16 year old guys have participated in up to six tournaments and camps. There are players like Harjun Gill (Richmond RFC) who has been at every trial and was on the BC Western Canada Summer Games team. Guys like him are stepping up and coaching because they know the basic of sevens - that's definitely something that wasn't happening 18 months ago when this program was getting started."
The tournament also served as a development opportunity for four referees recently certified through a high school program at Earl Marriott Secondary School, headed up by Adam Roberts. The young referees included Dan Dufor, Mike Filice, Taylor Howse and Kai Duchnychz.
"A special thanks must go out to Adam Roberts and Bayside RFC for allowing us to use the facilities and equipment on the day. A big thank you to the four referees who did a fantastic job all day long," Thompson added.
U15 Boys results:
1.Vancouver North.
2.Valley West 2
3. South Island
4. Valley West
5. Vancouver East
U17 Men's results:
1. Valley West
2. Vancouver North
3. Vancouver West
4. Valley East
5. South Island
6. Okanagan
