Vancouver, BC: A total of 36 junior athletes will depart for Las Vegas on Tuesday evening, as the BC Elite Youth Sevens program heads South to the second annual Las Vegas Invitational Sevens tournament, scheduled for February 9-12. The group of Under-18 and Under-17 athletes will be immersed in a rugby environment for the next week as they compete against both national and regional representative sides from across North America. As well as benefiting from top level competition, these players will be led by some of the highest caliber coaches currently involved in seven-a-side rugby.
Few coaches in Canada can boast the experience that BCEY7s head coach Shane Thompson brings to the table having played in 55 International Rugby Board (IRB) Sevens tournaments from 1999-2005. Thompson went on to coach the senior men's national team on the IRB Sevens World Series circuit and coached Canada at the 2006 Commonwealth Games and the 2009 Rugby Sevens World Cup in Dubai. More recently, Thompson coached Canada's Under-18 team to the Plate at the 2011 Youth Commonwealth Games in the Isle of Man.
Heading to Vegas with Thompson are a number of familiar faces, former players that have graced the world stage and played professionally in Europe.
"This will be an important tour for a lot of these young players and its's great that they will have coaches who have been to the top level," said Thompson. "It's great to see former national players giving back to the game, particularly this group who along with myself, featured under former sevens coach Doug Tate together. There will be so much information passed on at every training session that these young players will benefit from."
One of Thompson's coaches on tour will be former Canadian Sevens and XVs national team player Winston Stanley. The Vancouver Island native played in numerous IRB Sevens tournaments and played professional rugby for the Leicester Tigers.
"From the beginning when this program got going, Winston has been one of our biggest assets," added Thompson. "He has been there helping with weekly sessions on the Island, with regional trials and with our super camps."
The coaching staff for Vegas will also feature former Canadian national team XVs Captain Morgan Williams, a scrum half who played for the national Sevens team as recently as 2009 at the Rugby World Cup Sevens in Dubai. After his international career came to a close, Williams served as head coach of the senior men's national sevens team for one season. Williams also played professionally in the English Premiership with Saracens as and Stade Francais in the French Top 14.
Nik Witkowski will also bring his experience from numerous appearances for the Canadian Sevens and XVs team. Witkowski also played professionally for Perpignan in France and Welsh outfit Swansea. Coach Barry Ebl, now based in Kelowna, featured for Canada up until 2002 in both the XVs and Sevens codes. Ebl and Stanley were both with the BCEY7s team last year at the Vegas 7s event.
The tour's trainer Gareth Adams will have his hands full with 36 athletes to keep healthy off and on the pitch. Adams was involved with the national sevens program and more recently has plied his trade as both a physio and player for Vancouver based club UBCOB Ravens.
"Although we have to divide the group into three different squads, our approach is we are all going down as one big team," added Thompson. "We will all support each other during the tour as representatives of the BC program."
British Columbia-1 (BC-1) and BC-2 have been entered into the 'International High School Elite 7s' competition while the third and younger BC-3 squad will compete in the 'High School Boy's 7s' division.
BC-1 and BC-2 will be tested against state sides from Washington, Utah and Colorado as well as representative sides from Ontario and Canadian Prairies regional selects Dog River Howlers. Also entered in the competition are two national development sides known as the All-Americans 1 and All Americans 2.
This will be the first year Thompson has taken a third squad and he has entered them into the 'High School Boy's 7s,' a tournament set to feature teams from Indiana, Arizona, California, Nevada and Washington.
For more information on the Las Vegas Invitational visit the tournament website:
www.usasevens.com/las-vegas/las-vegas-invitational/BC Elite Youth Sevens Traveling RosterName (Region/ Club/ High School)
1. Jorden Best (Valley East/ Abbotsford/ Robert Bateman)
2. Evan Cambridge (South Island/ Castaway Wanderers RFC/ Oak Bay)
3. Shane Dagg (Valley West/ Bayside RFC / South Delta Secondary)
4. Jordan De Graaf (North Island/ G.P. Vanier)*
5. Bobby Devaney (Valley West/ Bayside RFC/ Earl Marriott)
6. Guiseppe Du Toit (South Island/ Cowichan Rugby Club/ Shawnigan Lake School)
7. Haydn Evans (South Island/ Cowichan Rugby Club/ Shawnigan Lake School)
8. Marshall Fuller (Vancouver North/ Capilano RFC/ Collingwood)
9. Harjun Gill (Vancouver West/ Richmond RFC/ St. Georges)
10. Fergus Hall (South Island/ Castaway Wanderers RFC/ Glenlyon Norfolk)
11. Alan Hogarth (South Island/ Cowichan Rugby Club/ Shawnigan Lake School)
12. Avi Horwitz (Vancouver West/ Shawnigan Lake School)*
13. Robert Jones (Valley West/ Bayside RFC/ Lord Tweedsmuir)
14. Alex Kanty (South Island/ Castaway Wanderers RFC / Oak Bay)
15. Joey Kenville (Valley West/ Bayside RFC/ Earl Marriott)
16. Alex Klassen (Valley West/ Bayside RFC/ Semiahmoo)
17. Kieran Lauridsen (North Island/ Cowichan Rugby Club/ Cowichan High school)
18. Karsten Leitner (Vancouver West/ UBC Old Boys/ St. Georges)
19. Spencer Loughlin (Valley East/ Abbotsford RFC/ Yale Secondary)
20. Riley Macpherson (South Island/ Castaway Wanderers RFC/ Oak Bay)
21. Gavin Mclean (North Island/G.P. Vanier)*
22. Ian McMaster (Valley West/ Bayside RFC/ Earl Marriott)
23. Chris Miles (South Island/ Shawnigan Lake School)*
24. Spencer Miller (Valley East/ Abbotsford RFC/ Yale Secondary)
25. Jeff Nishima-Miller (South Island/ Castaway Wanderers RFC/ St. Michael's)
26. Ollie Nott (North Island/ Shawnigan Lake School)*
27. JD Paul (Valley East/ Abbotsford RFC/ WJ Mouat)
28. James Pitblado (Vancouver West/ Vancouver Rowing Club/ St George’s)
29. Spencer Soltan (South Island/ Shawnigan Lake School)*
30. Tyson Stoochnoff (North Island/ Cowichan Rugby Club/ Cowichan High School)
31. Tobin Sydneysmith (Vancouver North/ Capalano RFC/ Sentinel)
32. Morgan Tate (South Island/ Castaway Wanderers RFC/ Oak Bay)
33. Tomasi Vataiki (Valley West/ Bayside RFC/ Hugh McRoberts)
34. Quinton Willms (Valley West/ Bayside RFC/ Earl Marriott)
35. Nathan Yanagiya (Vancouver North/ Capilano RFC/ Carson Graham)
36. Luke Zandbergen (Valley West/ Surrey Beavers/ Lord Tweedsmuir)
*unattached to club
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