‘Find future Eagles’: USA Rugby holds U18s camp before Global Youth Sevens

USA Rugby assembled the next generation of sevens talent for a five-day training camp in Chula Vista this past week, looking to “find future Eagles” and identify which players will compete at this year’s Global Youth Sevens.

Global Youth Sevens will be held in Auckland on December 19-21. Black Ferns Sevens ace Jorja Miller, HSBC SVNS Series try-scoring phenomenon Maddison Levi, and former All Blacks backrower Hoskins Sotutu all played at the event during their rise through rugby’s ranks.

As listed on the Global Youth Sevens website, the tournament is considered “the pinnacle of U18 sevens rugby.” It’s become a marquee event for some future SVNS Series stars to make their mark – with 25 Americans pushing their case for selection this month.

25 of the top men’s under 18s players in the USA were selected based on player performances and identification opportunities, including multiple sevens tournaments and the USA High School National Championships.

Players were also identified from development programs such as USA U18 XVs, USA Talent ID days, and by collaborating with multiple academies.

The USA Men’s Sevens U18s coaching staff consists of head coach David Fee, assistant coach Taylor Howden, and Head of 7s Pathways Ben Pinkelman.

“These players are relishing the opportunities to play better rugby in quality Sevens tournaments, school championships, and representative level rugby. It’s exciting to see them come into camp and put their best foot forward for selection,” coach David Fee said.

“We’ve proven in the past that we can compete and make it to the top half of the bracket [at Global Youth Sevens], but now, I would really like to see these players have a crack at the top teams in the final rounds.”

Cathedral Catholic is the most-represented school in this player pool, with Kingston Hawkins, William Reiter and Dylan Trower all selected. Saint Francis High School had two students chosen, Uate Pifeleti and Solomone Pifeleti.

This camp served as an important step for these 25 athletes as they continue to strive for higher honours with the national sevens side.

“We’re excited to see how that experience improved and shaped their performance and playing standard this year. With the underlying objective of pathways camps to identify future senior players, this level of adaptation and transformation is the main objective,” Fee added.

“At the end of the day, our job is to find future Eagles, and this is another step in that journey for these young men.

“I believe all of these players have what it takes to challenge and compete at the next level. Exposing them to camps and events like Global Youth Sevens is a very important step in their process, and all of these players, regardless of selection, will be exposed to that type of high-performance environment.

“We are very thankful to the Golden Eagles and USA Pathways for continuing to invest in these opportunities for our young men to compete.”

U18s squad for five-day USA Rugby Sevens camp

Evaimalo Ama – Menlo-Atherton
Bryson Cook – JW Mitchell High School
Alexander Drury – Choate Rosemary Hall
Kole Frogley – Owyhee High School
Tristan Gutman – Trabuco Hills High School
Caden Hartley – San Clemente High School
Tristram Harwood – Finborough School
Kingston Hawkins – Cathedral Catholic High School
Keane Horne – Trumbull High School
Isaac Koi – Elk Grove High School
Jasiah Lolesio-Pua – St Anthony High School
Neel Menon – The Woodlands High School
Adrian Pham – Patrick Henry High School
Uate Pifeleti – Saint Francis High School
Solomone Pifeleti – Saint Francis High School, Mountain View CC
William Reiter – Cathedral Catholic
Stanley Ross – San Marcos High School
Bradan Scott – Santa Fe Christian
Meli Serevi – Elsie Allen High School
DJ Taape – Graham Kapowsin High School
Jayden Tagaloa – Kahuku High School
Christopher Thorndyke – Adlai E. Stevenson
Dylan Trower – Cathedral Catholic
Nick Vakatawa – Rio Americano High School
Samuel Wilson – Arapahoe High School