U.S. rugby team plants local seeds for future growth

Fitzgerald Elementary School students waved American flags and cheered wildly when the U.S. rugby sevens team walked into the school's assembly room this week.

Those boys and girls probably didn't understand who they were cheering for or the sport itself, but the U.S. team was there so those students eventually would know, and that they would be part of a wave that begins to sweep the country.

This is the moment for rugby sevens, the U.S. team believes, to begin to establish itself throughout the country because that sport will be part of the 2016 Olympic Games in Rio de Janeiro.

The spotlight of those Olympics could help make this fast-paced version of rugby -- seven-minute halves with seven players on each side compared with the 40-minute halves and 15-player sides in the more traditional game -- the perfect fit for the short-attention-span American public.

"The society that's coming up," U.S. coach Al Caravelli said, "they're not waiting for anything."

The sevens game is on display today and Sunday at Sam Boyd Stadium in the 16-nation USA Sevens Las Vegas tournament. It begins at 9:24 a.m. with a full day of competition that includes at least three games involving the Americans.

This is the fourth stop in the Sevens World Series, and the U.S. is ninth with six points. England and New Zealand are tied for first, with 64 points apiece.

"We're not full time, and all the other ones are," Caravelli said. "If we do what we're doing today, ranked ninth and knocking off six of the teams in front of us, we believe that we can truly go for the podium in 2016."

Because of the sevens admission to the Brazil Games, the American team is beginning to receive assistance from the U.S. Olympic Committee, such as some access to the training facility. The team hopes to receive full funding and complete access to the facilities and staff after the 2012 Games in London.

It would mean players no longer would have to balance rugby preparation and second jobs, that team meetings would be on fewer conference calls.

"It will create a lot of cohesion within the team," American vice-captain Shalom Suniula said. "We will all be kept together, working day in, day out together.

"Right now, we only have one week before the tournaments to prepare and really to get things together."

Caravelli understands that difficulty because he gave up a position at Hewlett-Packard after a change in management resulted in a more rigid schedule that didn't complement his rugby duties. He now is with a new software company that is more flexible.

U.S. captain Matt Hawkins, who is married and has two children, commutes from his San Diego home to an advertising company in Los Angeles.

"I've got to work because this doesn't pay a hell of a lot," said Hawkins, 27. "It's a balancing act, and sometimes you fall short in some places. But that full-time dream is there, and I'm hoping to catch on to it for the last two or three years that I'm going to play.

"Your career you hope is always going to be there, whereas rugby is not. My wife, she's been amazing. She sat down and said, 'Look, you can't do this forever. You're not getting younger, so go do it because once you stop that's going to be it.' "

The Olympic addition benefits more than the Americans. Olympic training centers worldwide now will turn more focus to rugby, such as in Russia, where the sport will become part of the academic setting.

Rugby is believed to have influenced the birth of America's favorite sport, football. International Rugby Board CEO Mike Miller said it makes sense if his sport becomes popular in the States.

"Americans like physical contact sports," Miller said. "If exposed to it, Americans will enjoy it."

Contact reporter Mark Anderson at manderson@reviewjournal.com or 702-387-2914.