Former USA sevens coach and captain Alex Magleby will have a slightly different role to play at this weekend's USA Sevens in Las Vegas.

Magleby is the national director for USA Rugby sevens and has been impressed with how the game is growing in USA, with his main focus on making sure all athletes are getting the quality they need to compete on the relevant circuits and to be future Olympians.

"The game is growing so fast in the USA, in some ways we have to out of its way," said Magleby, who captained the USA to the 2005 Rugby World Cup sevens and coached the team in 2013.

"There are so many macro-forces helping the game grow in the USA it has been exceptional, but we still need to make sure from top to bottom there are coordinated efforts, to make sure we are coordinating our systems for the athletes.

"I think part of the growth is down to the frustration with other sports, but also the empowerment that is the game of rugby. Every kid gets to run with the ball and make decisions, am I going to pass, am I going to run with it, and that is really exciting. That goes all the way up and we are now seeing crossover from other games, and especially with the Olympics, that helps it grow."

Nate Ebner is one player who has gone from sevens to Super Bowl champion, but the likes of Carlin Isles and Perry Baker have both crossed over into sevens with great effect.

With the men's and the women's side competing in Wellington and Sao Paulo respectively last weekend, both had opportunities but narrowly missed out on reaching Cup semi finals, but Magleby is happy with the progress as both sides currently sit inside the top eight in the world.

"The guys have improved on every stop. They are working really hard and the culture has dramatically improved. Hats off to coach Friday (Mike) and Browny (assistant coach Chris), the physical standards have gone way up and so have the skills, and the skills under pressure has really improved and we're excited to see it continue.

"Ric (Suggit, women's coach) brought in some new athletes too after the World Cup successes and over the last 18 months they have been improving and developing which you are seeing the benefits of.

"What happens if that knock-on try doesn’t happen against New Zealand, who knows, but hopefully we’ll have more of those opportunities in the coming weeks and months."

This weekend it will not just be Friday's side in action in the HSBC Sevens World Series, with numerous players knocking on the door for selection in the Las Vegas Invitational matches, a tournament which has seen significant growth in recent years too.

"We used to have a player pool of very few athletes, and only a few teams in the LVI tournament," added Magleby.

"Now we have parity in the player pool and there are 100 athletes who can all put up their hands and compete for a spot on Mike Friday’s team which is huge and that is only growing.

"To have the LVIs with the vast majority of our players competing against each other and playing in front of the national team scouts is very beneficial, and even some of the women will be there too."

On the horizon for Magleby and all involved with USA rugby sevens is the Olympics, a huge opportunity for the sport to really put its stamp on America.

"It really comes down for both teams, most likely, to that NACRA qualifier in June.

"A lot of work is going into building into that of course, but it (the Olympics) is huge for rugby in this country. It was a bit of a fire starter in a lot of ways with the growth already happening, with it being the catalyst, but the Olympics can really push that forward so we need to perform and we are working on that."