In his second column, USA Sevens coach Al Caravelli conveys the current excitement around Sevens in the States, and hints at the possibility of his national side joining South Africa in turning full-time professional.


Sevens seems to be gathering momentum every day in the USA at the moment.

We have around 100 Sevens tournaments happening each year across the country, but last weekend the top 16 clubs met on Treasure Island in San Francisco Bay to contest the finals of the National Club Sevens.

Next week is our National All Star Sevens territorial championships to be played in New York City, where I will be keeping a close eye ahead of our national selection camp at the Olympic Training Centre in Chula Vista on 10-13 September.

And this year another ground-breaking development was born: the Sevens Championship Cup Series, sponsored by the USA Sevens. The Series comprises the five oldest and most prestigious Sevens tournaments in America - in Las Vegas, Cape Fear, Denver, Kansas City and New York - and the winners and runners-up from all five will play a tournament in Las Vegas alongside the USA Sevens in February with the winner of the 'Tournament of Champions' taking home prize money - something unprecedented within American club Sevens.

The Olympic buzz

Even more significant to the future of American rugby, though, is the Olympic question. When it was announced that the IOC Executive Council had recommended rugby Sevens and golf be included in the 2016 Olympic Games, the result was immediate.

Media coverage was unparalleled. For the first time I can remember, rugby - and specifically Sevens rugby - was covered and talked about by the mainstream American media. ESPN, the premier sports broadcasting station in America, made the announcement every hour for 24 hours. I personally received calls from the NBC Sports Olympic desk, the San Francisco Chronicle, San Diego Tribune and the New York Times asking me for a comment on the announcement. All of them published a story either online or in print.

You can dream about things to happen but it is even better to live the dream. It is an extraordinary time to be involved in rugby and it is very exciting to potentially be given the chance to represent your country at the Olympics.

I believe that if we get the vote in October it will be a great thing for the USA market. The allure of being an Olympian is a massive draw for American athletes and something that not all traditional American sports can offer. It will give legitimacy to the sport of rugby across the US.

In particular, I believe it will reach a significant breeding ground for American athletes - our schools. Our high schools and colleges are the largest breeding ground for athletes in the country. Almost all of America's professional leagues - including the NFL, NBA, MLB, MLS, and lacrosse - draw from American universities. In order for rugby to succeed in America, we need to embrace this system and use the varsity model to our advantage.


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Going Pro ?..

Once the vote comes through in October you will see a few things happen very quickly. 1. Our sevens team will most likely go full time. 2. We will move into a city where we will train five to six days a week in preparation for the 2009/10 IRB Sevens World Series. 3. You will see more cross over athletes moving over, like Leonard Peters (NFL) and Dallas Robinson (USA Track, who runs 100 metres in sub 10 seconds).

We in the United States are over the top excited with regards to the Olympics. Granted we all know there is still a lot more work to do before the IOC vote on 9 October. As IRB Chief Executive Mike Miller said, "we are through to the final". That means that we are not done with the task in hand.

We need to win that final and get that vote, and even if that happens we'll still need to grasp fully the huge opportunities available to us to promote and develop the game of rugby in this country.