July 1998: Atlantis
Collegiates Join US Women at Ontario Sevens
Emil Signes
JUNE 24, 2013
Note of 2013: There have
been two tournaments in which I was affiliated with teams of
both sexes - the 1992 Benidorm Sevens, where I coached the
Atlantis Women and was the Manager for the US Men
Eagles. The other was this one. I was coach of the
US Women Eagles at the time,
and when the Hong Kong Women's Sevens was canceled after we
had already picked a squad, we brought them to the Ontario
Sevens. As coach to a Collegiate Men's All-Star Seevns
that would participate in the ITT Sevens later in the summer,
I also brought an Atlantis Collegiate men's squad. The two
teams and their shared staff worked very well together as
described below, an article I wrote for Rugby Magazine.
An edited version was printed in the August 28, 1998 Rugby.
US Teams at Ontario’s Magnificent
Sevens
Although my first coaching sevens victory took place
20 years ago at the Ontario Sevens (with the Bethlehem Hooligans,
still the last American men’s team to win there), it has been a
very long time since visits. Nevertheless, it was not with
one team, but two, that I returned this year.
US Women Eagles
Back in January, 10 players were selected to
represent the US National Women’s Team at the Hong Kong
Invitational Women’s Sevens, which was to be held in March and
comprise 16 national teams. Unfortunately, they never got
the chance to show their stuff as the tournament was canceled due
to a combination of a) time and money conflicts brought on by the
Women’s Rugby World Cup and b) the loss of sponsorship due to the
Asian economic crisis.
Since then, we’ve been looking for a venue at which that national
team could participate, and finally decided on the Magnificent
Sevens in Toronto. This is the biggest sevens tournament in
North America (this year there were 102 teams, including 24
women’s teams) and includes as participants many of the top teams
of Eastern Canada.
Of course, we would have rather been in a tournament with national
teams, but that’s not going to happen this year, and rather than
cheat these players of an opportunity to wear their Eagle jersey
on the field, we went to Toronto. We were in a difficult
situation -- we were not only expected to win, but also to play
well and win handily, and if we didn’t do all three, it would be
considered a failure. Luckily (well probably not luckily),
we fulfilled all our expectations.
The Eagle team that represented the US comprised 9 of the 10
players originally selected plus Sue Parker, who replaced an
injured Michele Friel (Beantown). It was:
Nancy Fitz, Washington Furies, prop and captain
Anita Pease, Maryland Stingers, center, flyhalf and co-captain
Julie McCoy, Ozark Ladies, prop
Kerry McCabe, Beantown, prop
TJ Eckert, Berkeley, hooker
Meg Madden, Washington Furies, hooker and wing
Inés Rodríguez-Redondo, Philadelphia, scrum half and
flyhalf
Shelley Wilson, Southeast, scrum half, fly half and center
Jen Lucas, Berkeley, fly half
Sue Parker, Maryland Stingers, wing
Maryland’s Dee Jones, a varsity trainer at the Naval Academy, was
the physio, and the manager was Dawn White of Philadelphia.
Both did a wonderful job.
Atlantis US Collegiate All Stars
With the breakup of USARFU into seven territories in
1995, the logistical challenges of territorial championships have
been difficult. With sevens, it was decided that the field
would consist of the seven territories and a Collegiate All
Star team. I have been impressed and touched by the
dedication of these collegiate players to the sevens game, and
even more impressed with their accomplishments. Just how
long this program can continue with 0% funding, however, is a
question.
Nevertheless, as Al Caravelli and I coach both the National
Women’s Sevens Team and the Collegiate All Stars, we decided to
bring a representative Collegiate team to Ontario as
well. As our team is not officially affiliated with
anything, we were proud to have the team represent Atlantis: they
played as the “Atlantis US Collegiate All Stars.” The team comprised:
415 Kevin Battle, Westmont College, wing
383 Ben Bush, Westmont College, wing and hooker
416 Austin Dacanay, U. of Florida, scrum half and hooker
417 Greg Guinney, Stanford, scrum half and fly half
418 Rick Harrison, West Chester U., prop
397 Al Lakomskis, U. of Arizona, center
419 Mike Morris, Indiana U., fly half
420 Steve Preonas, Stanford U., prop
421 Brian Whitfield, U. of Florida, center and wing
342 Don Younger, Indiana U., prop and captain
The Atlantis Collegiates entered the men’s A Division, comprising
most of Eastern Canada’s top teams, including the Ottawa
Irish, winners from 1991 to 1997.
I was fortunate to have a wonderful coaching staff, comprising
four people: besides me there was Al Caravelli, John Tyler and
Mary Beth Spirk. All of us divided our time equally between
the two teams.
Bob Huscher was the Atlantis manager, and he and Dawn worked
exceptionally well together to provide an integrated management
team. Dee volunteered her trainer services to the men as
well.
The teams arrived Thursday evening and trained twice on Friday (in
separate sessions, which made for a long nine hour non-stop day
for the coaches). One sidelight of the tour was a 10-minute
co-ed touch game, with the 5 youngest men and the 5 youngest women
against the 5 oldest men and the 5 oldest women (AKA “Pepsi vs
Coke” and also the “New World Order vs the WWF”). It was as
competitive as any of the weekend games, and (fortunately) ended
in a draw.
US Women: Results
The team started strong and finished strong: here
are the results:
Opponent
|
PF
|
PA
|
Ottawa Irish 2
|
52
|
0
|
Crusaders
|
41
|
0
|
Niagara Wasps
|
57
|
0
|
Ajax Wanderers
|
33
|
0
|
Guelph
|
33
|
0
|
Ottawa Irish
|
31
|
0
|
The final started with tumult on the sidelines, with some of the
US spectators shouting out “U . . . S . . . A!” followed by an
even louder group of Canadians adding “Sucks!” It did add
some tension, and you gotta love that.
The Ottawa Irish proved themselves tough opponents, shutting down
the Eagles for a full 5 ½ minutes before Sue Parker stormed
in for her 9th try of the tournament. It was only when Sue
scored again on the last play of the 10-minute half that the
outcome started to become clear: an occasional Eagle attacking
thrust plus suffocating defense was not going to let the Canadians
back in the game.
One of the highlights of the final was seeing the Eagles preserve
their shut-out streak by stopping a virtually certain try by the
Irish on a goal line tackle by Julie McCoy. Jules’ tackle
forced a knock-on and the ensuing advantage play resulted in a
170-meter Meg Madden try (she started out from the back of her own
In-Goal to the left of the posts, ran to the right touchline,
sprinted the length of the field, and centered it as her weary
chaser fell on top of her).
Scoring summary, US Women:
Name
|
Tries
|
Conv.
|
Points
|
Rodríguez-Redondo
|
6
|
21
|
72
|
Parker
|
10
|
0
|
50
|
Pease
|
7
|
0
|
35
|
Madden
|
5
|
0
|
25
|
Lucas
|
3
|
5
|
25
|
McCabe
|
3
|
0
|
15
|
Eckert
|
2
|
0
|
10
|
Fitz
|
1
|
0
|
5
|
McCoy
|
1
|
0
|
5
|
Wilson
|
1
|
0
|
5
|
Total
|
39
|
26
|
247
|
Opponents
|
0
|
0
|
0
|
Everyone on the team played very well. If
pressed to name an MVP I’d be torn between try-scoring machine Sue
Parker, mid-field genius Anita Pease, and youngster Inés
Rodríguez, who really came into her own this weekend,
creating, finishing, and kicking up a storm (21 out of 30
conversions and some great kickoffs). One name? OK,
Anita.
Shortly after the conclusion of the tournament, I received an
E-mail from Hong Kong indicating that the 1999 International
Women’s Sevens will likely take place again, early on Friday just
prior to “the” Hong Kong Sevens, with the final taking place
during the men’s event. This is great news for international
women’s sevens, but there is certainly room for more international
events. Given its size, location, and quality of facilities,
one hopes the Ontario Rugby Union gives consideration to an
international women’s division as part of its tournament.
Atlantis Collegiate Men: Results
Given that our average age was 22, with our oldest
player barely 24, I had no idea what to expect of our team against
our senior opponents.
After our first game aginst the Irishcanadians, I had a better
feeling. Struggling initally, we started to gel in the
second half, and the game ended with a 27-12 victory and a Don
Younger hat trick. We kept getting better in a 34-5 victory
over Stony Creek, but we knew our biggest challenge would be
against Balmy Beach, a club side featuring three Canadian sevens
internationals.
This was one of those games which can “make” a tournament for a
team. It was a hard, noncompromising game in which Atlantis
broke a longstanding 7-7 draw on a last-minute try by Brian “Bama”
Whitfield. 12-7. Bama had just entered the game, and was
probably the only player of the 14 capable of that effort at that
time of the game.
The collegians dusted off the Toronto Welsh 40-0 in the
quarterfinals, and then made the mistake of looking past the
Crusaders to the final. Unfortunately, the Crusaders had a
weapon for which Atlantis had no answer: 20-year old (first name?)
Murphy, former captain of Ireland School Boys and a member of
Canada’s national team. Murph dominated the kickoffs and
scored three unanswered tries en route to a 29-0 halftime
lead. The collegians battled back with three tries in the
second half, but fell short, 29-19.
The Ottawa Irish defeated the Crusaders for their eighth straight
win.
Atlantis US Collegiate All
Star scoring:
Name
|
Tries
|
Conv.
|
Points
|
Younger
|
7
|
0
|
35
|
Guinney
|
2
|
12
|
34
|
Dacanay
|
3
|
0
|
15
|
Bush
|
2
|
0
|
10
|
Preonas
|
2
|
0
|
10
|
Whitfield
|
2
|
0
|
10
|
Battle
|
1
|
0
|
5
|
Harrison
|
1
|
0
|
5
|
Lakomskis
|
1
|
0
|
5
|
Morris
|
1
|
0
|
5
|
Total
|
22
|
12
|
134
|
Opponents
|
9
|
4
|
53
|
One of the high points of the weekend for me was watching the
women and the men support each other: given the tension between
men and women rugby players that surfaces too often in the US, it
was a pleasure to hear the encouragement of each team for
the other during games, and also just plain conversation between
members of the two groups, who hung out in the same general area
all weekend. Collegiate center Brian Whitfield showed his
support for the Eagle women in a special way: with his father
present, he suffered a concussion during
the men’s semifinal, and after a significant
motionless stay on the field was put on a spinal board and taken
to a hospital. After being released shortly after arrival he
insisted to his father that they return to the field so he could
watch the women’s final.
Following the finals everyone moved the 100 yards or so to the ORU
clubhouse to celebrate. It was there that the Eagle rookies
performed to the tune of Gilligan’s Island. Only the first
chorus follows:
Just sit right down and we’ll tell a tale
A tale of a rugby trip
That started out in New Orleans
But to Hong Kong we got gypped.
But to Hong Kong we got gypped.
Finally there was the old 20 people in a 7-passenger van trick on
the trip back to the hotel, which was -- well -- interesting.
¡Another great sevens weekend; may they never end!