It was Atlantis visionary Biddy Boyle, who I don't think had coached a minute of women's rugby in his life, that came up with both the idea of putting an Atlantis girls' team into the Las Vegas Invitational Sevens, and - to help us find that team - of having a girls' division at the Atlantis camp we were planning.  We found some good players from the Mid-Atlantic area, and in order to find some players from other parts of the country, I reached out to Karl Barth, former USA Rugby U19 Girls National Coach, who invited some great players that he has both coached and coached against.  I had first met Karl about 10 years ago when I coached his wife Suzanna on the USA Women's 7s team.  I also knew from various mutual friends that he was a great coach.  I asked him to be the head coach and Carrie DuBray, manager of the US Collegiate Women's All-American tour to France, to manage the team.  Stacy Mancuso of Doylestown agreed to help Carrie manage and we had our management team in place. Billy Nicholas of NY recommended two players and Jason Fox of OH another; all three ended up being integral parts of the effort. We ended up with a squad of 12 from 7 different states and 10 different schools/clubs.  Exciting!

Staff: Karl Barth was the coach, Carrie DuBray the manager assisted by Stacy Mancuso. Biddy Boyle was the overall manager for the 5-team Atlantis effort; I was there simply as Emperor for this and our other four Atlantis teams.

Unlike the other Atlantis teams, the girls' team was not affected by weather.  Everyone was asked to be in by midday Tuesday - some got in Monday night - and this meant that the Northeast members missed the storm - some got out only an hour or so before their home airports shut down. (I was not so fortunate and didn't get in till Wednesday night.)

Karl was pleased with the team's improvement at practice: "Practice was a lot of transitioning most players to Sevens, as many had never played or rarely played, and getting them used to playing with each other and with other great players. We had the French men train next to us also so we got to see what training with speed and width looks like too. It was really fun watching them learn to trust each other, smile at the idea of not being the only go to girl, and develop team chemistry on and off the field."


Before getting down to the serious business of the tournament, there was Las Vegas to see.

Game Results, Atlantis Girls

Day 1: Pool Matches.  Atlantis played its pool matches at Heritage Park, a 15-minute ride from Sam Boyd Stadium, on Thursday.

Atlantis 29 Ontario 7. I have no data on this game other than the score.



Atlantis 41 SWARM 0. Note of July 29: thanks to Diane Ramage for collecting all the scoring in this game and for all those that follow. Tries were by Tess (2), Kat, Becca Jane, Shamira, Dana and Carly.  Kat converted 3 of them.




Atlantis 24 British Columbia 14.  This was a very difficult game and it was great to come out on top. Scoring: Tess 2 tries, Lily one, Dana Olsen one. Mele converted two tries.


Long-time friend Omar Rivera was here to manage the Atlantis Aces men's team, but as a coach to Tess and Kat's NJ Blaze team, was here to cheer them on.  Omar and I go back a long time; we both have Cuban origins and I was the coach, and he the manager of an historic Atlantis trip to the first Havana Sevens in 2000. (see http://emilito.org/rugby/atlantis/2000/t_081.html)


Day 2: Elimination Matches.  Atlantis played its elimination matches at Heritage Park, the same place we played the pool matches.

QF: Atlantis 49 Hilo (HI) 7.  Sunday morning the Atlantis girls played to their potential against the Hawaiian team Hilo. Atlantis scored 7 tries in this game and, amazingly, converted all 7 of them.  This is not common at any level of rugby, let alone high school girls. Equally amazingly, the seven tries were by seven different players: Tess, Carly, Denisse, Mele, Becca, Dana Olsen and Rebecca. Also surprisingly diverse, three players shared the conversions: Tess 3, Mele and Kat 2 each.





SF: Atlantis 24 Black Mambas 7. We're not sure who scored the last try; the first three were by Tess, Carly and Ali. Kat and Mele had one conversion each.


Final: Atlantis 12 British Columbia 32. Tess scored both tries in this game and Mele had the one conversion. 

Tess attacks the British Columbia sideline in final

2014-01-24 Team at In-n-Out Burger-900w.jpg
Team celebrates their tournament success with some In-N-Out fare.
For most it was their first visit to this great establishment
L to R: Rebecca, Carly, Ali, Tess, Kat

Karl Barth comments on the overall experience: "We were very happy with the assembly and our play despite the loss in the final. For a group of girls that plays very little or no high level sevens they came together quickly and played some great sevens. We have areas we still need to improve and hopefully we can build on this in future events. It was great to see several National or Regional Select Sides from the US, along with several Provincial Canadian sides there playing to a high standard. The future of US Sevens can only be enhanced by such gatherings and we hope that Atlantis and others can help lead the way."