There are few changes with the USA team’s training at the Olympic Training Center, although there are some indications that the team is ramping up its conditioning.
The biggest change may well be that assistant coach Dave Williams is no longer with the squad. Williams was on the staff to fill in for Matt Hawkins when Hawkins was playing, but Hawkins has confirmed he will not be playing anymore, and so Williams is back to Denver.
Still the team is working hard and upon hearing that what the players need to do is execute what they’ve been working on, Hawkins said to RUGBYMag.com, “100 percent. What we need is competition for spots, and we need players who make the group better. Sometimes you get someone who looks really good at nationals or wherever, but training at the OTC, he’s under a lot of pressure. Potential is a funny thing. We have a lot of guys who have potential, but we do have to execute.”
Hawkins reiterated his desire to see his leadership group of Zack Test – who appears to have come to the fore more in this area – Nick Edwards, Brett Thompson, and Folau Niua become more communicative, and help the younger players and develop.
And there are a lot of younger players in camp. Some of them will take some time to get to the international level, but others, it seems, are poised to make an impact.
“We have three weeks to make an impact and work toward our home tournament,” said Hawkins. “This turns out to be a good thing for us. Usually we have to go to Wellington and all that travel, and the one year when we are really young, we are able to regroup and go straight to Las Vegas and play in front of our home fans. I think that will be good for us.”
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Latest from USA 7s Team Camp
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