Yale Sends 7s Team to Vegas

As 7s rugby increases in popularity and the Olympics approach, Yale's ever-expanding rugby program has also increased its emphasis on the 7s game.

The Yale rugby team has entered a side into the Las Vegas 7s this weekend. The winner of this weekend's tournament will take the last opening in the Rugby 7s Championships to be played in Philadelphia and aired on NBC in early June.

Yale started its trainings one month early this winter with the goal of competing in the Vegas 7s during the second week of February.  The players returned to school the second weekend in January and 7s practice started immediately.  Team president and 7s captain Ryan Vandersloot organized 2-3 fitness sessions per week and the coaches (Jan Pikul, John Broker) worked with the team during 3 other weekly sessions.  The goal was to start early, evaluate the team’s talent and select Yale’s top 7s players from a roster just shy of 40 players.

After two weeks of great player attendance and strong desire to make the team, the coaching staff narrowed the squad from 40 to 16 players.  Then the training sessions got more intense as the team was narrowed down to the final 12.  During Monday nights, Yale rented field space at the Trumbull Sports Zone.  It was impractical to teach team 7s on a basketball court (our normal indoor field space) and they needed more space to work.  During the final two Monday night sessions, the local division 1 men’s club (New Haven Old Black) joined us at training to improve the quality of competition.

The players, coach (Broker) and trainer will be flying out Wednesday afternoon preparing to play on Thursday.  Yale got a tough draw getting Nebraska, Claremont Colleges and UC Davis in the first round.  Quoting senior Phil Constantinou, “We are ready to play any team in the tournament.   We all have been working hard to prepare for Vegas and we are ready to go.”

A quote from the 7s captain Ryan Vandersloot: "This is the most exciting time I have ever had playing rugby. A chance to play 7s at the highest level and a chance to earn a spot in the college championship tournament. Who knows, may be one of our guys can represent the country at the national level or even the Olympics one day."

The trip was a last minute decision by the team and took a lot of effort in a short period of time to organize travel, get university approval and raise funds to help offset the costs of the trip and indoor field rental.  Yale's club sports office and alumni have been extremely supportive and assisted at every level possible.

Men’s CRC 7s Participating Teams
San Diego St.
Central Washington University
University of Nebraska
Stoney Brook University
St. Josephs University (PA)
Claremont Colleges
Cal Poly
Texas Tech University
University of Texas - Austin
Brown University
Yale University
University of Delaware
Ohio University
UC Davis
Eastern Washington University
Miami University RFC
Bowling Green State University
Texas State University - Renegade RFC
Whittier College RFC
Kutztown Rugby
US Air Force Academy
UCLA
Weber State University RFC
University of San Diego
University of New Mexico Men's Rugby
University of Central Florida Rugby Club
New Mexico State University
Creighton University