September 28, 2016

Women’s Pathway Investment Necessitates New National Team Positions

USA Rugby Release: September 28, 2016

LAFAYETTE, Colo. — USA Rugby is continuing to increase its investments into the women’s High Performance programming with the recruitment of several critical positions. The roles of head of physical development, performance analyst, sevens assistant coach, and sevens manager are now open for application.

“There is significant investment by the organization into the women’s program and these roles are critical to our National Team’s performance moving forward,” said USA Rugby General Manager of National Teams and Performance Alex Magleby. “These roles will continue the integration of women’s high performance into one program that will allow us to compete to be on the podium in 2017, 2018 and eventually 2020 in Tokyo.”

These roles will be full-time at the Olympic Training Center in Chula Vista, Calif., and they will work with both the sevens residency program as well as the newly-set-up 15s residency program. However, each role will have responsibility throughout the pathway.

“We are excited to build a complete and robust high performance program that can not only support the Women’s Eagles and sevens programs, but will also provide expertise throughout the pathway,” said Women’s Eagles Head Coach Pete Steinberg.

The main focus for the new positions will firstly be on the sevens program and supporting Women’s Eagles Sevens Head Coach Richie Walker as he kicks off the next cycle.

“When I came into the program as the head coach in April before the Olympics, I identified a couple of areas that needed improvement,” said Walker. “If we want to compete with teams like gold medalist Australia and New Zealand we need to bring expertise to the program that can help us maximize our performance both at practice and on the pitch on match day.”

Roles available

Head of Physical Development – Application closes Oct 2

Oversees strength and conditioning for all of the WNT programs with direct responsibility for the sevens program. Will manage volunteers and interns to support all programs. Expected to bring the latest approach in sports science to both the national and age-grade teams.

Performance Analyst – Application closes Oct 9

Oversees all performance analytics for the WNT programs with direct responsibility for the sevens and Eagle teams. Will support the sevens head coach to provide feedback for training and individual player performance. Track trends in both the women’s sevens and 15s games. Support volunteers and interns to provide performance analytics to pathway programs.

Assistant Sevens Coach – Application closes Oct 9

Supports the sevens head coach in the development of players at the OTC. Works to support player identification and development processes within the pathway. Will support the Eagles when needed.

Sevens Manager – Application closes Oct 9

Part-time role to work with the sevens team. Manage administration and logistics for all sevens tournaments and assemblies. Support USA Rugby High Performance staff to manage budgets for events. Communicate with players to provide clarity on schedule and expectations.

Read more at http://www.usarugby.org/2016/09/womens-pathway-investment-necessitates-new-national-team-positions/#FioVtHJW14yQJSQ8.99