In which I glee a bit over sevens

I am, like presumably everyone else in the rugby world, thrilled to hear that the IOC will be recommending rugby sevens for inclusion in the 2016 Olympic games. It's so exciting to see a version of my favorite sport gaining strength and getting increased public attention. And even though I am a fifteens girl through and through, it's clear to me that the sevens game is really the space where the opportunities are, especially in the women's game.

Rugby Canada's match report on the England/South Africa Nation's Cup game really highlighted the South Africa's sevens players as strengths of the team, stating that "South Africa Sevens’ athletes Gadu and Saloma impressed for the entire 80 minutes and were able to cleverly create chances out of seemingly dead end passages." I don't know much about South Africa's sevens program, but I have to imagine that Gadu and Saloma took advantage of what it offered, and took the strengths they gained from sevens back to their country's fifteens program.

The USA's sevens program, of course, I know a little more about - as do plenty of my well-meaning but rugby-ignorant friends and relatives who have asked me whether there are professional female rugby players, and consequently heard more than they probably wanted to know about the USA women's sevens' team, and their training camp prior to the World Cup in March (which I followed religiously via their blog).

I'm seeing a lot of momentum out there in the rugby world, not to mention the momentum a little closer to home - the Furies have been training all summer to get ready to play in the new Premiership league, which starts with our first match against Keystone next weekend. There's some big changes happening in the rugby world, and I'm excited to see what happens next.