NZRU searching for Olympic hopefuls in TASMAN REGION
Searching for Olympic hopefuls in TASMAN REGION
The New Zealand Rugby Union will be heading to the Tasman Rugby Union in the search of Women’s Sevens Olympic hopefuls on Monday 26th – Tuesday 27th March as part of their Go4Gold Women’s Sevens Programme.
Tasman Rugby Union is hosting one of 14 open trial camps around the country with many female athletes from the region signing up to test out their skills on Monday 26th and possibly, Tuesday 27th at Trafalgar Park
New Zealand Women’s Sevens Coach Sean Horan said they were encouraging all types of athletes to give sevens a go.
“To be a great sevens player you need to be fit, have speed and be highly motivated with a great work ethic.
“We have some great 15s players in this country, some of whom will make fantastic sevens players, but we also have untapped talent out there and we are hoping that these trial camps unearth some of that,” he said.
“Once we identify players as potential Sevens Olympians we will monitor their progress through development programmes that will boost their fitness and help them learn the game,” he added.
New Zealand Rugby Union General Manager Professional Rugby Neil Sorensen said the inclusion of Sevens in the 2016 Olympics would see the game grow massively.
“We’ve been working in partnership with High Performance Sport New Zealand and it’s exciting that we can now realistically offer young female athletes a chance at winning an Olympic Gold medal, something that all athletes aspire to achieve,” he said.
The trial camps will test players in three key areas - speed, skill, endurance and character tests.
The Go4Gold programme in 2012 aims to build a base of female sevens players with the aim of competing in international invitational tournaments later in the year.
******
For further information contact:
Mike Kerrisk – NZRU 7’s Resource Coach
mike.kerrisk@tasmanrugby.co.nz;
Ph: 03 5487030 or 027 2957757
Go to www.allblacks.com; Click on Go4Gold
