The Bay of Plenty Rugby Union is holding women's sevens talent identification camps with an eye to finding golden nuggets before the national tournament in Rotorua next January.
The initiative is a continuation of the New Zealand Rugby Union's Go For Gold programme, held last year nationwide to find promisingathletes keen to have a crack at representing New Zealand at the 2016 Rio de Janeiro Olympics.
Bay of Plenty Rugby Union player and coach development manager Chad Tuoro said the emphasis for finding and developing sevens talent had shifted to the provinces. "This year the NZRU aren't doing their programme, so we are continuing it on at a regional level to find talent and girls who are keen to be part of the sevens programme - hopefully with aspirations of making the New Zealand Sevens team and the Olympics," said Tuoro.
"New Zealand's budget is not as big as what other countries are able to do, but our women's team is dominating the world circuit at the moment. If provinces can get good programmes in place, then that will benefit the national scene."
Last year's programme bore fruit in the form of Otumoetai 16-year-old Deborah Paine, who is part of the union's women's sevens academy.
The union is on the lookout for promising athletes.
"They don't necessarily have to be rugby players, they can come from all sports. They just have to be keen to be part of the programme. We will do a final selection for the training squad from talent days that will then train towards trying to qualify for the nationals in January."
Tuoro will oversee the programme to be run by David Mays.
"He's got some international experience in coaching women in both sevens and fifteens and was involved in the programme last year as an assistant, so we are really excited to have him on board with his knowledge and expertise in running a high-performance programme," said Tuoro.
The first camp will be held at Trident High School on June 9, the second at Rotorua Girls' High School on June 23 and the third at Baypark on June 30.
Weekly Monday night regional trainings begin on July 7 in the build-up to the northern regional provincial tournament on December 14.
For more details contact Chad Tuoro chad@boprugby.co.nz
