May 2021 Issue

www.goldeneagles.org AY EWS ETTER M N L Brittany Baker, Program Coordinator Golden Eagles Rugby Foundation [email protected]

May PLAYER COACHES SCHEDULE SPOTLIGHT CORNER

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“Career advancement and Get an inside look into the lives Hear latest news for this rugby enhancement.” Learn of our players and fun facts month from more about our players about who they are on and off and experiences. the field. Chris Brown.

PRE-ORDERS NOW AVAILABLE

EMAIL : [email protected]

2017 Vintage Red Blend Wine, U.S. Orders Only

The wine is bottled and almost ready to go! We apologize for the delay but it should be ready by the end of May. Stephen Tomasin and our very own Golden Eagle, Rimmo Jolly, have teamed up with Ryan Darrall. Ryan has been in association with Caymus since before he was born and just so happens to be a friend of Stephen’s. They’ve created a 2017 Vintage Red Blend Wine that will feature the signatures of our Rugby 7’s athletes on the label. The project was created to help generate funds for both the women’s and men’s programs.

25 Cases Available 12 Bottles/Case]- $1,200 Per Case

Full Case Orders Will Be Priority 6 Bottle Cases Will Be Waitlisted MEN’S ROSTER UK TRI-TOURNAMENT

MACEO BROWN The Men’s 7’s team has left for the UK to play in a tournament this weekend: MALACCHI ESDALE Coach Friday: NAIMA FUALA’AU “As a group we look forward to competing in the U.K. against quality MADISON HUGHES international opposition in Team GB and Ireland. This gives us another opportunity to play while dealing with the same MARTIN IOSEFO distractions we’ll have in Tokyo with overseas logistics and protocols. Overall, this event will give us a good indication of how we are tracking both physically and from a rugby perspective. It will no doubt highlight MATAI LEUTA areas where we need to adapt and also give us affirmation as we enter the home stretch in our preparation for the Olympics.” JOE SCHROEDER How to watch: FAITALA TALAPUSI https://www.facebook.com/OfficialEnglandRugby

STEPHEN TOMASIN

MARCUS TUPUOLA GAME SCHEDULE ANTHONY WELMERS May 15th MAY 16TH May 17th HARLEY WHEELER Ireland vs USA Ireland vs USA Ireland vs USA KEVON WILLIAMS 8 AM EST 5 AM (EST) 5 AM (EST) GB vs USA GB vs USA GB vs USA 11 AM EST 8 AM (EST) 11 AM (EST)

LOS ANGELES TOURNAMENT

We are happy to inform you that the Los Angeles Pre-Olympic Tournament will take place on June 25th-26th. We will be having our Golden Eagles Dinner on Thursday, June 24th, at Kincaid’s Restaurant in Redondo Beach from 5-9 pm. We are in the process of blocking off rooms at the Sonesta Hotel in Redondo Beach and we are still waiting on details for the Suite at Dignity Health Sports Park. We will roll out details to you in a separate email as we get them. If you are interested in attending this even this event please send an email to me ([email protected]) so that I can make sure you are accounted for. If you have any other questions please feel free to send me a message anytime. We look forward to getting back together, watching some rugby, and having a great time. We hope that a lot of you will be able to join us in sending off the players to chase their Olympic dreams.

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The Golden Eagles, a 501(c)3 foundation supporting the USA Rugby 7’s program, believes that competing at the highest level, doesn’t mean your career has to be put on

hold. By connecting players to occupational opportunities and encouraging lifelong rugby involvement, we support the holistic development of our country’s athletes. By investing and encouraging players” growth on-and off-the-pitch, they become more well-rounded. Rugby careers are short, and the work of the C.A.R.E. program makes sure their dreams live beyond their playing days.

“CAREER ADVANCEMENT, RUGBY ENHANCEMENT.”

As part of the care program, Perry is currently working on his clothing line as well as growing his Rugby camps. He has a launched a page where fans can purchase his gear. (Baker- Incorporation.com) and is constantly working on new items. Currently he has performance shirts, t-shirts, and hoodies. In addition to his gear he runs youth rugby camps in this Encinitas, CA area and is hoping to expand and host these camps in different state. He teaches 3 different levels: Rookies, Intermediate, and Elite groups with his partner, Charlie Purdon, who is the USD Rugby Head Coach. They have had over 300 participants and look forward to keep expanding their knowledge and skills to our youth rugby players.

Stephanie Rovetti

Steph is currently using the CARE program to prepare to become an Occupational Therapist after she finishes her rugby career. Her brother, who has Down Syndrome, has inspired her to pursue pediatric OT and is currently doing shadowing work and online courses to prepare to enter the program in the upcoming months. She is currently shadowing at JoyRide Therapeutic Adventures which promotes optimal growth and development through an integrated mind and body approach using activities in the beautiful San Diego community such as surfing, trail running, paddle boarding, skateboarding, and slack-lining. She hopes to help others manage their emotions, communicate effectively, engage with others in the world and participate in everyday life activities at their greatest potential!

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PLAYER SPOTLIGHT

Christian My name is Christian Dyer, a recent UC HOMETOWN: SACRAMENTO, CA Dyer Berkeley graduate from COLLEGE: UC BERKELEY Sacramento, CA chasing my dream of representing MAJOR: POLITICAL SCIENCE the USA in the sport of rugby at the highest level HOBBIES: FISHING & BOATING possible. I am the middle FAVORITE FOOD: SUSHI child in a family of 5, with both parents in real estate, SPORT (BESIDES RUGBY): UFC an older sister in the FAVORITE ATHLETE: RONALDO OR financial tech industry, and KHABIB a younger brother currently at Jesuit High FUN FACT: I’VE MOVED TO 19 School. Aside from DIFFERENT HOUSES athletics, I work with a

renewable energy company that is perfecting power utilization, lowering utility bills, and reducing carbon emissions on the customer side. Kristi HOMETOWN: FRANKLIN, MA My name is Kristi Kirshe, although you'll only hear my Kirshe COLLEGE: WILLIAMS COLLEGE teammates call me "Kirsh". I was born and raised in MAJOR: POLITICAL SCIENCE Franklin, MA, and grew up playing absolutely every sport HOBBIES: ROLLERBLADING & I could get my hands on- WATCHING FOOTBALL baseball, soccer, football, lacrosse, basketball. I played FAVORITE FOOD: CLASSIC soccer, basketball, and BURGER lacrosse through high school before deciding to play soccer SPORT (BESIDES RUGBY): TO at Williams College where I PLAY: SOCCER, TO WATCH: was a 2-time college All- FOOTBALL American. After graduating from college, I missed the FAVORITE ATHLETE: KELLEY thrill of playing a competitive O’HARA, TOM BRADY, & MICHAEL sport so I decided to give PHELPS rugby a shot. I first picked up a rugby ball in February of FUN FACT: MY GO-TO-GAME- 2018, and 11 months later I DAY FUEL IS PEANUT BUTTER & made my national team debut BANANA SANDWICHES for USA Rugby at Sydney Sevens 2019. 4 Golden Eagles Rugby Foundation Newsletter APRIL 2021

Hello GE’s, I hope you are all well and continuing to staying safe. This has been a highly intense period for the Dawgs after our return from Madrid which led to us reflecting and resetting where we are as a group as we build towards

Tokyo, having had to cope with a number of injuries within the squad. We started block 3 with 10 players fully fit and able to participate fully in training. Through this last month we are now back to 20 players fully engrained in training and the long term injured boys all progressing very well and currently on track. This last block, as I have outlined before, was a heavily floor combat and conditioned focused with integrated micro scenario and skill-based rugby incorporated. The aim being to build on our mentality and durability to be fit for purpose rugby players. The players have had to dig deep in this block, which is a big ask by me considering the landscape of COACHES CORNER uncertainty and Covid we continuously live under. I am pleased with the boys attitude to apply themselves and stay WITH MIKE FRIDAY in the block, knowing at any time they will have bad days and will need to lean on each other to push through those moments. MEN’S 7’S As we move into the last week of this block in mid-April we flip 180, into a high intensive rugby week which whilst the TOURNAMENT boys will be happy about will stress them in a very different way to adapt and adjust to the strains of thinking and SCHEDULE accuracy that they will need to exhibit…mind you that will be a welcome change for to the running challenges of coat hangers and physical challenges of floor combat UK Tri-Tournament bouts…sometimes a change is as a good as a rest!!! May 15-17th I confirm we have secured an opportunity to travel to the UK with a squad of 14 to compete in a tri tournament at the start LA 7’s Invitational of May, departing the 6th May to play against Team GB and June 25-26th Ireland over 3 days the weekend of 15th/16th/17th May. This will be a great opportunity for the boys to get valuable competition game time and there is a real excitement to be Tokyo Olympics able to represent and play against other international rugby July 26-28 teams. We will make a decision on the travelling squad at the end of April, following a couple more of weeks of training; HSBC World Series (Singapore) based on a number of factors but working backwards from what we need to assess with Tokyo in mind, as well as Oct 29-30th rewarding those players who are excelling in the attitude and behaviours we come to expect as a member of the Dawgs. HSBC World Series (Hong Kong) We will then recover, regroup and continue to build towards Nov 5-7th the LA event, at the end of June, which we are being told is strongly looking like we will be given the fantastic HSBC World Series (Dubai) opportunity to play in front of family, friends and fans. If that is the case we are looking forward to welcoming as many of Dec 3-4th you that are able to come.

HSBC World Series (Capetown) Dec 10-12th -Mike

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Hey GEs, Hope everyone is healthy and it's been a positive past month. For us, as you are aware we headed out to Dubai for two and a half weeks to get more playing time and exposure to the potential protocols we will be forced to follow at the

games. The connection and vibe in the group is solid at the moment, however it was a tough couple of weeks performance wise. Although we won 10 from 12 and beat the French both times, in a number of games we didn't hit our expectations (KPIs) and it was frustrating to fall short two

weekends in a row against the Canadians who are obviously one of our biggest rivals for the Gold in Tokyo.

We went with a mindset of finding a way to win no matter what and we didn't do that. We played the tournaments as if they were the most important world series stops and selected the best of what was available (Alev is returning

from Injury only in May) and we fell short. We looked COACHES CORNER physically and psychologically weary in week 2 and our core skills were poor. Yes, it was 100 degree heat and our WITH CHRIS BROWN opponents rotated in 20+ players across the 2 weekends however I really couldn't have cared less. We had a job to

do. We did face a few challenges which ultimately should leave us better off long term as a number of players WOMEN’S 7’S experienced more playing time than expected due to minor injuries to others. We lost 2 finishers Ari Ramsey and Nia TOURNAMENT Toliver before the end of game 2 in the first tournament and went on to lose two more, Naya Tapper and Ilona Maher very early in the next tournament. This meant we were going to SCHEDULE have to manage the ball for longer periods of time to get the points we needed and desired which we did well in the LA 7s Invitational second half of the French game and didn't on other occasions. June 25-26th I say all of this to highlight we didn't hit our standards and the group is hurting. We now have 10 weeks before LA to Tokyo Olympics refresh, continue to progress in resilience and master of July 29-31 basics to ensure we are exactly where we need to be to Target Gold in 15 weeks time. To put in context, in 2019 we limped home from Sydney and roughly 4 months later we HSBC World Series (Hong Kong) won our first ever event in Biarritz. Our training block and Nov 5-7th match exposure will be very similar to what we have running into the games. We also had a very similar build up period HSBC World Series (Dubai) running into Dubai 2019 which was arguably our best complete tournament performance ever off the back of Dec 3-4th winning Glendale. So I'm excited about the final chapter as we build into Tokyo. We have high expectations of ourselves HSBC World Series (Capetown) and know the responsibility is huge. We will progress and we will flourish in July when it matters because we will be Dec 10-12th making sure we do not miss a trick starting with the next 4 weeks. Thank you as always for your massive support. I hope we get to meet in person again very soon and please take care and look after yourselves. -Chris

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