Invitational, provincial, local & school sevens tournaments
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@Stargazer said in Invitational, provincial, local & school sevens tournaments:
@Crucial It's a pity that it works this way. A lot of people, most importantly the players, won't know who organises this. I've noticed that a lot of players think that the NZ Condor 7s team is an official NZ representative team and that they're playing at a schools world championship (at least, in normal years). They get to play in their first (and possibly only) "black jersey". It's sad to see players getting disappointed because of the organiser's "politics" and "agendas". I hope they are told that the real pathway to a rugby career and higher honours is via the Ignite7s, not the Condor 7s or World Schools 7s.
Credit where it’s due though, any comp arranged in a national or international basis is great for the kids. It is just these rare occasions when players haven’t come through the right schools that mean that they may not capture everybody.
I have seen firsthand how school sports loses the aim of being there for all players by administrators playing trades with each other. The “prestige “ factor of schools has a big influence on young players. Some have to move schools, some lose touch with friends etc and it’s all focused on the win for the ego of adults.
NZR have realized this and put systems in place to develop who they want slowly and encourage them to be wide ranging in their sports while still keeping in touch. They have ditched whole layers of rep teams. -
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MacEwan and Hilton are both from Hamilton BHS. Cashmore is from Tauranga BC I think.
I am wondering if players from the upper NI are favoured purely due to the ease of getting them to Auckland. I did read that it is the coaches that choose their teams, not the organisers, who have been getting some criticism about team selection.
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@Bovidae said in Invitational, provincial, local & school sevens tournaments:
MacEwan and Hilton are both from Hamilton BHS. Cashmore is from Tauranga BC I think.
I am wondering if players from the upper NI are favoured purely due to the ease of getting them to Auckland. I did read that it is the coaches that choose their teams, not the organisers, who have been getting some criticism about team selection.
The timing of this being straight after Condor was possibly to keep some players up there. Even so the slow announcements seem to indicate that coaches and managers were struggling to complete squads in some cases and the longer it went on the harder it got. Some players may have had preferences of teams and had to wait for one before going to another.
Difficult situation I guess but they seem to have got something anyway so that’s good for the kids. Just wish that the organisers would stop trying to make out that these are totally merit based/representative selections. -
Are the commentators paying to be there?
