Sports fans may find something to interest them during the usually quiet February when Las Vegas, the so-called Entertainment Capital of the World, hosts the USA Sevens rugby tournament and an International Fan Festival on February 13 and 14.
Set to take place at the Sam Boyd Stadium, the two-day weekend rugged and highly competitive event will feature some of the world’s leading rugby sevens teams, including vanguard teams representing England, South Africa and New Zealand.
Currently ranked 11th internationally, the U.S. team, departed last Thursday, Nov. 26 for the Series opening tournament in Dubai, UAE (Dec. 4-5), where it will face England, Kenya and Russia.
Returning players from the U.S. squad that went to Dubai in 2008 are Matt Hawkins and Mark Bokhoven, who both return from injuries, Nese Malifa and Shalom Suniula. The remainder of the U.S. team is comprised of relatively new faces, but the players are reportedly fast, fit, strong and very skillful.
Captaining the U.S. team is veteran Jone Naqica, who is the most capped U.S. Sevens player and all-time leading scorer for the Eagle Sevens team.
Attendance at the 2009 games was more than 37,000, an increase of greater than 40% from 2007, with 2010 games anticipated to grow even more.
Featuring 16 professional teams from all parts of the world, the Las Vegas weekend event captures international attention with 44 games providing more than eight hours of play on each day.
Each game of the round-robin style tournament is less than twenty minutes, providing fast and intense competition. Watching some of the quickest and most agile athletes in the world, spectators are entertained by the fast paced, high scoring games, as well as the electric atmosphere created by the avid fans.
To learn more, please log onto http://www.usasevens.com/
Vegas Backstage Access (VBA) 