A DETERMINED men’s unit under the new leadership of Richard Staglon and a balanced ladies unit departed Guyana Sunday evening bound for the United States, ahead of their North American and Caribbean Rugby Association (NACRA) 7s Olympic qualifiers. The team will make a pit-stop in New York where they will participate in several warm-up games before heading to North Carolina to play at the WakeMed Soccer Park; the venue for the June 13-14 Olympic Qualification.
Speaking last evening prior to their departure, representatives of the respective teams shared their thoughts on the preparedness of the units. Men’s head coach Theodore Henry said that this is what the guys have been putting in the long hours for. “The guys are very optimistic and pumped-up and ready to go out. We’ve been putting in a lot of work the last couple months so the guys are eager to go out there and represent.”
Meanwhile, ladies captain Carrin Carter heaped a lot of faith on to the unit. “I have a lot of confidence in the team, after coming back from not being present a couple of years. As the coach says hard work is bitter but success is sweet and we’ve been working hard over the last couple months.”
The team gathered at the Guyana Defence Force base Camp Ayanganna before boarding the bus for the airport. They will be joined by captain Richard Staglon in New York
The men’s team reads: Staglon as well as Dwayne Schroeder, Vallon Adams, Claudius Butts, Patrick King, Ronald Mayers, Avery Corbin, Lancelot Adonis, Rickford Cummings, Ryan Gonsalves, Travis Bascom, and Peabo Hamilton. John Lewis is the manager of the team while Henry is the coach and Phillip Browne, the strength and conditioning specialist.
Guyana are drawn in Pool B alongside Canada, Trinidad and Tobago, the Cayman Islands and the Bahamas while the Pool B features Mexico, the United States, Barbados, Jamaica and St Vincent. The ruggers’ first game is against the Bahamas on May 13 at the Main Stadium.
The ladies’ team comprises Carrin Carter as captain, Collette Hope, Sabola Grey, Carren Skeete, Andrea lashley, tricia Munroe, Helen Jarvis, Alicia Blackman, Cloetta Dublin, Olana Reece, Alanna Fraser and Ashanti Carrington. Chase is the Coach while Petal Adams is the Team Manager and Abiola Blair is the Physiotherapist.
The ladies are in Pool B with the Bahamas, Trinidad and Tobago and Mexico while Pool A has the United States, the Cayman Islands, Jamaica and Barbados.
The ladies open their tournament with a game against Trinidad and Tobago at the Koka Booth stadium before they play Mexico later and close off against the Bahamas.

By Stephan Sookram