American Raptors aim to become pipeline for U.S. national team — and eventually help make America internationally competitive

  • 📰 denverpost
  • ⏱ Reading Time:
  • 60 sec. here
  • 2 min. at publisher
  • 📊 Quality Score:
  • News: 27%
  • Publisher: 72%

United States Headlines News

United States Latest News,United States Headlines

In Glendale, the American Raptors are in the middle of an experiment to change the country’s strategy for developing rugby talent.

In Glendale, the American Raptors are in the middle of an experiment that could revolutionize the country’s strategy for developing rugby talent.

“So our thinking is, can we skim the next level of talent? We go to all kinds of the smaller combines, and pro days, and then we flat-out scour every collegiate football program in the U.S. looking for athletes that fit our parameters for size and athleticism.” When Bullock and Raptors general manager Peter Pasque initially started recruiting for the team in 2020, just after the pandemic hit, they started by messaging potential players on social media. One of those recruits was Saginaw Valley State linebacker Devin Still, who had his pro day wiped out by COVID. With that, any chance of signing with an NFL team also went out the door.

Still is one of the Raptors’ success stories over the past two seasons, along with about a dozen players who have signed with Major League Rugby from the club. One player, Michael Bandy, jumped to the Los Angeles Chargers’ practice squad after spending 2021 in Glendale. The U.S. National Team, known as the Eagles, is a combined 2-21 over its last six World Cups. The U.S. has never advanced past the pool stage, and in the last World Cup in Japan in 2019, the Eagles went 0-4 and were pummeled with a minus-104 scoring margin.

 

Thank you for your comment. Your comment will be published after being reviewed.
Please try again later.
We have summarized this news so that you can read it quickly. If you are interested in the news, you can read the full text here. Read more:

 /  🏆 13. in US

United States Latest News, United States Headlines

Similar News:You can also read news stories similar to this one that we have collected from other news sources.

GOP hopes to carry Virginia success into US House racesA GOP sweep of Virginia’s 2021 statewide elections—and particularly Gov. Glenn Youngkin’s win—appears to have energized the Republican field in two of the country’s most competitive U.S. House races.
Source: ABC - 🏆 471. / 51 Read more »

GOP hopes to carry Virginia success into US House racesA GOP sweep of Virginia's 2021 statewide elections — and particularly Gov. Glenn Youngkin's win — appears to have energized the Republican field in two of the country's most competitive U.S. House races. So sorry for your loss KSL No. It's the Dems running the country that has 'energized the Republican field'. You don't get sure things very often.
Source: KSLcom - 🏆 549. / 51 Read more »

Canada Plans Billions in Military Spending to Counter Russia Threat in ArcticCanada on Monday pledged to spend over $30 billion over the next two decades to help detect and track military threats from Russia and China in the Arctic $PLTR 30 billion over decades. Meanwhile Biden wasted more than that in Ukraine in 1 month What happens if detected?
Source: WSJ - 🏆 98. / 63 Read more »

TikTok ditching its servers for Oracle after new allegations of data exposed to ChinaTikTok said it has made changes to its storage of Americans' data following new allegations that the platform's China-based parent company accessed U.S. users' data.
Source: WashTimes - 🏆 235. / 63 Read more »

Boebert Watch: Escorts, Abortions and Drunk Driving, Oh, My!After American Muckrakers took aim at Lauren Boebert, she fired back.
Source: denverwestword - 🏆 315. / 61 Read more »

American Airlines to cut service to 3 cities due to pilot shortage, reports sayA pilot shortage is reportedly forcing American Airlines to stop servicing three U.S. cities. Want to save some time? No losses to PHX. The you are fired for not getting the poke is hitting many industries. I guess they shouldn't have chased pilots off over an experimental jab that didn't stop transmission
Source: abc15 - 🏆 263. / 63 Read more »