Trinidad and Tobago Rugby Football Union (TTRFU) selection committee member Larry Mendez attended the first-ever sevens rugby coaching course organised jointly by the IRB and the Pan American Sports Organization (PASO).

The  course was fully  funded by PASO and the National Olympic Committees and attended by 30 participants.

The countries represented were Canada (Morgan Williams, new men’s coach), USA (Sue Parker, current women’s coach), Mexico, Bermuda, Bahamas, Trinidad & Tobago, Cayman Islands, Costa Rica, Brazil, Cuba, Ecuador, Peru, Uruguay, Barbados, Guyana, Jamaica, Dutch Antilles, Chile, Costa Rica, El Salvador, Paraguay, Colombia, Saint Vincent, Argentina (new coach, Nicolas Fernandez Lobbe) and Paraguay. 

Four of the coaches had no rugby coaching experience at all but, having been top class coaches for over 20 years in other sports like football and swimming. They were selected by their respective NOCs.

Trinidad and Tobago Olympic Committee (TTOC) president Larry Romany is confident that PASO will work closely with the IRB in the years leading up to RIO 2016 to make sure that the Americas region develop the sevens rugby coaching intellect that will ensure that Sevens rugby in PASO is at a high standard.

Recently, the TTRFU, with support from the  Ministry of Sport, secured the  services of a New Zealand  Technical Advisor (Murray Roulston) to work with  local rugby coaches and the T&T national  sevens rugby team. Roulston will initially spend three months in T&T. 

The T&T Olympic head said that this was an important first step.

’The local coaches and players will benefit. No amount of certification  can make up for high level experience. If you are going to provide the local coaches and players with foreign support, it has to be with people from one of the leading IRB rugby nations with a proven track record either at the rugby World Cup or professional level,’ said Romany.

Romany also revealed that rugby will have to meet the TTOC’s fitness criteria  for upcoming multi sport games under the auspices of the TTOC.