And Now, A Word For Our Sponsors

THANK YOU!

Stars Rugby 7s has only been in existence for two weeks (our origin story to come tomorrow) and already we've seen a wealth of support. There have been many people directly and indirectly bringing this all together behind the scenes through financial, administrative, recruiting and design roles that deserve a brief bit of praise:

First - A tip of the hate to "Doc" John Tinsley for creating the foundations of this side through his rugby networking - his rugby network surpasses my own sizable community! Similarly to Andy Ireland and Lee Bennett from Beaver Sevens Rugby who have organized a great pool of international players for two prior USA 7s tours; Andy and Lee's vision with overseas touring rugby has provided me great playing opportunities and I'm drawing on some Beaver friends to fill our rosters. Without these folks we wouldn't have the bare bones of a team or an idea to run with. Also to Eyal Hakim of Florida Atlantic University Women's Rugby for assisting with all the preparations, for coaching our side, for landing sponsors, and for bearing with my MANY texts/calls/chats every day. His tireless enthusiasm and willingness to dream big are much appreciated.

Note this is starting to sound rather Oscar speech-y. My apologies. I also lost this post to a computer crash when it was near complete so am quickly writing while wiping away tears of frustration.

Next - Three cheers to the design team at LegendBorne. Dave Bryant also deals with daily calls/texts/chats (though to be fair often intiates them) and has created a fantastic new line of rugby gear - with women's specific kit - and we'll be debuting his jerseys, shorts, hoodies and tech tees in Vegas. His quick turnaround on my abstractly described (and Microsoft Paint-ed) jersey ideas is impressive, as his attention to detail. his partners John Bryant and Chris Gillispie have patiently worked wonders and we're thrilled the results.

Finally - The $$$! Over the course of the last few days we've had several jersey sponsors donate to the team and will proudly wear their logos on our jerseys and shorts. Rugby Academy of America, Rugby Promotions Inc, Grubber, and The Irishmen have all contributed to our fundraising goals. We've had support from the rugby community as well - The Sexy Manatees (rugby friends from the amazing Stampede 7s tournament in Calgary) and Ryan, Kyle & Paul from the States have all donated through our team fundraising site; several players have individual fundraising pages to lower their individual travel costs which are progressing quite nicely.

I'd be remiss if I didn't mention the support of several rugby outlets and social media support/interest in our team including Rugby Magazine, This is American Rugby, YSC, Life Love Rugby, The Rugby Corner, Ruck Bottom,  Serevi and the USA Sevens media team have been all sharing/posting/tweeting our tale. Please give them a follow/like/click and look for their own take on the Stars as we continue preparations for Vegas.

We have 2 more days to accept major sponsors (see this post for details) and will keep the team fundraising site open through USA 7s at the end of January . The massive community support thus far is overwhelming but that's how the heart of rugby. We'll carry this with us to honor you through our play and toast you when we raise the cup!

Cheers,
Liz