The Tribune

Dorian Roach represented the Bahamas at a coaching workshop in Las Vegas as part of the North American Rugby Association (NACRA) initiative to get prepared for the 2016 Olympics in Brazil. Las Vegas hosted the fifth leg of the HSBC IRB Rugby Sevens Series (www.irbsevens.com) in conjunction with the Las Vegas Invitational which included Elite men's teams, collegiate teams, U-18 sides and many more. Roach was assigned to the Canadian women's coach John Tate who was the tournament winner. He also got the chance to interact with the US men's coach Al Caravelli and the US women's coach Ric 'Sluggo' Sluggitt. "It was great, not only did we spend time with some of the top team coaches in the world, but a lot of time was spent with the coaches from development teams also," he said. "It's good to see what other teams with similar abilities are doing. Teams from Guyana (the Caribbean champions), Bermuda, Peru and Chile all took part in the Invitational - a division which the Bahamas could compete in." Along with the great coaches, Roach was able to observe a world-class tournament which saw Samoa triumph over New Zealand in a close final. He noted that with Rugby Sevens now in the Commonwealth Games and the 2016 Olympics, more and more attention is now being given to the sport. The Bahamas Rugby Football Union (BRFU), according to Roach, will look to explore these new possible grant streams, including the International Olympic Committee (IOC). William Mills, president of the BRFU, said funding is essential to the development of the Bahamas' team in order to travel and compete against top tier teams. "Travelling to one competition a year is not going to put our team in a position to compete for a spot at the next Olympics," Mills said. Many countries in the Caribbean region tour the US and Canada, playing elite men's sides to prepare for the NACRA Championships. This year, the NACRA Sevens Men's and Women's tournaments are set to be held in August in Ottawa, Canada, and it will serve as a qualifier for the 2013 IRB World Cup.