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"O Say Can You See…" : Former Canadian Coach Ric Suggitt Signs with USA Women's 7s Program
from BCRN 7s Correspondent
posted Jan 11 2010
[ed. readers have also sent this story link from rugbyrugby.com]
There was breaking news from Boulder, Colorado today with the announcement that former Canadian coach Ric Suggitt has been appointed the national team coach for the USA Women’s Sevens Team.
Details about the signing of the man from the Saskatchewan River country are appropriately in short supply - however it is known that the former Canada coach will travel to Boulder at the end of this month to discuss details about his new team – its budget and the development strategy as they begin preparations for the Olympics in Brazil.
Meanwhile back home - our national sevens team still does not have a coach, a plan or a budget by all accounts.
Worse – we have lost another world class coach with more experience and more legitimate accomplishments on his resume than there are miles across our great land.
It should be no secret to anyone that our former coach fought off continual interference and ongoing frustration from the union brass in Richmond Hill.
In fact qualifications and experience seemed to mean little when it came time for the re-appointment process – they didn’t like him and that was the end of the story – period.
Once again our record in the ‘fair treatment’ category for coaches and for our volunteers is dismal on a good day as we continue to be riddled with in-fighting, sub-plots and conspiracies against each other to the point of dysfunction.
We grind those we dislike into submission so that they step away from the game never to return - and worse – they never have a good thing to say about the administration or the governance again – and some of us normal folks need a full-time shrink just to say something positive going forward!
It is all completely counter productive and the fact that our players do as well as they do on the field is a credit to them - and to their coaches, managers and medical personnel.
Several years ago our entire union was run by two individuals – the very competent Liz Ferguson and equally competent Keith Wilkinson.
Now we have eight people listed on the office map in Toronto and another sevens listed next to the brewery in Victoria – small wonder our elite teams have no on-field budget!
(In fairness - at least half the crew in Victoria do work directly on the rugby field)
However - the process set up to enquire about where and how our monies are being used for the elite teams is a joke - and one can hear the laughter from the lookout in St. John’s harbor all the way to Port Renfrew’s rocky shores.
More disturbing too is the rumor that the present group of individuals who have governance over this mess want to change the union by-laws which would allow them to stay in office longer – thus putting a strangle hold on their present power position.
Further – this past week a nationwide conference-call (about insurance) involving 40 + stakeholders was like listening to the “Thoughts of Chairman Mao” as the insurance tycoons attempted to infiltrate the membership minds about the “real deal” we were getting despite the rising price of the insurance to the rugby masses.
And let’s be clear here – for insurance companies one claim is bad business – that’s why they dominate the multi-national success landscape in Forbes!
There is word from some quarters that Quebec has already withdrawn from the insurance scheme – some universities who were being double billed (since all varsity teams are insured by their respective schools already) were on the verge of pulling out and there were more serious questions left unanswered by the end of the conference pow-wow.
Maybe it’s time for a new catch-phrase – instead of “pay-to-play” maybe we should adopt a “play-at-your-peril” call sign and get out of this money grab which seems to go more towards salaries than safety-nets for our players.
The point of all this rambling is to draw attention to the fact that we have lost another resource – an elite coach and a intense patriot - and that should be unacceptable to all of us who wear the Maple Leaf - particularly so when the women’s job in this country lies vacant.
We are being mismanaged by those individuals in-charge and we don’t have access to insist upon any change.
The loss of Ric Suggitt to the American Sevens Team is a significant one in this country.
In 1999 Suggitt took Canada to the Fiji Sevens (team listed below) and thus began an international career which has lasted over eleven years in the short game. No one, even within the elite iRB Sevens circuit, has such an extensive resume of accomplishment.
Fiji Sevens 1999
TEAM
John Graf (Capt.), Jordi Cook, Simon Pacey, Mike Armstrong, Darrel Underwood, Jason Verstraten, Andrew Hoffman, Winston Stanley, Fred Asselin, Nick Milau.
Coach: Rick Suggitt
He has landed on every continent the planet has to offer and coached in nearly every major rugby city world-wide.
Experience like that cannot be replaced nor can the skills this man brought to the athletes under his tutelage – the Americans have scored a major coup by signing him today and it will most certainly come back to haunt us.
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