GLENDALE, Col. -- The men's All-Army Rugby Sevens team won their seventh straight U.S. Armed Forces Championship at RugbyTown Sevens in Glendale, Colorado, on August, 24 beating the Air Force 33-5.
"To win seven times in a row means everything," said Mark Drown, the All-Army Rugby Sevens head coach. "Everything we do is about representing the Army and winning that Armed Forces championship."
The Soldier-athletes beat the Navy, the Marines, the Air Force and the Coast Guard, advancing them to the championship game where they won gold over the Air Force.
The Army outscored their opponents 198-22 in five games, similar to last year, 159-2. They also went on to earn the Plate Championship of RugbyTown Sevens over 20 national and international teams for the second year in a row.
After sweeping the competition, the Soldier-athletes mentally prepared for the finals.
"These are good teams and these services are representing all their men and women, and you can take nothing for granted ever," said Drown. "We wanted to spread the Air Force, expose their defensive gaps and then exploit them, and that's exactly what our guys did."
The team was composed of Soldiers from all over the country including Soldier-athletes in the U.S. Army's World Class Athlete Program.
The championship team receives support from the entire Army because all Soldier-athletes must have permission from their command to compete.
"The fact that we have been able to get the people out and away from their commands for seven straight years and have good enough players to win a championship has been amazing," said Cpt. William Holder, the team's captain since 2017. "The support we've received from the commands is great."
A week prior to the tournament, the Soldier-athletes meet to train at Camp Williams in Utah.
"We are able to train two-a-days with no distractions of Glendale or any other teams," said Sgt. Dacoda Worth, an intelligence analyst at Fort Belvoir. "We get to focus on us and rugby."
Drown, a retired colonel, uses the camp to work toward his two goals: creating a brotherhood-like culture and winning the Armed Forces Championship.
"The first step is for us to become brothers, coach really emphasizes that," said Worth, a Soldier-athlete of the team for three years. "If we can't become brothers we aren't going to mesh on the field. We are from all over so we don't get to practice every day together. Building the team relationship is important."
Once in Glendale, the team made their annual visit to Children's Hospital Colorado to spend time with the children.
"It is an amazing experience to see the kids," said Worth. "For us to go in and share time with them and uplift their spirits is a great time for us."
Holder said that all of the Soldier-athletes directly support Army readiness because of what they bring back to their units after the tournament.
"We expect and demand so much from these Soldiers," said Holder. "We hold them to a very high standard. They are able to go back to their units and share what they have learned in the process."
Holder mentioned that the team meets the Army's new Chief of Staff's priorities.
"He has three priorities: winning, which we have showed the past seven years; people, we are constantly looking for the best people; and team, we strive to have the best one," said Holder.
Holder said the team truly believes in the priorities and appreciates that the team is able to emulate them.
"We have won the Armed Forces championship but we do not want it to stop there," said Holder, a member of the team since its establishment in 2013. "We have shown that we can compete with the best teams in the world."
The All-Army Sports program is a part of the Family and Morale, Welfare and Recreation, G9, department of the Installation Management Command. The program is open to Soldiers from active duty, Reserve and National Guard to compete in a variety of sports at the highest levels including Armed Forces, USA Nationals and Military World Games.
To learn more about All-Army Sports, visit www.armymwr.com/ programs-and-services/sports-and-fitness/all-army-sports
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