Why Sevens?
Sevens is, in my opinion, the ultimate sport for the strength and conditioning coach/sport scientist for a number of reasons.
Similar demands for all players
Compared with many sports, including rugby union, athletes in sevens have much less specified roles. While there are certainly different tasks required for different positions i.e. scrums, lineouts, restart roles, the requirements of each player are much more generalized and, for example, the differences in roles and physical qualities between a prop and wing in sevens is considerably less than in union. Likewise, the differences between a wide receiver and offensive linemen in American football are enormous and as such require completely different training protocols.
What this generality means to the sevens trainer is the ability to train all members of a team in a similar fashion, organizing training sessions that both address the individual needs of each player while doing so in a cohesive environment building the crucial factor of team unity. Contrast sevens with union, where a trainer can either emphasize team unity at the expense of individualization or vice versa.
Player management is more practical
Another beauty of sevens is the small team sizes, which makes individual attention much simpler for the trainer and team cohesion as a whole better. When a trainer only needs to manage twelve players instead of say thirty in rugby union or soccer or fifty or more in American football, it makes giving attention to individual much more practical. GPS data, biological markers, strength/speed, etc. are all much easier to manage when there are only twelve sets of data.
Entirely unique physical demands
In my incredibly biased opinion, sevens is the most physically demanding team sport in the world. Players on average will spend the majority of the game at heart rates greater than 80% of max, all the while repeatedly sprinting 20m or more. Players need to be incredibly fit to be able to maintain speeds greater than vVO2max for up to two minutes at a time, while also sprinting at maximum effort. Being incredibly fit is only half the problem though; players must also possess the absolute speed necessary to be effective.
This mix of speed and endurance is what makes sevens so attractive, and at times frustrating, from a sport science standpoint. While most sports include varying degrees of speed/power and fitness, sevens is in a league of its own. The ability to manage simultaneous speed/power and endurance training is a delicate balance that requires well thought out planning, specific task related testing, biochemical/biodynamic marking, and contingency planning.
For those truly interested in the art of physical preparation, sevens is a dream sport.
Physical preparation is paramount
As far as tem sports are concerned, there are few sports where physical preparation is as important as it is in sevens. This is in no way downplaying the technical and tactical aspects of the game, as they are obviously crucial, but in few sports are a player’s physical tools as important as they are in sevens. If you were to take a player and improve is 40m speed by .2 seconds and vVo2 by 2m-s, he would likely see in improvement in his play in rugby union. Take the same player and apply those improvements to sevens and his game will likely increase substantially more. The less technical and tactical the game, the more important physical preparation is.
These are just a few reasons why I think sevens is such a great sport for the strength and conditioning coach, though I am of course incredibly biased…
