For Immediate Release
February 26, 2009

BOULDER, Colo. – Alison Price, of West Harrison, NY, has been named to the USA Women’s National Sevens Rugby Team that will travel to the inaugural Women’s Rugby World Cup Sevens event in Dubai, March 6-7.

Price, who plays for the New York Rugby Club, is just one of 12 women’s players from across the U.S. selected to attend the event.

The U.S. Women’s Team, coming off an emotional overtime loss to England in the International Women’s Sevens Championship match in San Diego on February 14, spent last week training in Little Rock, Ark., and will depart for Dubai on Sunday, March 1.

The U.S. Women’s Sevens Team will seek revenge against England, as they face-off in their first match of pool play on March 6 in Dubai. Later in the day, the U.S. will face Japan and finally Russia to round out their Pool B competition.

As the 2009 Rugby World Cup Sevens is a landmark first for the Women’s Game, the seeding structure is based upon the qualifying tournaments across all six International Rugby Board (IRB) regions during 2008.

The 16 teams who will compete in the women's competition in Dubai are: Brazil, England, Netherlands, Russia, France, Spain, Italy, Australia, New Zealand, South Africa, Uganda, Japan, Thailand, China, USA and Canada.

Rugby Sevens is the version of the game that the IRB is pushing for re-inclusion in the Olympic Games in 2016. Rugby was played at four previous Olympic Games in 1900, 1908, 1920 and 1924 and the USA is the reigning Olympic Champions, winning in both 1920 and 1924.

Rugby Sevens, which is played on the same size field as Rugby 15s, but with only seven players and for seven minute halves, is already successfully integrated in major international multi-sport events such as the Commonwealth Games, the Asian Games, the Pan American Games and the World Games and it has a proven track record of filling stadia – the Commonwealth Games 2006 Sevens tournament was attended by 150,000 spectators over three days, second only to track and field.

The broadcast-friendly showpiece event in Dubai, which will break new ground with the inclusion for the first time of a 16-team women’s tournament running alongside the 24-team men’s competition, will be screened in 140 countries through 25 international broadcasters.

With the competition promising to be intense, highlighted by the most competitive start to an IRB Sevens World Series in a decade, Rugby fans around the world will be treated to over 380 hours of live, delayed and highlights coverage.

For results from the event or to watch the U.S. Women’s Team on the web, visit http://www.rwcsevens.com. For more information on rugby in the U.S., visit www.usarugby.org or contact Sara John at sjohn@usarugby.org.

USA Women’s Sevens Team:

Amy Daniels, Boston, Mass. (Beantown)

Lauren Hoeck, Washington, DC (NOVA)

Ellie Karvoski, Little Rock, Ark., (Little Rock)

Pam Kosanke, Chicago, Ill (Chicago Northshore)

Teena Mastrangelo, Chicago, Ill. (Chicago Northshore)

Alison Price, New York, NY (New York)

Christy Ringgenberg, Minneapolis, Minn. (Minnesota Valkyries)

Ines Rodriguez, Philadelphia, Pa. (Keystone)

Jen Sinkler, Philadelphia, Pa. (Keystone)

Jen Starkey, Washington, DC (NOVA)

Jess Watkins, Palo Alto, CA (Stanford)

Kelly White, Belmont, Calif. (Belmont Shore)

Non Traveling Reserves:

Ida Bernstein, Balitimore, MD (Keystone)

Phaidra Knight, New York, NY (New York)