This weekend over 50 rugby referees will assemble in Chula Vista, CA for the first of two national development camps for match officials.
The camps form part of continued efforts by USA Rugby to invest in match official development within the USA. Invited to the camps are members of the four Regional Development Groups (RDG) for 2024-25, and USA Rugby is proud to announce the members of these groups, as well as the membership of other on-going referee development programs.
Overseen by the USA Rugby Referees and Laws Committee Pathways Working Group, Local Referee Organizations (LROs) in four regions of the US collaborate to identify approximately 25 referees per region with demonstrated skill, potential to improve, and who are competitive at their current level or want to advance. The listings of these four RDGs are refreshed annually during the fall.
The selected referees participate in dedicated monthly online meetings, and are invited to attend one of two national development camps, organized jointly this year between MLR and USA Rugby. This year these camps will be held in San Diego, CA in December, and Fort Lauderdale, FL in January.
“My thanks to Andy Buck, Tammy Cowan, Randall Johnson, and Marc Nelson, who have been co-ordinating the selection of these RDG groups. I am excited to see most of these referees at our camps starting this weekend, and we have a good program of material planned with MLR. MLR and USA Rugby have been working in lockstep for a year now to enhance the development pipeline from local referee organizations to MLR and beyond to World Rugby levels,” said Jamie McGregor, USA Rugby Referee Manager.
“I am proud to say that this past season, 88% of referees in MLR were from North America,” said David Wilkinson, MLR Referee Manager, “and we intend to continue to work closely with USA Rugby to ensure that best practice advice, and the coaching messages and philosophies that we provide at MLR level are flowing down to the referees who will be the future of MLR. These upcoming development camps will be the perfect place for that to happen.”
This past year, referees in these groups also received extra consideration in selection for assignment to NIRA and D1A college matches, the Women’s Premier League (WPL) referee group and national USA Rugby 7s events, all managed by Richard Every, Amanda Cox and Nick Ricono, respectively.
Chosen from within the RDGs are approximately 40 referees of interest, chosen on the basis of performance. This group comprises the National Development Group (NDG), and receives further investment from USA Rugby including a personal referee coach, access to strength and conditioning support, and additional kit.
Last year saw the formation of USA Rugby’s National Referee Team, composed of the best domestic referees, in partnership with MLR. This year, National Referee Team members will assist in bringing high level developmental content to RDG monthly meetings, further strengthening the domestic referee developmental pathway.
There have also been an increasing number of domestic development opportunities and international opportunities provided by USA Rugby to officials. This past year USA Rugby supported either referee or referee coach attendance at tournaments such as Tropical 7s, NAI7s, the Great Northwest Challenge, HBCU Rugby Classic, Women's U23 All Star Championship, and international matches in Dubai, Ireland, Caribbean, Japan, Canada, Mexico, Georgia, and more.
There are two further development programs in operation – the High Performance Referee Group program (which has been run by Miles McIvor, and comprises eight referees identified as potentially refereeing in the MLR group within the next 3-5 years) and the Eagle Claws Program (which is run by Amanda Cox, for women in the RDGs who show promise to be advanced into the NDG).
“We’ve been building these referee structures for a few years now, adding improvements each year. Our growing partnership with MLR has been an important catalyst, as has been the tireless work of Rosalind Anderson, our Referee Development Coordinator,” said McGregor. “Our investment in match officiating is real and significant. It’s exciting to see these groups become increasingly robust development communities because of the hard work and dedication of these referees and their referee coaches.”
Marquise Goodwin, Kahlil Harrison, Cisco Lopez, Luke Rogan, Amelia Luciano, Kat Roche, Derek Summers, Lex Weiner.
Jacob Gonzales, Mike Lawrenson, Will Nelson, Katie Roth, Lindsey Oliver, Aaron Davis, Jarrod Ford, Joshua Musonera
Haley Aguiar, Enrique Alvarez, Elvy Asonye, Shawn Bastic, Joe Burpoe, Brandon Castro, Tyler Chicarella, Tom Ciampa, Jono Cooper, Aaron Davis, Ben Dickenson, David Edwards, Adam Falk, Patrick Feitt, Jarrod Ford, Dan Frankenfeld, Morris Fuller, Jacob Gonzales, Justin Hale, Alex Hedquist, Matt Lake, Mike Lawrenson, Sybil Levine, Timothy Levitsky, Tim Lew, Jenny Lui, Gregor MacDonald, Liz Malazita, Joshua Musonera, Will Nelson, Chris O'Malley, Lindsey Oliver, Juan Pablo Parra, Austin Reed, Katie Roth, Alexis Saari, Craig Sakowski, Ian Seaton, Marty Steffens, Kirk Swanner
WEST - Daniel Avellaneda, Ben Cohen, Kevin Duran, Steven Fenaroli, Hevani Kaihau, Kyle Kenny, Noah Lalonde, Wesley Livesey, Matalasi Morrissette, Alex Nunnally, Frank Palumbo
SOUTH - Allen Alongi, Jason Bramow, Jason Browning, Matt Duncan, Wian Engelbrecht, Gustavo Godoy, James Harrison, Rachael Hill, Alfredo Lopez, Kye Martinovic, Blair McClure, Rebekkah Rhynlock, Chris Pugh, Chase Vermaak
EAST - Constantjin Bakker, Nathan Brady, Ryan Caldwell, Tony Christopher, Akira Do, Sam Hall, Katie Hunzinger, Camille Juzwik, Marlena Quiles-Kwock, Morgan Roberts-Rinakama, Tara Roberts, Mikey Rudzinsky, Angela Sorrentino, Geoff Tancredi, Diego Villalobos, Sarah Weiner
MIDWEST - Raven Jones, Nate Lewin, Rachael McGrail, Nathan Myers, Margaret Nedow, Laura Nevill, Alec Prochniak, Sydney Ramgolan, Jared Scherrman, Katie Scheuber, Zach Smith, Jake Winkler, Phil Winkler, David Zaccaria
Camille Juzwik, Hevani Kaihau, Rachel McGrail, Matalasi Morrissette, Tara Roberts, Morgan Roberts-Rinakama, Katie Scheuber
Alexis Alfaro, Amelia Luciano, Bill Meyer, Bob Hausler, Chris Davis, Chris Harrington, David Pelton, DeLyn WiRepa, Greg Gilliam, Greg Varnell, Lee Bryant, Lee Johnson, Len Borcky, Luke Rogan, Marc Nelson, Marquise Goodwin, Mike Kelly, Miles McIvor, Nick Priscott, Olivia Rogers, Rosalind Anderson, Ross Davies, Sean Cox, Shawn Bastic, Sherri Magnunson, Terry Haas, Tigg Handel
