A further step in the Bay of Plenty Rugby Union Women's Sevens pathway has been taken with the re-appointment of the representative team coach for the next twelve months.
The entrance of Women's Rugby Sevens at the 2016 Olympics in Rio, has become the catalyst for the Bay of Plenty Rugby Union revitalised focus on the women's game in the Bay of Plenty.

The re-appointment of Kevin Lee as the BOPRU Women's 7's Head Coach, brings a wealth of rugby knowledge to the Bay Women's 7's representative team. After his playing days for Waikite, Kevin had stints mentoring the Reporoa and Rotoiti senior teams, says a BOPRU spokesperson.

In addition, Kevin has coached the Central Bay senior representatives and Bay of Plenty age group sides.
Kevin also brings an extensive knowledge of the sevens game to his Head Coach role, having coached his club sevens side and fulfilled the assistant coach role with the Bay of Plenty Men's Sevens side, along with coaching the Te Waiariki senior side for the last five years.

'I have a real enthusiasm for my coaching responsibilities with the Bay Women's 7's team and have a wish to make the Bay team a genuine national title contender.

'I am particularly excited about the direction of women's rugby with the introduction of the sevens games as an Olympic sport for both men and women,” says Kevin.
The Bay of Plenty Rugby Union has put in place a structured approach to the development of the Women's 7's game.
In recent months Bay of Plenty Rugby have spread their net far and wide, and invited a number of highly talented sportswomen within the region, to attend three talent ID sessions in the Bay.

For those that are new to the game it has been important to get as much exposure as possible, to quickly pick up the technical and tactical requirements.
During June, two secondary schoolgirls sevens tournaments, along with senior women's games were held at the Paengaroa Domain.

The Women sevens development program will continue this month with two skills camps.

A further step will be the establishment of a Women's 7's Academy, which will include strength and condition support, training camps and individual training programmes.
On Sunday, August 19, the Bay women's team will be in action in one of three Go4Gold Regional Women's 7's tournaments to be played in the country.

The Northern tournament will be played in Auckland, where the Bay of Plenty team will face sides representing North Harbour, Auckland and Waikato.
The expected explosion of the women's 7's game with contracted players, an IRB women's 7's world circuit and inclusion in the 2016 Olympics, will give the players, coaches and referees in the Bay of Plenty a multitude of opportunity to progress in the sport.