University | MIT, Rutgers University | ||||||||||||
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Spouse | Heide Ruppel | ||||||||||||
Children | Carmen-Anita Signes, Heide Signes, Stephen Signes, Ricardo Signes | ||||||||||||
Rugby union career | |||||||||||||
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Emil Signes (born 1940) is a former coach for the United States national rugby sevens team. [1] [2] [3] [4] He also facilitated the inclusion of the rugby sevens in the Olympics, [5] due to his promotion of women's rugby worldwide. [5] He is the founder and coach of Atlantis, an invitational 7s rugby team for developing rugby talent among both men and women. [6]
Signes is often referred to as "The Emperor" [7] for his work growing and expanding the game of rugby sevens worldwide. In the official magazine for the first Rugby World Cup Sevens in 1993, he was profiled among leaders in rugby sevens and called an "international legend." [8] With regard to the inclusion of rugby sevens in the Olympics:
"Rugby would not be an Olympic sport without the women, and women would not have an international sevens presence were it not for one man – Emil Signes."
— Alex Goff (American rugby sports writer and commentator), 2009 [5]
This is in line with the International Olympic Committee's focus of advancing the cause of women in sport. [9]
Signes has earned other nicknames: For having coached numerous players that went on to become coaches, as well as for having coached both parents and their children, Signes was given the nickname of "Grandcoach" by Paddy McNally, Northern Hemisphere Referee Selector for the Sevens World Series. [10] At the 2011 USA Sevens Collegiate Rugby Championship in Philadelphia, 18 of the 24 teams in attendance were coached by players that had formerly played on one of Signes's teams. [11] Many of the players coached by Signes have subsequently gone on to coach national rugby teams themselves, including Al Caravelli, Tom Billups, Kathy Flores, Pete Steinberg and Alex Magleby. [10]
Signes began coaching Princeton University Women's Rugby Club in 2004, helping them that year to the USA Rugby Collegiate Final Four. [12] He led the team to two Ivy League championships (2005 and 2013). [13] He also coached Princeton in the inaugural USA Sevens Women's Collegiate Rugby Championship. [14] Signes retired from coaching 15s rugby in 2013 after serving as head coach to Princeton for 9 years, although he still works as a coaching consultant.
Signes founded Atlantis US Sevens Rugby in 1986. Between 1986 and mid-2014 Atlantis – men, women, boys, girls - has fielded 206 squads at 145 tournaments in 31 different countries. In their spring 2014 efforts, Atlantis Women won the Madrid Sevens (Spain) and the Atlantis High School Boys won the Surfside Sevens (NJ). [15] Signes continues to coach rugby sevens through Atlantis, helping players of both genders to develop and compete for positions on the USA Sevens National Teams. [16] [17] [18]
In August 2017, for his tireless efforts, the championship trophy for the USA Rugby Men’s and Women’s Club 7s National Championships are now known as the Emil Signes Cup. [19]
In addition to his work coaching, Signes has authored numerous articles in Rugby Magazine (now Rugby Today). Among these is a handbook called Sevens Special, which he authored both "to provide the rugby public with an in-depth analysis of sevens so that (they) may intelligently spread the word" and "to help (players and coaches) learn about the game and play it better." [20]
Signes was honored with induction to the U.S. Rugby Hall of Fame in 2015. [21]
College rugby, more specifically rugby union, is played throughout universities in the United States of America. Between 2004 and 2010, rugby was the fastest growing sport in the United States when its popularity increased by roughly 350% .. College rugby is governed by USA Rugby, and does not fall under the auspices of the NCAA, with the exception of 27 NCAA women's programs. Women's rugby has been classified as an NCAA Emerging Sport since 2002.
Rugby union in the United States is a fast growing sport in the nation. Rugby union at the youth, high school, college, amateur club, professional, and international levels is governed by USA Rugby. There are over 125,000 players registered with USA Rugby as of 2016. Over 2,500 rugby union clubs exist around the country, including those of whom are part of college rugby. Professional club competition has existed as Major League Rugby since 2017.
The Lady Ruggers are Penn State University's1(PSU) Women's Rugby Football Club sports team, established in 1991. They are a Division I college rugby team who play under USA Rugby2, American rugby's governing body. Although they are an official PSU team the women's rugby program at PSU is not funded as a varsity sport and therefore can not be officially called the "Nittany Lions". They however play other school's varsity teams and get more assistance from the school as a sports program than Penn State's many club sports. Formally coached by Peter Steinberg.
The Louisiana State University Rugby Football Club, often referred to as LSU Rugby, represents Louisiana State University in college rugby and rugby sevens. The team is part of the Southeastern Collegiate Rugby Conference (SCRC) and they play their home matches at the UREC Field Complex on LSU's campus.
The Princeton Tigers are the athletic teams of Princeton University. The school sponsors 35 varsity teams in 20 sports. The school has won several NCAA national championships, including one in men's fencing, three in women's lacrosse, six in men's lacrosse, and eight in men's golf. Princeton's men's and women's crews have also won numerous national rowing championships. The field hockey team made history in 2012 as the first Ivy League team to win the NCAA Division I Championship in field hockey.
The Army Rugby Football Club was founded in 1961 and for over 50 years the Army Black Knights have been a leader in USA Collegiate Rugby. The Army Ruggers are West Point’s most winning team.
The Central Washington Wildcats are the 12 varsity athletic teams that represent Central Washington University, located in Ellensburg, Washington, in NCAA Division II intercollegiate sports. The Wildcats compete as members of the Great Northwest Athletic Conference.
The first tier of intercollegiate sports in the United States includes sports that are sanctioned by one of the collegiate sport governing bodies. The major sanctioning organization is the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA). Before mid-1981, women's top-tier intercollegiate sports were solely governed by the Association for Intercollegiate Athletics for Women (AIAW). Smaller colleges are governed by the National Association of Intercollegiate Athletics (NAIA). Two-year colleges are governed by the National Junior College Athletic Association (NJCAA) in most of the country, except for the unaffiliated California Community College Athletic Association (CCCAA) and Northwest Athletic Conference (NWAC).
The Princeton University Rugby Football Club competes in the Ivy League in Division I-AA of USA Rugby's intercollegiate competition.
Division 1-A Rugby is the highest level of college rugby within the United States and is administered by USA Rugby. Division 1-A rugby is modeled after NCAA athletic competitions, with the 67 D1-A rugby schools divided into eight conferences: East, Mid-South, Rocky Mountain, California, Big Ten, Liberty, Red River, and PAC.
The Collegiate Rugby Championship (CRC) is an annual college rugby sevens tournament. The CRC is the highest profile college rugby sevens competition in the United States, with the tournament broadcast live on NBC from 2010–2017, on ESPN News and ESPN3 from 2018–2019, The Rugby Network in 2021, and on CBS Sports from 2022. The CRC has capitalized on the surge in popularity of rugby following the 2009 announcement of the addition of rugby sevens to the Summer Olympics.
Alexander Magleby is the CEO of the professional rugby union team, The New England Free Jacks. He is a former professional rugby union coach, and former United States national team player and captain.
The United States women's national rugby sevens team competes in international rugby sevens competitions. The team finished second at the 2015 USA Women's Sevens, after defeating Russia in the semifinals. They competed at the 2016 Summer Olympics.
The Lindenwood Lions men's rugby team represents Lindenwood University in college rugby. Lindenwood plays in Division I-A in the Mid-South conference. The team is coached by Josh Macy. The Lindenwood men's rugby team won the 2012 USA Rugby Division II national championship in its inaugural season, and finished second in Division I-AA for the 2012-13 season. Following the 2012-13 season, Lindenwood moved up to Division I-A for the 2013-14 season. Lindenwood has also had success in Sevens. The Lions won the D1 7s National Championship in 2015 & the Red Bull University 7s Championship.
The Varsity Cup Championship was an American college rugby competition established in 2012 to serve as an invitational championship following the breakaway of several schools from Division 1-A Rugby.
Duncan George Kelm is a former USA Rugby national team member, World Rugby Sevens Series competitor, and United States Olympic Training Center resident. As a prop and hooker, he played for the USA Rugby Men's Sevens team from 2011 to 2012, and appeared in four international tournaments. Prior to his full-time move into Sevens rugby, he had numerous appearances on the USA Rugby Men's Fifteens team from 2010 to 2011.
Ryne "Pono" Haitsuka is an American professional rugby union player. He has played with such teams as Mystic River in the American Rugby Premiership and the San Diego Breakers in the PRO Rugby competition. He has also represented the United States as a member of the United States national rugby sevens team.
Joshua Whippy is a rugby union player who plays for the Utah Warriors of Major League Rugby (MLR) and the United States men's national team. Whippy previously played for the USA Selects.
Chris Frazier is an American professional rugby union player currently with the New England Free Jacks. He plays both fifteens and sevens and has represented the United States with the USA Falcons 7s side. He is a former Collegiate All-American and previously played club level rugby for Mystic River.
Founded in 1958, the San Diego State Aztecs rugby club is the rugby club of San Diego State University in San Diego, California. It fields both men's and women's teams, the men compete in Division 1-A in the California conference and the women play in the Pacific Desert conference of Division II. The Aztec men's team won the US National Collegiate Rugby Championship in 1987.