Sevens: Coaches back Islands youth

Former All Blacks Sevens players Chad Tuoro, far right, and Hayden Reid, far left, are sharing their knowledge with a young Cook Islands sevens side. Photo / Supplied

Bay of Plenty Sevens identities and current Cook Islands Sevens coaches Chad Tuoro and Hayden Reid are investing in youth in a bid to prepare the island nation for qualification for the 2018 Commonwealth Games and 2020 Olympics.

"We've got some up-and-coming players - a 20-year-old kid called Josh Petero who lives in Sydney who captained the team over the weekend and was probably the youngest captain at that tournament, if not in the world," Tuoro said.

"He's class and a guy who I've been trying to get over here to play for the Bay Sevens.

"We've also got a guy who went to Western Heights High School and lives in Rotorua, Junior Taia, who has turned 20 this year. He's a good prospect who played for the Rotoiti premier side this year and he'll be involved in the initial Bay Sevens programme.

"They've got a camp this weekend that he is going to so that's a positive."

Tuoro's ongoing role with the side will be governed by his ability to juggle coaching duties with his player development role with the Bay union.

"Ideally it would be good to stay around and build something towards 2020 and set up a programme where we've got players coming through and being developed and then obviously performing on the international stage.

"I'm lucky enough to be able to manage the role with my work here at the Bay union at the moment so it's all dependent on how much flexibility I have and how much commitment it requires. This coming year, because we don't have any tournaments, it won't require too much commitment, which is a positive, but if we want the team to get better there may have to be some more commitment put in.

"At the moment it's a good experience coaching and seeing if it's something we really want to do. We were lucky enough to get Hayden Reid on board, another local guy with plenty of sevens experience.

"We've both got young families and probably realise being an international sevens coach is not really what we want to be doing full time at the moment because they are obviously away quite a lot.

"This opportunity has been good to get a taste of it and still being able to have that balance between work and family."