Multi-sport Games will dominate the agenda for Sean White of Victoria, who was named Canadian men’s team rugby sevens head coach through 2024. That will include, most crucially, the last-chance qualifier next summer for the Paris Olympics.
White, hired as assistant coach in April of 2022 and named interim head coach in November of 2022, had the interim label taken off. White will guide sa国际传媒 in the 2023 Pan Am Games, which begin Friday with the opening ceremony in Santiago, Chile, with the rugby sevens competition taking place Nov. 3-4 at Estadio Municipal La Pintana.
The Oak Bay Secondary Barbs and James Bay Athletic Association product knows all about dealing with the Athletes Village experience, having reached the podium as a player for sa国际传媒 in winning gold medals at the 2011 Guadalajara and 2015 Toronto Pan Am Games, and also competing in the 2010 Delhi and 2014 Glasgow Commonwealth Games. White was undersized for XVs rugby but still earned 32 caps, including three in the 2011 World Cup, as a wiry, wily and determined back.
White’s bid for the Olympics as a sevens player, however, fell short in the last-chance qualifier at Monaco for Rio 2016, something that personally drives him as he prepares his charges for their last-chance shot at Paris 2024 in June at a venue to be announced.
sa国际传媒 lost to the U.S. in the final of the North American and Caribbean Paris Olympics qualifying tournament in August at Starlight Stadium in Langford. (The Canadian women, also based in Langford, won their qualifier at Starlight and are Paris-bound).
White guided sa国际传媒 to a heart-pounding, last-gasp 12th place finish in the 2023 HSBC World Series Sevens Series and earned the last berth to remain in the top tier for 2024, considered a critical achievement in terms of continued development.
“Ultimately, consistency under pressure is what will best prepare us for success in a competitive Sevens World Series and best prepare us for success at the Olympic Repechage Tournament,” White said in a statement.
The Canadian men qualified for the 2020 Tokyo Olympics and made the quarter-finals with a veteran team that almost all retired following Tokyo, leaving White to rebuild the program since 2022 with an emerging group that at the Pan Am Games in Santiago will include Victoria players Lachlan Kratz, Jack Carson, Matt Percillier and Jake Thiel.
“I’m really pleased to be able to carry on with this group another season as we continue to build as a collective. I truly believe this group has only scratched the surface of its capability and has something special inside of it,” said White.
“We saw it in moments last season. To reach our goals this season, we will learn from our mistakes last year as a staff and as players and grow from them. There is no effort without error. In our daily training environment we will challenge and push each other to build consistency.”
