Lumana'i Rugby Foundation Completes Third 2026 Talavalu and Segaula Sevens Selection Camp in Long Beach

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Long Beach, California — July 26, 2026 — The American Samoa Rugby Mo Le Lumana'i Foundation (ASRLF) concluded its third national team player identification camp of 2026 on July 17 at St. Anthony Athletic Complex in Long Beach, California, with 28 athletes–16 male and 12 female–turning out for evaluation by Talavalu Head Coach Mose Timoteo. 

Participants from the Player ID Camp in Long Beach, California.

The Long Beach camp completed a three-stop selection series that began in Bluffdale, Utah in March and continued in American Samoa in April. Hosted and funded by ASRLF, the camps are a core component of the national team selection process for the Talavalu and Segaula, American Samoa's men's and women's national 7s programs, ahead of the 2026 Oceania Rugby 7s Championship (dates and location TBD) and the 2027 Pacific Games in Tahiti. Across all three camps, over 60 athletes attended to try out for representation on the national teams. 

The player pool in Long Beach reflected the depth of the American Samoa-eligible rugby community across Southern California and the USA, with athletes traveling from within California, Washington, Utah, Texas, Michigan, Hawaii, and ranging in age from 15 to 25 across high school, college, and professional levels. The session opened with fitness testing, followed by fast-paced skills drills designed to evaluate players under pressure and test decision-making in game scenarios. During registration, players identified individual areas they wanted to develop, and those priorities helped shape the structure of the customized session. Balls for the session were provided by World Rugby and Gilbert through a ball grant for Oceania Rugby that includes American Samoa.

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"The talent we saw in Long Beach, especially from the younger players, was outstanding. The skillset, the fitness, the rugby IQ were all there and that’s exactly what these camps are designed to surface. What we saw here and at the AIGA Bowl matches gives us a lot of confidence in where this program is headed," said Mose Timoteo, Talavalu Head Coach

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The following day, July 18, Coach Timoteo attended the 2nd Annual AIGA Rugby Bowl as an official recruiter for the Talavalu program. The all-Polynesian all-star event featured boys and girls matches at the middle school and high school level, drawing talent from across the United States. Several of the younger athletes from the July 17 camp competed in the Aiga Bowl the next day, giving Coach Timoteo an additional look at players in live competition.

ASRLF thanks Aiga Bowl Organizers, Robert Pahulu and Lolesio Pua, volunteer coaches, Peter Sio and Tai Tuisamoa, for assisting in the Long Beach camp instruction, and all of the Belmont Shore Youth Rugby coaches and volunteers for their support of the event.

The next steps after the completion of the three selection camps is to narrow down the player pools for the men’s and women’s teams. The player pool will be the players considered to represent American Samoa at future national and international competitions. Final rosters for future competitions will be identified based on fitness, skills, and are subject to player availability for individual competitions. Additionally, the ASRLF and Amerika Samoa Rugby Union (ASRU) will undertake fundraising activities to support the national teams, as well as grassroots development for youth and high school players in American Samoa.  

Players interested in the Talavalu or Segaula player pool who were unable to attend a camp can complete the interest form at lumanairugby.org.

Companies and businesses interested in sponsoring the American Samoa national teams can find more information here or contact info@lumanairugby.org. 

About the American Samoa Rugby Mo Le Lumana’i FoundationThe American Samoa Rugby Mo Le Lumanai Foundation (ASRLF) is a Colorado-based 501(c)(3) nonprofit that supports rugby development for players in and connected to American Samoa. Its name draws on the Samoan phrase "mo le lumana'i," meaning "for the future," and its work centers on both grassroots development and high performance support for the American Samoa national 7s teams, with the support of the Amerika Samoa Rugby Union.  Learn more at lumanairugby.org. 

Media Contact Kristin Richeimer, CAE ASRLF Co-Chair & Treasurer kristin@lumanairugby.org