Sport Testing Combine for Young Athletes, Giving Them Same Drills as the Pros, Highlights Full Slate of Music, Activities, Food, Beverages & Shopping in Fan Festival at 2017 Penn Mutual Collegiate Rugby Championship

Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, May 31, 2017 (Newswire.com) - Young athletes will have the chance to emulate professional athletes in the Sports Testing Combine at the 2017 Penn Mutual Collegiate Rugby Championship, as part of the Fan Festival at Talen Energy Stadium in suburban Philadelphia this weekend.

Sports Testing uses a combination of testing hardware, monitoring software and applications to assess both general athleticism and sport-specific skills. The tests clearly identify strengths and weaknesses so athletes and coaches can adjust training and competition schedules accordingly using unbiased data.

This seamless process enables athletes to view and compare their scores to players who have been tested previously and are in the Sport Testing database. Professional athletes such as Connor McDavid, Andrew Wiggins and Tristan Thompson are a few of the elite athletes who have been tested by the company. Additionally, the technology has been used by many NHL, NFL, NCAA, NLL, KHL and AFL teams and players as well as youth sports organizations globally.

Sports Testing joins join a full slate of fun activities, games, vendors, food and beverage companies, and more at this year’s Penn Mutual Collegiate Rugby Championship, which returns to Philadelphia and Talen Energy Stadium for the seventh consecutive year, on Saturday, June 3rd, and Sunday, June 4th, bringing national and International attention to the Philadelphia region through the live broadcasts on the networks of NBC Sports. 

Reserved and Field Level tickets are available online at https://www.USASevensCRC.com. Single-day reserved tickets are $80 and field level tickets are $56, and full weekend reserved tickets are $117 and field level tickets are $70.

The two-day rugby festival is one of the largest gatherings of collegiate and high school rugby teams in the world, with over 30,000 fans anticipated to be in attendance. Penn Mutual is in the third year of a title sponsorship for the event, and NBC Sports once again returns as both broadcaster and event partner.

Philadelphia’s Let There Be Rock School will fill the Fan Fest with two full days of live musical performances with local bands from the school.

Also at this weekend’s Rugby Fan Festival, USA Rugby 7s superstar players Danny Barrett, Perry Baker and Madison Hughes, as well as Head Coach Mike Friday, will be appearing for a pair of events during the World’s Largest Rugby Festival. On Saturday, June 3rd, the three stars of the United States national team that competed in the 2016 Olympics in Rio will join in a 45-minute question-and-answer session at 1 p.m., followed by an autograph session on the main stage of the Fan Fest outside Talen Energy Stadium. Hughes, the team captain, along with Barrett, Baker and their coach, Friday, will discuss their Olympic experiences, training regimens, the experience of playing in the HSBC Sevens World Series, and what it takes to perform at the highest level of rugby. The Q&A will be moderated by Pat Clifton of Rugby Today. And on Sunday, June 4th, Coach Friday is joined by the trio of Hughes, Barrett and Baker for a clinic focused on “Attacking,” showcasing key tactics and strategies when moving the ball in attack positions. The exclusive clinic will be held on the Academy Field outside Talen Energy Stadium from 11:20 a.m. to 12:20 p.m.

The featured event at the Penn Mutual Collegiate Rugby Championship is the 24-team field of the nation’s top men’s collegiate Rugby 7s squads competing for the national championship title and the Pete Dawkins Trophy. The trophy is named after the All-American football standout at West Point who won the Heisman Trophy in 1958.  Dawkins was a Rhodes Scholar and attended Oxford, where he used his outstanding football skills to make him a star on the Oxford Varsity rugby team, revolutionizing the game in the process.

At the top of that field is four-time defending champion University of California, returning to the pitch on which they have won the Pete Dawkins Trophy in an unprecedented show of dominance.  Men’s collegiate rugby sevens squads from American International, Arizona, Arkansas State, Army, Boston College, Clemson, Dartmouth, Indiana University, Life University, Lindenwood, Navy, University of Notre Dame, South Carolina, St. Mary’s College (Moraga, California), Tennessee, UCLA, Virginia Tech and Wisconsin, as well as Philadelphia-area favorites Delaware, Kutztown, Penn State, Saint Joseph’s and Temple, have all earned a spot in the 2017 championship field. 

This weekend’s Penn Mutual Collegiate Rugby Championship also includes a 16-team women’s Rugby 7s Championship field; the eight-team men’s Rugby 7s field for National Small College Rugby Organization Championship; the six-team men’s Rugby 7s field for College Challenge to earn a berth in next year’s main event; and 40 boys and girls high school teams competing in three separate tournament fields.

About United World Sports:  

United World Sports (UWS) is the largest commercial rugby entity in the United States, and the owner and operator of a growing portfolio of dynamic sports, media and apparel brands, including the USA Sevens Rugby international tournament, the largest professional rugby event in North America; the Penn Mutual Collegiate Rugby Championship, the premier college 7s rugby championship; and the Penn Mutual Varsity Cup Championship, the 15s-national rugby championship. Through its apparel division, UWS owns the exclusive North and South American license for Rhino Rugby, one of the world's leading rugby apparel and equipment brands. UWS also owns and operates RugbyToday.com, the largest and most widely read media destination dedicated to American rugby. For more information about UWS and its properties, visit: http://www.unitedworldsports.com.

About the Penn Mutual Life Insurance Company:  

Since its founding in 1847, Penn Mutual has been driven by its purpose to empower people to live life with confidence. At the heart of this purpose is the belief that purchasing life insurance is the most protective, responsible and rewarding action a person can take, and is central to a sound financial plan. The company is committed to helping individuals, families and small businesses unlock life's possibilities through life insurance and annuity solutions. This is accomplished through a national network of more than 5,000 financial professionals, who help clients make great things possible. Penn Mutual supports its field representatives with brokerage services through Hornor, Townsend & Kent, Inc. Registered Investment Advisor and wholly owned subsidiary. Member FINRA/SIPC. Visit Penn Mutual on the Internet at http://www.pennmutual.com.

About NBC Sports Group:  

When the Comcast-NBCUniversal transaction was completed in January 2011, the sports assets of the two companies combined to form NBC Sports Group, which serves sports fans 24/7 with premier live events, insightful studio shows, and compelling original programming. The sports media company consists of a unique array of broadcast television, cable television, radio and digital sports assets, including NBC Sports, NBC Olympics, NBCSN (NBC Sports Network), Golf Channel, 11 NBC Sports Regional Networks, NBC Sports Radio and NBC Sports Digital. 

Media Contacts:

Joe Favorito, [email protected], (201) 746-0005

Jim DeLorenzo, [email protected], (215) 266-5943

Source: Penn Mutual Collegiate Rugby Championship