The world may have its attention on Winter Olympic sports for the next couple weeks, but the rugby sevens qualification tournaments for the 2018 Summer Youth Olympics are quickly approaching.

The North American qualifier for the Youth Olympics rugby sevens event takes place during the Las Vegas Invitational in Las Vegas on March 1-3.

The preliminary lineup of teams for the boys (U18) event is USA, Canada, Bermuda, Barbados, Mexico, and Jamaica.

For the girls (also U18) event, the lineup is USA, Canada, Mexico, Trinidad & Tobago, Jamaica, and Barbados.

It's possible these teams will change, but expect USA, Canada, and Mexico regardless.

Most of the tournament will be held on March 1-2, but the championship games will be played (presumably in Sam Boyd Stadium during a break in the USA sevens action) on March 3.

The winners will get a berth in the 2018 Youth Olympic Games in Buenos Aires on October 6-18. Rugby sevens was first played in the 2014 Nanjing Youth Olympics. In that tournament, the USA men were hit by a series of injuries and went 0-5. 

That team, however, contained some well-respected players, including University of Indiana standout Tyler Sousley, Penn State captain Malcolm May, Saint Mary's talents Aaron Matthews and Vili Helu, Belmont Shore flanker Sione Masoe, UCLA sevens captain Cian Barry, and current Eagles star Hanco Germishuys.

The women's team fared slightly better, going 1-3-1 and finishing fourth. Two years later, Richelle Stephens from that team played in the senior Olympics. 

Kat Ramage and Tess Feury are stars at Dartmouth and Penn State, respectively. Danielle Siua was a finalist for the 2017 MA Sorensen Award as the top women's college player in the country.

This is a useful introduction to high-pressure sevens rugby, but it is also exactly that — high-pressure. 

The rosters for these teams have been largely settled, say sources, but there may well be openings for spots even now.

USA Women's U18 Sevens Coach Emilie Bydwell: ebydwell@usarugby.org

USA Men's U18 Sevens Coach JD Stephenson: jstephenson@usarugby.org