American youth rugby’s premier sevens tournament returns this weekend, with the North American Invitational 7s tournament kicking off this Friday in Salt Lake City, Utah. A total of 75 boys teams and 44 girls teams covering U14, U16, U18, and U23 age groups will compete over the course of two days at the beautiful Salt Lake Regional Athletic Complex.

High School Nationals is back.

This year’s tournament will be the final stop for the NAI 7s which features teams from the US, Canada and Caribbean.

Somewhere, someday, somebody in 19th century thought to themselves, "Hmm, rugby would be a lot cooler if there were less players and more space to work with." The solution to this pondering was the invention of rugby sevens, which as the name would suggest, involves two teams of sevens playing on the same size pitch as a standard rugby game. 

What does it mean when someone throws around the terms "lineout" or "scrum"? And no, a scrum is not when a mosh pit of football or basketball players fight for a loose ball. These are specific rugby terms, and they refer to what are known as "set pieces" in a rugby game. 

As far as team sports go, rugby and football are probably the two most physical when it comes to collisions and impact on the body. While both games have implemented rules over the years to make play safer, there is still an inherit risk we take every time we step onto the field to play either rugby or football.