Representatives from every continent on the planet converged on Petco Park Feb. 14 and 15 for the USA Sevens Rugby tournament — the fourth in a series of the eight tournaments of the International Rugby Board (IRB) World Sevens Series. Among the more familiar languages overheard at the park were English and Spanish – the more unusual included Swahili, Samoan, Fijian, Welsh and several exotic versions of English not often heard around downtown San Diego. Rugby fans of every age, some dressed the part for Valentine’s Day, some with painted faces and others in various stages of inebriation and undress, cheered raucously for their nations. Others cheered for the nearest country to their own as players provided two days of fast-paced play and excitement on the field. The 2009 tournament marked the third time the event has been held in the Padres’ downtown ballpark. “The competition is nine years old but the U.S. only became involved in 2004,” said Ray Peterson, managing director of USA Sevens LLC, the New York-based event organizer. The company took over the event in 2006 and moved it to San Diego from the 23,000-seat Home Depot park in Carson City, Nev., where it had previously been held. With little potential for growth there, Peterson began to look around. “I looked around the country and San Diego just got me,” said Peterson. The fact that the tournament came to San Diego is apt because many of the USA Sevens teams have connections here, particularly to the nationally acclaimed Old Mission Beach Athletic Club (OMBAC) rugby team. “I came out for a summer to play for OMBAC between sophomore and junior years at the University of Northern Iowa,” said USA team member Paul Emerick. The self-described Iowa farm boy has been playing rugby professionally in Europe since graduating from college six years ago. “We’re not making NFL money,” Emerick said. “But it’s a better living than I could have made right out of college and probably better than most could do now, too, especially in this economy.” Pay for players in Europe has varied between 3,000 to 15,000 Euros a month for a 12-month contract, he said. As the sport grows, the pay is steadily increasing too, with some players reportedly making several times the above range — and a lot more in sponsorship deals. Emerick adds there are many side perks like living in Italy, where he plays for Italian club Overmach Parma, learning to speak Italian and traveling the world with the USA Sevens that he did not foresee growing up in Iowa. USA team member Matt Hawkins grew up in South Africa but came to San Diego six years ago to visit an uncle and spent six months playing with the OMBAC side. Hawkins has since settled in Solana Beach and adopted a steady schedule of play for both the USA Sevens team and the full 15-man USA Eagles team. “The first time was kind of weird,” said Hawkins when asked what it was like to play for the USA against his former South African countrymen. “I knew a lot of them, I had played with many of them,” Hawkins said. “But running out on the pitch in front of the home crowd at Petco Park for the first time was amazing.” Unlike Emerick, Hawkins has a day job but travels with the USA Sevens team for the World Sevens Series. “You become friendly with the other players (from South Africa and the other nations),” he says. “But once you step on that field it’s completely different. I want to win and I’m going to do whatever it takes to win.” But afterward, Hawkins said, “You step off the pitch and it’s a handshake and you move on. That’s what rugby is about. It’s a great camaraderie sport, you know.” There are several other members of the team with ties to OMBAC and San Diego, including Mesa College student Zachary Pangelinan, who plays fly-half for the USA. Pangelinan was kitted out on the sidelines but didn’t see any play at Petco Park that weekend. Several of the stars of the full 15-man USA Eagles side were not able to play in the tournament either, some because of commitments to their club sides in Europe, South Africa or Australia. This year’s event drew large crowds totaling more than 17,500 each day this year. At some of the other stops, the interest is even higher. “It was huge, huge attendance, people just going nuts,” Hawkins observed of the New Zealand stop a week before the San Diego game. “But it’s definitely growing here. I’ve notice a lot more buzz and a lot more awareness this week leading up to the competition.” The USA does not have professional clubs or many homegrown professional players yet, but the expanding leagues in Europe and around the world will likely attract more young athletes like Emerick and some of his other teammates who have contracts to play abroad. Interest in the sport is far-reaching — across the globe, across generations and even across genders. This year’s USA Sevens included an ancillary women’s competition with the final held at Petco on Feb. 14 in between the men’s games. The USA made good progress this year, with the women’s team reaching the final against England and the men’s team falling only to the eventual tournament champion Argentina in the final minutes of a semi-final match. The USA Sevens organization has a contract to run the event at Petco through 2011, and the interest and attendance appears to be growing each year. Peterson reported that pre-tournament ticket sales were up 27 percent over last year’s figures. This year also marks the U.S. network debut of the competition. For those who missed the action, the tournament will be rebroadcast on ABC on Feb. 21 at 2 p.m. PST as a one-hour special.