All eyes on World Series prize as players get back to work
While everyone settles back into their normal routine following the seasonal festivities, for us athletes the New Year has come with a new coach – with new ideas and a new focus, and a more professional environment.
While everyone settles back into their normal routine following the seasonal festivities, for us athletes the New Year has come with a new coach – with new ideas and a new focus, and a more professional environment.
With three tournaments in the build up to the Hong Kong Sevens, the year ahead is of even more importance as our home tournament doubles as the HSBC Sevens World Series qualifier – both a personal and team goal.
With preparation for the Darwin Sevens in mind, the first two weeks of training in 2014 have been very hard involving plenty of running. The entire squad have had a great work ethic, and competition for places is tough. Coach Gareth Baber is challenging us in new ways that I know will take the team to the next level.
With a similar squad to that which played in the HSBC Asian Sevens Series travelling down to Australia, it will be a vital building block for individual and team development, and it will be important for key experienced individuals to maintain and continue to develop their performance levels.
After spending a whole week away together for the first time since the World Games in Cali, Colombia last August, Darwin is set provide an ideal opportunity for roommates to become reacquainted and for the team to gel together as a unit again.
It will also allow us to further develop specific aspects of our game, following the final disappointment of the Asian Series with one eye on qualification for the Sevens World Series.
Turning the disappointment of losing the Asian Seven Series crown to Japan into a positive, by learning from our mistakes, will be a key target for the tour because, alongside some other top teams, Japan will be in the qualifier event in Hong Kong.
The “Hottest Sevens in the World” will be played in grueling Darwin temperatures that are set to climb to around 40°C, and the style of teams involved in the tournament will differ a lot from our most recent tournaments. No doubt some very challenging games lie ahead in the group stages and on day two.
From a personal point of view, this will be my first tournament as a full-time professional after finishing teaching for the foreseeable future, allowing more time to be dedicated to rugby.
In the past work life has clashed with rugby commitments at key points, so this change will be very important for me. In spite of this, I do miss school life and teaching. South Island School has some fantastic teachers and great students and I will miss being a part of that environment.
However, I believe having a full-time squad working together on a daily basis has been – and will become – an important step as Hong Kong continues to develop, push other established teams and consistently compete at a world level.
I can now focus more time on important aspects of being a professional athlete, such as nutrition and effective recovery, which will hopefully have a massive impact on my performance.
