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Scott La Valla's IRANZ Experience
Friday, August 11, 2006
I have officially arrived in the land of mystical hobbits and rings, but without my compatriot. Taylor won't arrive until tomorrow, but no worries, I've arrived without incident.
Now all I have to do is wait for the Academy to begin tomorrow, and that much I can handle. The twenty-four hour a day rugby channel is more than I've ever seen in the States, and I've probably spent the last four hours watching rugby, something I can't do back home. The facilities are amazing, and I can't wait to get out on the fields. They have three pitches, a 360 square meter indoor training room with full uprights and artificial grass turf, a fully stocked weight room with free weights and machines and a cardio zone, a scrum room, a pool with hot and cold recovery whirlpools, dormitories, a dining area, conference rooms, shower rooms, laundry rooms, a recreational room replete with a half size billiard table and table tennis, full internet access, full accommodation lounges, their own maid service, cable television, professional courtesy, and even schedules for when movies are playing at the local cinemas. And this in only the stuff I know about.
So as I wait for my esteemed colleague, I have plenty to keep myself occupied, and a lot of time on my hands. The other guys I have met are telling me that there was some sort of workout regimen I was supposed to be following, but none found me, so I may be screwed. That's fine. All is well, and I can't wait to get started. That's all for now.
Saturday, August 12, 2006
This morning kicked off at 10:00 am, and this will be the last time for the rest of the week that we get to sleep in this late. Every morning from here on is to begin at 6:30, so I savored every moment of last night's rest. After a team meeting and course introduction, we began our fitness testing, which consisted of two 100-meter sprints, a 400-meter run, and finally, a 1500-meter run. This was a bit more difficult than I had anticipated. The sprints were a cinch, and went well, and the 400 meters were taxing, but I did fine and actually finished at the top of the forwards as well as ahead of most backs. But after all that, my muscles strained from the 400 meters, the final distance run was grueling. A 1500 meter run consists of three and three-quarters laps around a standard Olympic track. We ran an additional lap. This was told to us after having completed the run, and having sold out with every ounce of our energy reserves, but without any rest. Why the madness? We learned later, that was our first test in mental toughness, something that will be a huge point of emphasis for the remainder of the week.
We had a sports psychologist give lectures on the power of the human mind to impact your level of play. This is something that has become a major philosophy in New Zealand rugby apparently-that if you free your mind, then the rest will follow. A lot of what this psychologist has said makes sense, but is essentially what I equate to the "no duh" principle. I mean, obviously if you think negatively, dwell on mistakes, psyche yourself out, then your game will be impacted negatively. However, to think positively about your game will reap immense benefits. That is something that I have been told my whole life. So what he has been telling us, kind of all amounts to common sense.
After lunch we went into technical passing, a skill that I always feel that I can improve on, and always enjoy working on. The ability of these kids down here to handle the ball is quite impressive, and they all seem to be accomplished ruggers. After team building exercises, in which we played a name game, it was dinnertime, and then we had another session with the psychologist. All told, our first day lasted from 10:00 am to 8:00 pm, a ten-hour day! And tomorrow will be longer! Well, it's off to bed now, I need some sleep.
Sunday, August 13, 2006
I woke up at 6:30 this morning to record my weight and for more fitness testing, this time for strength. I weigh 103.3 kgs, and can bench press 120 kgs six times, and do 10 chin-ups. I can bench more than anyone else here, but that means absolutely nothing on the pitch. After seeing these guys hit up today, I realize that there is much more to rugby than how you get it done in the weight room, it all depends how you get it done on the paddock. Some of these lads are absolutely diabolical runners.
This morning saw our last session with the psychologist, but that doesn't mean we are to forget about mental toughness. During line out work, I became frustrated with my timing while lifting, something that could be written off to "weak mental toughness". Is it not reasonable to be unsatisfied with incompetence, and to strive for solid execution? It has always been my frustration that has helped me to improve, have a willingness to improve, and to help myself arrive at the level that I am now at. Undoubtedly, you cannot allow the minutiae of niggling mistakes to consume your focus and performance, frustration is part of rugby, not everything will go your way all the time, but you can use those unsatisfactory sentiments as a guide, as a goal. So I shall continue to focus, and apply myself to the best of my abilities.
We threw in runner calls, like those for a switch and for a pick off of a ruck. They reminded us that we are no longer students together at an academy, but are now a functioning team, and that we need to gel together if we hope to be successful in our upcoming match. After being here, learning from these coaches for a couple of days, I can see that rugby down here is different, but the same. The calls and language vary from the States, but it is still the same old song, only with a different tune. The philosophy of coaching, and from that of the players, is much more relaxed, and accommodating to everyone, I think, but during drills there remains a level of focus that would be expected of anyone at an academy level.
Got to get up early tomorrow, good evening.
Monday, August 14, 2006
Today was full, tiring, and I'm ready for bed. This morning we had a brief session on mental toughness, a sort of summarization on what we have covered on the previous days. After that we went over team organization, and pattern, threw in line out calls, and team zones. We then had a referee come and give a brief presentation on the laws surrounding the breakdown, scrums, and lineouts. The purpose of that session was to help know how to push certain laws on the pitch, kind of, what we can get away with. We then had a Super 14 coach cover rucking technique and have us do some ball handling drills, with emphasis again on the clear out.
After lunch we were evaluated in our tackling form then went through tackling technique. After another reprieve, we had a specialist discuss team defense, then we applied what we learned in a team run. Each of these exercises included quite a bit of contact, and I am stiff and sore and tired, but this is still one the most enlightening experiences of my athletic life. I am enjoying my time hear, no matter the ten to twelve hour days of training, I could not ask for anything more. I really need some sleep, this is getting ridiculous. I just misspelled "ridiculous" quite a few times before I got it right, boy I am tired.
Tuesday, August 15, 2006
This morning we had a coaching module in which we met with four different coaches, in rotations of fifteen minutes each, to learn various skills, including: off-loading, mauling, backrow play, and rucking. As we are all here to learn better rugby, there are also coaches at this week's academy learning better techniques for instruction, which they practiced on us in this module. The rotations went well, and it is so enlightening to learn from so many varied rugby personalities. These coaches come from all over the world as do we, the students, and I enjoyed hearing instruction from Englishmen and Irishmen and New Zealanders and Australians: an assortment of teaching styles.
The rest of this morning and afternoon consisted of the typical team organization and phase play, session on mental toughness, but also included a seminar on sports nutrition. Many of the topics covered are things I already should know, but the instructor put into perspective how crucial proper nutrition is to optimum performance, in ways I had not considered before. The day ended with more team running, decision making in various zones of the field, and lineouts-all done on the field, and in all, ultimately tiring. Another long day is ahead of me tomorrow, so I had better catch some rest. Over and out.
Wednesday, August 16, 2006
Again this morning we had another coaching module, this time dealing with scrumaging, lineouts, and restarts. And again, it was great to hear the perspectives of these different coaches. After breakfast, we covered our defensive lineouts for tomorrow's game, and overall team defense. These two aspects were the last bit of our game plan that we needed to throw in before the match.
I really am surprised that this group of guys have been able to come together this well, in such a short period of time. I think we will all play exceptionally, and the game should be a successful one.
After lunch we had a scrum session, and a lineout session, with a couple of former All Blacks. I think I learned the most from these two out of this entire week. My lifting, and scrumaging techniques are now much more sound, and their insights and experiences they shared have now- I think- made me a more accomplished rugby player.
This evening, the coaches gave us one-on-one assessments. Mine went very well, they appreciated my work-rate and attitude, but mostly only wanted feedback about how I felt towards their camp. What can I say, it has been exceptional, and I can honestly write, that I have enjoyed every moment of this experience. Got a game tomorrow, I'm knocking off early tonight. Mental toughness!
Thursday, August 17, 2006
Today was game day. This morning we had some final positional work with the specialist coaches. I'm going to play number 8, so I worked with Murray Mexted. I didn't know who he was before coming here-that shows how rugby naïve I am-but it is an honor to have a guy like Murray personally coach me. Murray is to New Zealand rugby, what John Madden is to American football, and it was great the way he helped me cover things such as, trapping the ball at the back of the scrum, finding the ball in the tackle, and proper rucking technique when faced with clever opposition. The latter included wrenching the defender from the side, but still through the gate, when he has particularly low body position. I was incredibly excited for the game, the squad was strong, and everyone knew their role, in and out, and backwards.
The match was divided into four, twenty minute quarters, myself playing in the first two, then also, in the final ten minutes of the last quarter. Never do I remember a game passing me by that quickly and I cannot pinpoint why either. Maybe excitement I suppose. Not even in my first cap against Canada, or at the world championships, or in the NAWIRA qualifier, did I have the feeling as I did today. It must have been my eagerness to impress upon my New Zealander teammates and coaches, the abilities of American rugby. As if that doesn't sound like complete bullshit, but I very much feel its verity. I enjoyed that match, as much as I can ever remember enjoying a match. The more I think about it, the more I realize that, today, the game was only a game to me. There was nothing riding on our team winning or losing, there was no need to qualify, no cup to win, just a game to be played: unadulterated enjoyment, nothing but stress-free rugby. And I could get used to that. We won the game by a score of 19-5 and the rest of the guys are still basking in our victory, savoring our cohesion and teamwork. These fourteen-hour days have had a purpose. They have been worthwhile after all.
All that stands is our departure tomorrow morning. All that is left is a suitcase to pack and farewells to make. All that stands are 29 contented and victorious athletes. All that is left are uniforms to wash and their friendships to keep. All that stands for me is a final thank you to those that sent me on this trip, an adventure that I will never forget, and that I may always remember as one of the greatest experiences of my life. Thank you.
