My first season of rugby, I had a bit of a rough start. I got mono the week of our Rugby 101, and was out of commission for 6 weeks afterwards as a result. Once I was finally cleared to practice and play again, I almost immediately ended up with a concussion, and was once again benched for a few weeks, at least from anything contact-based. But, I went to virtually every practice I could, even sitting on the sidelines while recovering from mono and the concussion.
In the spring season, I missed our Rugby 101 because I was in the emergency room with a bad infection in my hand, trying to save my finger from having to be amputated (no, seriously). That infection, and the subsequent recovery from it, meant that I couldn’t practice for about 3 weeks. I finished the season strong, and even played in our final game of the season, even though I’d had a rough start.
The fall season last year started out well enough, but very quickly fell apart, as work threw several new projects onto my plate at once, meaning late days at work, and then I broke a tooth during practice which had to be pulled, which then got infected, which then turned into a sinus infection, which then turned into pneumonia. So, the fall season was a complete loss – I didn’t even pay dues, as I only went to a handful of practices.
This spring, I’m hoping to have something of a restart, or a reset, of my rugby pursuits. I am switching from playing with the Backs to playing with the Forwards, which is going to be a steep learning curve but a rewarding one. My low center of gravity and ability to get low easily should come in handy, and I should have more of an outlet for my aggression than playing with the backs provided – I think it will be a generally better fit. I won’t be playing in any games until after our trip to Egypt at the very least, because I can’t afford to get injured before then, and that will take off some of the pressure and allow me to focus on learning a new skill set and getting back into shape. I’ve lost much of the endurance I built up during those first two seasons, but I am working on gaining it back, and now that the spring season has started, that structured fitness should help.
So, hopefully, this will all allow me to get back into the game with gusto, so that by the fall season I can actually potentially play in some games for once. My ultimate goal is to get decent enough to play at the largest rugby tournament in the world, The Bingham Cup, when it happens in Ottawa in 2020. I have a long road to get there, but hopefully, this spring will be the right foot to start down that path with.
