Aalliya Adania: We tackled in the mud on Wednesday and ended up looking like professional mud wrestlers. We did shuttle runs at the end of the session and the worst bit of it was when I thought we were warming down but we hit the gym instead! I was really tired but I had to live up to my nickname ‘Schwarzenegger’ so I pumped that iron. I loved our games against Saracens on Friday; I really believe my game is upping so everything is going in the right direction so far. In camp I liked Saturday’s roadwork. I found the sprints easier than at our previous camp. I went to bed tired at the end of the day but happy with myself. I woke up at 5.30am on Sunday and shortly afterwards it started raining then it changed to a drizzle. I was so angry that the rain was teasing us with its stop-start games and complained bitterly while my roomie Charlotte pleaded with the heavens to let loose. Well, God answered her prayers so we had a lie in until breakfast. We got the shock of our lives when we started the 10am session with roadwork. It was really tough but I still had to prove that I was ‘Schwarzenegger’. I was pleased that I did the roadwork well but I do not think my team mates even noticed. They all had issues of their own to deal with.
Agnes Nantongo: the week’s training was tough but I enjoyed it. But camp was another story altogether. It was hell on earth. But it had its nice moments, the best of which was the unexpected lie in on Sunday morning and thinking no early morning jogging, but we thought wrong and we paid in kind ... 4 hours later. Girls pushed themselves to their utmost limits. God bless them.
Monday, 9 February 2009
Boot camp
Saturday 7th February: we woke up at 5.45am for roadwork. Soggy wants us to break a barrier so he took us on a 5km run with lots of hills then we did 15 uphill sprints and a 2km jog back to the hotel (we used a shortcut). We had pitch sessions (contact drills, passing drills, games ...)from 10am - 1pm and from 4pm – 7pm. Good sessions but exhausting! How would I survive the next day?
Sunday 8th February: I woke up at 5.45am and could not believe my ears when I heard it raining. Whoppee! My excitement melted away when I remembered that at the last camp the rain had a habit of ceasing whenever we are meant to go for roadwork. However by 6.15am it was still raining heavily so I called Jero (our team manager) and she told me to stay put until further communication. I was settling back to sleep again when I realised that I could not hear the rain anymore so I peeped out of the window. It was too dark to see anything so I got out of bed and went and stood outside: it was still raining although not as heavily as before. I did a little jig of pleasure in the rain and bounced back into my room and into my bed. Despite the rain, at that moment the day looked brighter.
Sunday 8th February: I woke up at 5.45am and could not believe my ears when I heard it raining. Whoppee! My excitement melted away when I remembered that at the last camp the rain had a habit of ceasing whenever we are meant to go for roadwork. However by 6.15am it was still raining heavily so I called Jero (our team manager) and she told me to stay put until further communication. I was settling back to sleep again when I realised that I could not hear the rain anymore so I peeped out of the window. It was too dark to see anything so I got out of bed and went and stood outside: it was still raining although not as heavily as before. I did a little jig of pleasure in the rain and bounced back into my room and into my bed. Despite the rain, at that moment the day looked brighter.
Ha! So I thought. Breakfast at eight and training at 10am. We had to make up for missing the roadwork session so we had a 5km run only it was a different route with different hills but the usual uphill sprints. Afterwards, we jogged back to the training ground, tongues rolling and wondering if the army had such a brutal training regimen. We had a 15 minute break then played touch rugby and went through our moves before winding up. We had lunch at 1pm and checked out. Monday and Tuesday are rest days and then we resume on Wednesday.
The training we are going through is so intense. None of us has ever prepared for something this big before so we really did not know what to expect. The great thing is that as times get tougher we get tighter as a team and are constantly encouraging each other to get the best out of ourselves. We come out of the sessions tired but stronger than before. The coaches are pleased with us especially as they are getting lots of positive feedback about us from rugby players (both ex-international and current international) and fans. The rugby fraternity is really rallying around us and we do not want to let them or ourselves down. Currently, our lives revolve around work and the rugby pitch. No time for anything else or anyone else. No alcohol either … the sacrifices we have to make. Meanwhile, Soggy and Mutaks have promised that the intensity will be toned down as we approach the World Cup. Hard work now and we’ll play easy. Hate them now and we’ll love them afterwards. Sounds fair ... ish.
Week 5 - Tight
Monday 2nd February: What do you know? With all that rain in the morning the pitch was not flooded. Not even wet. Just nice and soft and a bit squishy in some places. We started off with ball handling then we played against a couple of the guys who play for Heathens. They are bigger than the Saracens guys and play in division 1 so they have to be easy on us. No full out tackles or big hits. They are just supposed to make us work hard. We were bushed at the end but did pretty well: we scored 2 tries and although they scored more tries than we did they had to work really hard for them. Things are looking good.
Wednesday 4th February: the pitch was flooded. Eugh! Soggy decided that was perfect for tackling drills. One on one and the hits and the tackles were massive: no prisoners taken. Afterwards, we looked a right mess – there was more mud on us than on the pitch. We wound up with defence patterns, shuttle runs then the gym. Connie (our team doc) gave us all dewormers after training: we needed them, what with all the muddy water we were gulping down during the tackling drills!
Friday 6th February: the pitch was back to being squishy. We warmed up with passing drills then had 2 games against Saracens. The scores were close in both games. We drew the first game and lost by 1 or 2 tries in the second game. A friendly rivalry is building up between them and us and the games are played with such passion: both sides go all out and are hungry to win and the boys are so pleased that they are helping us in our World Cup preps. In an ideal world we would be flying to San Diego next weekend for the 7s tournament but we are cash strapped so we play boys.
We checked into Mukono Resort Hotel on Friday night for our second camp.
Wednesday 4th February: the pitch was flooded. Eugh! Soggy decided that was perfect for tackling drills. One on one and the hits and the tackles were massive: no prisoners taken. Afterwards, we looked a right mess – there was more mud on us than on the pitch. We wound up with defence patterns, shuttle runs then the gym. Connie (our team doc) gave us all dewormers after training: we needed them, what with all the muddy water we were gulping down during the tackling drills!
Friday 6th February: the pitch was back to being squishy. We warmed up with passing drills then had 2 games against Saracens. The scores were close in both games. We drew the first game and lost by 1 or 2 tries in the second game. A friendly rivalry is building up between them and us and the games are played with such passion: both sides go all out and are hungry to win and the boys are so pleased that they are helping us in our World Cup preps. In an ideal world we would be flying to San Diego next weekend for the 7s tournament but we are cash strapped so we play boys.
We checked into Mukono Resort Hotel on Friday night for our second camp.
Monday, 2 February 2009
Making my day …
It rained goats and cows this Monday (2nd February) morning. Not that it has anything to do with this post but this weather really sucks. We got lucky on Saturday, but I don’t think we will escape it today: the pitch will definitely be flooded. Yuck! That aside, I had sheltered under the eaves of a building this morning when a man stopped next to me and greeted me rather formally. I responded in kind and I guessed he was going to ask for directions someplace (I know, I know, how dense can I get, men never ask for directions). With a half smile, he simply said, “Good luck in Dubai.” I was so surprised but collected myself enough to thank him before he walked off.
What a way to start my week. A strange man walks up to me in the middle of town and wishes me luck … I don’t think he knows it but he made my day.
What a way to start my week. A strange man walks up to me in the middle of town and wishes me luck … I don’t think he knows it but he made my day.
Total madness
Joan Andika: I have always thought that camp was just about relaxing, team bonding and going through moves. I got a rude shock when I discovered that camp was actually a way to give our coaches more time to push us to our limits … and beyond. The sessions left me so drained that it was impossible to get a word out of me after training. I must have lost 5kgs during that camp. Nevertheless, I am now fitter and I have learned to talk. I’ll never be able to talk as much or as loudly as Winnie, Rose or Helen but at least my teammates have stopped complaining that they cannot hear my voice.
Rosenburg Kanyunyuzi: the 3 day camp was total madness. The coaches wanted the best from us and we had nowhere to hide. We thought about our pool: our initial shock at being pooled with New Zealand had gone. Yes, our pool was tough but we had to face reality, there is nothing like an easy pool. So we worked really hard. Man, it was tight but it was so good to see the girls putting in everything they could even when it seemed that we had reached breaking point. We were still tired when we trained on Wednesday but the coaches made it an easy session. We had recovered on Friday and it was a fantastic session. We are definitely getting there.
Rosenburg Kanyunyuzi: the 3 day camp was total madness. The coaches wanted the best from us and we had nowhere to hide. We thought about our pool: our initial shock at being pooled with New Zealand had gone. Yes, our pool was tough but we had to face reality, there is nothing like an easy pool. So we worked really hard. Man, it was tight but it was so good to see the girls putting in everything they could even when it seemed that we had reached breaking point. We were still tired when we trained on Wednesday but the coaches made it an easy session. We had recovered on Friday and it was a fantastic session. We are definitely getting there.
Ice bath comedy
With me out of the picture, Brenda and Kayonjo having resigned themselves to it and Charlotte, well … sort of starting to come to terms with it I thought that the series had come to an end. Ha! Not so. Training ended at 4.30pm and Jero, our team manager, announced, “Ice bath”. Girls had to sit up to their necks in a tub of ice for 3 minutes. Most managed it with minimal fuss but Charlotte, Aggie (in picture), Christine and Joan entertained the team with their antics. They would each get in for about 5 seconds then hop out red-eyed and screaming and make a beeline straight for the shower and stand under it for 1 minute. The water coming out from the shower was cold but compared to the ice it was hot. It took them 10 minutes of hopping in and out of the ice bath to do their 3-minute soak. That is one of the things that will not be missed after the World Cup.
Week 4 - Belief
Wednesday 28th January: we did not do the bleep test and had a light training session as the coaches thought we were still fatigued from the camp. They were so right but we still pushed ourselves. The world cup is just 4 weeks away. The Uganda Rugby Union executive committee were around to watch our training session. Afterwards, Andrew Owiny (the chairman) and William Blick (the vice chairman) had a chat with us.
Friday 30th January: another really good session. We’re really coming together. Confidence is way up and there is mounting excitement in the team. Management informed us that we have 2 more camps ahead of us and at some point the intensity of the training we are going through will decrease. But for now, we are keeping our feet firmly on the pedal. The hardest moment for us all will be at the end of this week when 4 of us are dropped. I won’t think about it just now.
Saturday 31st January: the morning started off wet, and got wetter then at midday the sun came out in all its glory. Surprisingly, the pitch was not flooded. I guess it was really thirsty and sucked all the moisture to way below the surface. Though not flooded, the pitch was soft so landing on it was not painful. We started training at 1pm with ball handling. During the ball handling session Soggy asked Justine who was helping her with her passing. She replied that it was me (Helen). For a couple of seconds, Soggy forgot to breathe then he categorically stated, “No way: game reading, tackling, actually anything else to do with rugby, go to Helen but for passing find someone else – either Claire, Rose, Joan or Rachel.” Hmmph. I was rather miffed at that even if it he was right. Rose almost tripped over herself laughing: she would, she has the best passes on the team.
At 2.30pm we played 2 games against Saracens (a division 2 men’s team). They were younger than the guys we usually play against so they were not so much bigger than us but they were still lots faster than us and physically stronger. That said we put a great show against the guys. The coaches fielded 2 different teams and each team scored one try and had 3 tries scored against them. There was lots of support from the stands for us and we are not the only ones starting to believe in ourselves. When the draws first came out, fans told us “Don’t worry. Just go and play”. But now after tracking our progress over the last 2 weeks they believe we measure up to the World Cup standards and now expect a lot from us. Charlotte’s mother told her last week, “Don’t come back without the trophy.”
Hey, it’s wonderful having people who believe in you.
Friday 30th January: another really good session. We’re really coming together. Confidence is way up and there is mounting excitement in the team. Management informed us that we have 2 more camps ahead of us and at some point the intensity of the training we are going through will decrease. But for now, we are keeping our feet firmly on the pedal. The hardest moment for us all will be at the end of this week when 4 of us are dropped. I won’t think about it just now.
Saturday 31st January: the morning started off wet, and got wetter then at midday the sun came out in all its glory. Surprisingly, the pitch was not flooded. I guess it was really thirsty and sucked all the moisture to way below the surface. Though not flooded, the pitch was soft so landing on it was not painful. We started training at 1pm with ball handling. During the ball handling session Soggy asked Justine who was helping her with her passing. She replied that it was me (Helen). For a couple of seconds, Soggy forgot to breathe then he categorically stated, “No way: game reading, tackling, actually anything else to do with rugby, go to Helen but for passing find someone else – either Claire, Rose, Joan or Rachel.” Hmmph. I was rather miffed at that even if it he was right. Rose almost tripped over herself laughing: she would, she has the best passes on the team.
At 2.30pm we played 2 games against Saracens (a division 2 men’s team). They were younger than the guys we usually play against so they were not so much bigger than us but they were still lots faster than us and physically stronger. That said we put a great show against the guys. The coaches fielded 2 different teams and each team scored one try and had 3 tries scored against them. There was lots of support from the stands for us and we are not the only ones starting to believe in ourselves. When the draws first came out, fans told us “Don’t worry. Just go and play”. But now after tracking our progress over the last 2 weeks they believe we measure up to the World Cup standards and now expect a lot from us. Charlotte’s mother told her last week, “Don’t come back without the trophy.”
Hey, it’s wonderful having people who believe in you.
Tuesday, 27 January 2009
Aaaaaaahhhhhhhhh!
Justine Bayigga: When Helen sent me the message about the draws I lost all my mental focus. I left home straight away and went to Kyadondo and found Rose there. We sat in the changing room waiting for other girls to come for training. I do not know much about rugby but those countries sounded scary. I could not concentrate during training and failed to run: the coaches thought I was sick. The good thing is that I was not alone. My team mates were in the same boat.
Rosenburg Kanyunyuzi (in picture): on Monday 19th 2009, I stayed at home the whole day. I did not go to the gym in the morning. I wanted to give my body a rest so I did what I love doing best … sleeping. I was listening to music when I my mobile phone beeped to indicate that I had received a text message. For some reason I was reluctant to read it although I did not know the contents of the message. After a couple of minutes I checked the message and it read ‘World Cup draw group d New Zealand, South Africa, Italy, Uganda.’ I fell out of my bed as I swore all the known swear words plus invented some of my own. My stomach went crazy and I hopped about my bedroom not sure what I was feeling then rushed to the toilet and stayed there for about half an hour. After that I went for training. I did not even have lunch. I was about 2 hours early for training but I could not stay in the house. I thought I was going to go mad.
Claire Anena
Training
I love the way girls are putting in their all and most people have started talking. The moves are working out and although we still have some work to do we are getting there. Team spirit is at an all time high and we just seem to get better and better. I love it.
The draws
Hmph! That draw really was not fair. South Africa and Uganda in the same pool: we are both African countries! Anyway, I think that New Zealand, Italy and South Africa are beatable. We just have to be confident.
I love the way girls are putting in their all and most people have started talking. The moves are working out and although we still have some work to do we are getting there. Team spirit is at an all time high and we just seem to get better and better. I love it.
The draws
Hmph! That draw really was not fair. South Africa and Uganda in the same pool: we are both African countries! Anyway, I think that New Zealand, Italy and South Africa are beatable. We just have to be confident.
Aalliya Adania aka Schwarzenegger
On January 19th at exactly 1449hrs I got a text message that totally confused me. I was still in bed so at first I thought that I was having a daymare. I read the message about 5 times before I understood it then started wailing. My dad happened to be at home that day and he rushed to my bedroom to find out what was wrong. I could not answer any of his questions and pushed my mobile phone into his hands. He read that message and remarked casually, ‘Ah, so you are scared.’ I was so angry that he did not seem moved that I responded, ‘Of course, I’m scared. What do you know about rugby and New Zealand?’ I stormed out of the house without eating and almost in tears. Although it was still early I went to Kyadondo Rugby Club (our training ground) where I found Justine and Rose sitting in the changing room looking very depressed. If we did not believe we are really going for the World Cup then that was a wake up call indeed.
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