Eternally Sore

A couple weeks ago I took a drastic measure to help get myself back in shape; I joined a rugby club.  The Santa Monica Rugby Club to be exact.  Now I played rugby in high school, and some club ball in Asia, and then played at university…but that was a few years ago.  In fact, the last time I actually played real 15 man rugby was 5 years ago.  Since then, I have just played in the odd 7’s or 10’s tournament.  I guess what I am saying is that I am probably 10 years and a couple surgeries past my prime. 

I showed up for the first practice and found out that the club has three teams, kind of an A, B, and C team.  Their first team plays in Men’s Division 1.  There are guys that play for the USA national team in that league.  Their second team plays in division 2, which is still a pretty high level, at least for this continent.  So these guys are serious.  I finished my first practice…barely.  I think there were only three or 4 guys out of the 60-70 that were there that were in worse shape than I was.  The next morning I found it pretty hard to roll out of bed.  I was feeling pain in areas I forgot existed.  I honestly had not trained as hard or as serious since my days playing Division 1 back at university. 

The team practices twice a week, and I figured that my goal would be to make the second team.  Through the first two weeks of practice I have given it my all and realized that while I may not be the youngest or most in shape, I do have a little bit higher rugby IQ than many of these kids, as some of them are relatively new to the game.  This past week we had our first scrimmage game, and I started for the second team, played three different positions, and played all but 4 minutes.  I was absolutely exhausted and found all sorts of bumps and bruises later that night that I did not remember getting. 

It feels great to be playing again, and I am beginning to progress slowly.  My goal is to continue getting in better shape, and reward the faith they have to keep me starting with the second team.  The season I young, so anything is possible.  But at the very least, staying with the team will give me much needed exercise, regardless of what team I play for.