P7 squad shook off the festive holiday rust as they returned to their first training session of the new term. The focus was firmly on blowing away the cobwebs, reconnecting as a team and setting a high standard for the season ahead.

The session kicked off with a high-octane warm-up designed to jump-start their rugby brains and get their feet moving. There was some initial holiday rust but it didn't take long for the squad to find their rhythm and norm.

Andywackysocks2 set up the 'be brave' zone where the Jack The Axe reminded everyone the key points of a safe, dominate tackle but unfortunately the Girls Football team was passing by and Gareththedefencecoach made the whole squad do sets of press ups as clearly the squad were using too much of their life skills and enough of their rugby skills whilst Jack was talking to the squad!

The squad were quickly back into their 'be brave' mindset and the tackling activity was made more spicy as the players had to get back on their feet and realign ready for the next forward movement of the infamous Mackie Wall.

The squad were moved into their first game where the coaches looked for bravery, structure and communication.

After a short break it was time for 'win the race the ruck' (for Frankiepitchsideconsultant) and 'win that shoulder battle' (for Gareththedefencecoach).

A wee demo from Dustythefitnesspainmaster taking on Andywackysocks2 about how toes, heels, heads and hands help the defence get the ball back through opportunities to ruck or counter ruck certainly seem have the desired effect as the squad showed plenty of GRIT.

Before the squad returned to another activity they were challenge to complete a 5-metre human caterpillar race. What a hoot that turned out to be however out of the chaos 1 team used their brain, physical and rugby skills to complete the race in an organised manner!

The squad thought Dustythefitnesspainmaster could come up with some testing fitness programmes but we think Gareththedefencecoach had clearly too much spare time available over the festive period as he had set up the Rugby Bronco Arena. A notorious fitness benchmark used by professionals worldwide.

It was met with a fair bit of trepidation from the squad but after being briefed on the world record times and stellar demonstration by Dustythefitnesspainmaster
every player stepped up to the start line, gave it their all and set their individual fitness benchmarks for the season.

It was a GRITty display of character and while their legs were heavy by the end, their sense of achievement was clear.

A short time to refill those lungs with air and a drink of water to think the squad were on for the final game.

The squad still played with octane energy levels, stayed connected with their rugby, remained brave, won those races, battled those shoulders, showed impressive support lines and kept looking for the those offloads whilst under pressure.

The coaching squad had just witnessed a fantastic start to the term as the squad had shown real maturity in how they adjusted their play throughout the morning and set their fitness benchmarks to provide a great platform to build on as they move into their tournament section of the season.

BRONCOtastic Peeps!

Gareththedefencecoach
Dustythefitnesspainmaster
Frankiepitchsideconsultant
Andywackysocks2