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Summer in New York
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Thursday June 17, 2010 We spent most of our Tuesday getting settled in and seeing our local town, we had our first training session Tuesday night. It was surprising to see how many players were at training, I think there was over 30. Most of them don’t play for NYAC in 15’s, but have either moved to NYC/ from here/ back from college, to play sevens this summer. It was a little rusty seeing as no one had played together before, but the focus and discipline was really high. Everyone came tuned in, and it’s really great to be a part of that. Benji and I learned quickly no matter how good of shape we may think we are in, you can always improve on that. We had our last training session Thursday night before our first Northeast Qualifier tournament coming up this Saturday. It went really well, we were split up into the 2 NYAC teams competing this weekend. We worked on mostly set pieces and a lot on defense. Coach Caravelli connected us with straps and we ran our defensive wall. It exaggerates the defense a little bit, but really shows how important each person in the wall is. Also shows even though the ball isn’t around you, you’ve always got to be working to get in place. Benji and I were on the first team, a bit of a surprise seeing as we are new to the team; but nonetheless we are both looking forward to getting out on the field this weekend. Back to Top Sunday June 20, 2010 After the tournament we went to go see USA take on France A at Red Bull Arena in New Jersey. That was the second time I’ve seen the USA play and it is always an awesome rugby experience. The USA played a great game, but just couldn’t hold on the ball. Their defense was solid, and I could tell had a lot more creativity when attacking. Even at the highest level of play, it’s still the fundamentals that can cost you a game. Sunday was a recovery day; we went to Alex’s father day festivities with his family. Also visited the town of Nyack about 30 min north of us; which I recommend for everyone to visit. Right on the river a lot of great restaurants and shops. Before we went to his family’s we stopped off at one of the largest malls in America. It had a ferris wheel, ice rink, and about a bazillion shops inside of it. Now this week it’s time to start focusing on our upcoming tournament, PAC sevens in Washington D.C.! Back to Top Thursday June 24, 2010 On Monday we were lucky enough to find this really nice track and turf field behind a local middle school. It’s a little more than a half mile away from where we are staying, so it’s a good warm-up/ cool down for every workout. We normally do some type of maximal exercise, like sprinting, with a recovery period (jogging) and keep the sets around 10 minutes - the length of halves in a seven's final. Practice on Tuesday was a mix between going through some of the things we did wrong, and also implementing some new things for our upcoming tournament. One thing on defense would be coming up to cut off the passing lanes. A lot in sevens you tend to wait back and let the offense come to you because of fatigue, but coming up and cutting off the lanes is a HUGE thing in sevens, and can make the game a lot easier. On offense the big thing is depth, memorable quote is from Coach Caravelli “If you get in the game and you think you are deep enough, take 10 steps back.” That I think sums up the importance of depth. Thursday morning was a sad, sad day. It seems that my roommate and current “bestie” Benji is off for a little family vacation to Cancun. If you know Benji, you know that he can get pretty emotional. So this morning… yes, he was holding some tears back; but luckily I was there to slap him in the face and tell him to be a man. So it’s looking like I will be flying solo for the next week or so. As we go through practice tonight it’s looking like we will be taking a completely different side to PAC sevens this weekend. Benji and Justin Hundley, former seven’s Eagle, are both on vacation, we have a few injuries, and 1 guy with a scheduling conflict. The PAC tournament isn’t a Northeast qualifier so it will be good to get some playing time against different opponents. Back to Top Saturday June 26, 2010 Saturday our pool play couldn’t have started off any better, finishing 3-0. We improved as a team more and more through each pool game, with no game being an easy one. On the day it was about 90 degrees, and we were playing on turf which made it feel around 120 degrees. In the semi-final we were pitted up against our in town rivals Old Blue. I’ve learned very quickly this isn’t the friendliest of rivalries; each time these teams face each other it’s the biggest game to them. We came out firing and ended up winning by 4 tries. So now it’s time for the final against the CAS Sharks, who we beat in our first game. We lost 29 - 17, so what we did last week (losing to Boston in pool play, winning in the finals) we were now on the receiving end. It was too many individual efforts, and not enough team ones. On defense we tried to hard to cover our lanes, and instead of letting the person have our back we made defense EXTREMELY hard on ourselves. Offensively we made breaks but couldn't finish. We’ve got 2 weeks until our next tournament; 4 practices to focus and get things ready for our next Northeast qualifier. Back to Top Monday June 28, 2010 Friday July 2, 2010 Thursday’s practice was a good mix of games, and an intense game of touch at the end. It was a bit of a lighter mood at the beginning of practice, with everyone having a great time while also working extremely hard. The first hour we played a number of games: Ultimate rugby(ultimate Frisbee with a rugby ball, you have to rugby pass), a dodge ball type game, and then doing a circuit of exercises to work on conditioning. We were split up and played a game of touch for the remainder of practice. Once again every team member having to be past the 5 meter line before your teammate can score, and also escalating quickly to a full contact game of rugby (mental note to wear a mouthpiece even if the coaches say touch from now on). The level of focus from everyone all the way through practice really makes you elevate your game; whether its touch or playing a fun game at the beginning of practice. Everyone there is switched on and ready to work hard. Since we don’t have a tournament this weekend the coaches give us a friendly reminder to get some good conditioning in on the weekend. Back to Top Monday July 5, 2010 The fireworks show was very impressive, but I must say that Boomsday was surprising a bit bigger and better fireworks wise. So don’t worry, all you Knoxvillians can rest assured we are bigger pyrotechnics down South. Back to Top Sunday July 12, 2010 Benji and I were once again on the A-side for the tournament; and we were lucky enough that the tournament was where we practice, so not too much travel to the pitch Saturday morning. We went through the pool games going 3-0, beating Old Blue, Morris, and White Plains. Miles Craigwell laid some of the biggest hits I’ve seen in recent memory. Although we were playing good, we knew we had to step up our game entering the semi-finals against Long Island and the winner of Boston/Old Blue. We beat Long Island, with our defense much stronger than it had been earlier in the day. Boston beat Old Blue barely in the semi-final, it was a great game coming down to the final whistle. So once again we were paired against Boston in the final, with 10 min halves for the final. Benji got us started off with a great try in the opening minutes, and from there we didn’t let up. Even when we were winning by a few tries with just a couple minutes left, everyone on the team was chasing down breaks and kicks; it was great to see. We ended up winning 32-12, taking the championship! Sunday was a recovery day, our Pops (Alex) set up for us to have some dinner, relaxation, and rugby talk at the before mentioned Bruce McLane’s house. Having coached 3 Super League championships with NYAC and a few High School championships with Xavier, you try to hold on to every word he says. He gave us so great advice for ourselves, for UT, and gave us pages upon pages of rugby strategy for us to take and study. Hopefully that won’t be the last time that we spend talking rugby with Bruce this summer. Back to Top Thursday July 15, 2010 I can confidently say that Tuesday’s practice was one of the hardest practices I’ve ever been through, by the end of practice everyone looked like we came from a swimming pool. The great thing is that we didn’t do “traditional” just straight conditioning; it was all integrated with rugby drills. Working on depth, hand speed, defensive wall always working on communication; all with non-stop movement. Then we finished off with a great game of touch. Sometimes you assume that the practice before a tournament or game will be a little bit on the easier side, and we had that feeling going into Thursday’s practice that it would be more of a run through. Of course once again our preconceived notions were incorrect once again. We started the practice with restarts, both offensively and defensively. Coach Caravelli brought a huge new bag with him, and was excited to find out that it was filled with the latest tackle suits. Which were needed when we spent the second part of practice scrimmaging full contact; at first working from restarts; then from scrums and line-outs. The upcoming tournament is in Springfield, Massachusetts; just a few hours from New York. We win this one, then we will make it 3 of 3 for the Northeast qualifiers; our first step on the road for nationals. Back to Top Sunday July 18, 2010 There were 6 teams in our division, which meant 2 pool games, semi-final, final. We started off against Mystic River, a team we hadn’t faced yet this year; going on to face White Plains going 2-0. We played solid through both games, with Justin “Pip” Hundley, really leading our team. I lost count of how many tries he had. It’s so great having someone with that much 7’s experience on the team; not only does he create but also puts himself in the perfect position to finish off some great runs by teammates. In the semi we beat our town rival Old Blue, and once again were paired against Boston for the 3rd time in a final this summer. Finals are 20 minutes instead of the normal 14, this being my 4th one this summer it wasn’t as daunting this time. We got on the board early; I broke the line with Pip running a sweet line and racing 50 meters to score the first try. We led the whole game, but Boston was right on our tail. We ended up winning 29-28, with Pip scoring four tries (played spectacularly), our own Benji had one. Rugby is about the whole team, and that’s what every win is, a team effort. Our system is really coming together, and I can’t be more proud of everyone on the team, so far this summer we are 18-2; not a bad record. A lot to work on, as next weekend’s tourney is Top 3 to nationals, and the rest are through. A #1 Northeast seed is the only acceptable outcome next weekend for us. Like always Sunday is a relaxation day, and as Benji and Madison hit the streets to shop (Benji’s Fav!) I’m not ashamed to admit I went to see a Broadway show with my friend living here this summer. Students get a great discount for future reference, and we saw A Little Night Music. It starred Bernadette Peters, which apparently my friend told me is quite the Broadway star. I thought it was a great show, lots of laughs and the theatre was really awesome. Got to bed early Sunday night, as we start our new part-time jobs in the morning. Back to Top Thursday, July 22, 2010 Tuesday’s practice everyone came ready to take it up a notch with our biggest tournament of the summer coming up. Losing just one game this weekend could mean we don’t make it to nationals, needless to say a lot of pressure this weekend. We played “Death” touch, which means if you’re scored on you run to your 22, and then back to the 40 for defense; and the reward for scoring is running to the end of the try zone and back to the 40 to restart, and repeat. If you work hard its one of the best things for the combo of conditioning, ball handling, and executing your game plan. We were told if we gave 100% that there wouldn’t be conditioning afterwards… Well luckily instead we did full contact from set pieces, much more taxing than just conditioning; which was very much needed. Thursday’s practice was a lot of preparation for the weekend, most of practice spent on restarts. So far this summer restarts have been one of our strongest areas, improving more and more every weekend so we definitely want to keep that up. We worked more on attacking this time, a lot emphasis being put on not just doing hands through the line every time. It was a great final practice before the Northeast Championships, apparently the place we are playing is really nice; Newport, RI, so not only do we get some great rugby in, but get to check off another state in our Summer Adventure Extravaganza, also known as “Butch and Omar Tinko World Tour”, “Benji and Sammy Become Bestest Friends”, and our personal favorite “Confederate Spies in the 21st Century.” (That last one is for Miles and Marcus… oh and to be politically correct, Pip) Back to Top Sunday July 25, 2010 We started off winning against Boston B, then our next pool game was our toughest against Mystic River. They are a good team we had only played once, they were really fast and had some great athletes on their team. We played some great defense and were able to shut them down for the most part, coming out with the win. Our last pool game was against Long Island, which last year beat NYAC in this tournament to stop them from making it to nationals; so we came out strong to not let that happen again. We made it to the semi-finals 3-0, and winning the semi-final meant you made it to nationals. The bad part about it was we played NYAC B in our semi-final game, always a hard game 1) They are your teammates and 2) They know everything you’re going to do; it was a hard fought game and we came away with a spot to nationals. Boston and Mystic played in the other semi, with Mystic leading most of the game, but Boston came back at the end to win. So for the 4th time now, it was us and Boston in the final. From the beginning we were tackling hard, finishing runs, and chasing down any line breaks; which is a great thing to be a part of. Also the reason we got our biggest win against Boston, winning the championship 43-7!!! It was really great to play against Boston all summer, and made us better every time and I’m sure they will have a great run at nationals, along with Mystic River. More importantly it was great to see the team qualify for nationals, and get the #1 seed. All the hard work from the summer paying off, and speaking of the team lets meet them now: Starting of the Brian “Metamorphosize” Doyle, Niall “The Foreigner” Greenan, Marcus “Senior Citizen” Respes, James “The other foreigner” Power, Justin “Pip the Pip Pippers” Hundley, Kyle “The Connecticut Bully” Caravelli, Shawn “Jared Wilson but in way better shape” Rafferty, Miles “I bet you don’t have an NFL player” Craigwell, the “Temple Twins” Ryan Diehl and Gareth Jones, and our own Benji “The Butcher” Goff. A couple guys who were in most tournament just not available this weekend, Seamus “Let’s go beeaarrrsss!” Kelly, and Timmy “He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named” Rylands. Not to mention our great coaches Al Caravelli, Kermit, and Tom Rooney. NYAC B played a great semi against Mystic, which really says a lot about NYAC when our B-side takes 4th and almost qualifies for nationals. Most of those guys played on the A-side at some point in the summer, which really shows how great everyone is out there, A or B. After the tournament we took a “Scenic Tour” on the way out of Newport to see the city (Scenic tour if you ask Coach Caravelli, and lost if you ask everyone else in the car; but it was his navigators fault (Reference: The Connecticut Bully), and it was amazing; I really hope it’s not the last time I visit Newport. Big houses which I’m sure some were occupied by famous people and a really cool little beach town. On the way back Saturday night we got the idea to celebrate Sunday by going to see the movie Inception, a great way to recover from winning the Northeast. Somehow it turned from being a team idea, to just being Me, Benji, and Pip. I think you can call that a borderline man date; but all the same, we were pretty pumped to see the movie. Also right before the previews a nice lady (who was crushin on Pip in the ticket line) gave us a coupon for a $1.00 popcorn and drink. So along with our popcorn, drink (one straw) and Inception it was great afternoon. Inception was awesome and we were lucky enough to have Benji, a Psychology major, explain the complex movie to the lesser minds of Pip and I. Especially Pip, who is from the land of South Africa and can barely speak a lick of English. Now the road to nationals, we have 3 weeks to rest up lingering injuries, train harder than ever and get ready for Palo Alto! Back to Top Friday July 30, 2010 With the Northeast Championship under our belt, we are now full steam ahead to nationals. This is when the hard work is really put in; we will be facing teams that are much stronger than any teams we have faced so far. Most of the teams in the tournament have some type of international players; either from USA, Fiji, Samoa are some of the ones I’ve heard from. So it seems like everyone in the squad is working harder than ever to prepare. There are many things you can’t control in the game, but there are a few things that you can; one of them being fitness. Our coaches put a huge emphasis on fitness this week, because it doesn’t matter how great, fast, or awesome you are if you’re laying down trying to catch your breath at the other end of the field. So Tuesday’s and Thursday’s practice was a lot of ball handling, and conditioning. I really like these types of drills because it simulates how you feel in a game, having to get your hands up and make a quick pass or step when you’re really tired. Then at the end of practice we would run 80/60/40’s… 80m down, 60m back, then 40m through to the finish, all sprinting, 8 at the end of practice; normally trying to get in under 25 seconds. Also this week at work, we got a tour of the executive offices at McGraw-Hill; definitely one of the highlights of our summer off the field. It was 50 stories up with a great view of Times Square and a lot of the city, and on Mr. McGraw’s personal floor we weren’t even allowed to take pictures. Luckily though his dining room hall is located on the floor below (the executive floor) and both Benji and I got pictures sitting at the head of the table pondering our future success. We also sat in the board room and took turns firing each other, Donald Trump style. Back to Top Monday August 2, 2010 Pip (reference above) is not only our captain, but also the assistant coach at Army; which is located about an hour from the city. Army is one of the top programs in the nation, making it to the final four this past season. Army is a great example of what good alumni and school support can do for a program, along with a good coaching staff. Most guys come in not knowing rugby, and because of the professional environment they can dive heads first into rugby. First off, West Point itself is an amazing campus, located right on the river. Then you pull up to their rugby complex and its one of, if not, the nicest rugby complex I’ve ever seen. A turf field, grass pitch for games, then the building with locker rooms, weight room, etc… Everything you would expect a varsity type college program to have. Hopefully other schools (UT?) and school alumni will catch on, and realize what some support can do for a club. It does start with us the players though, creating a tradition of WINNING instead of the tradition of the social side of college rugby. Enough of my ranting… After the tour of the complex, Pip and I (we normally share kicking duties) got started on what would become a 4 hour kicking session. Consisting of 100 conversion drop goals each, 30 restarts, and ending with penalty kicks for bragging rights. Pip was able to give me some great advice throughout the day on kicking, which also carried over into passing technique, game strategy, and who had a better accent. With me winning the penalty competition cough cough… we figured our legs, and farmer’s tans were well worked for the day. How do you improve upon the man date of Benji, Pip, and I you ask? Bring Benji’s girlfriend in for the weekend, and leave Pip and I to go to the movies. We went to see Dinner with Schmucks which was 2 hours of hilarious awkwardness, then went to these outlet stores which were for some reason located in the middle of nowhere. They made the Tanger Outlets in Sevierville look like a street shop selling 5 dollar airbrush t-shirts; no offense to Tanger though, those airbrush t-shirts are sweet. Back to Top
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