I have three papers to do for tomorrow, but since I have finished one, gotten as far on the second as I'll probably get without a serious "what's going on here" meeting with my professor, and don't need to turn in the third until 8 pm tomorrow, I'm going to take a break and write about the scrum clinic today!
(If you don't want to read the long version, here's the short: I learned a lot, it was really helpful, and I got to be a hooker).
The clinic was led by Lisa Rosen, the MARFU* U23 coach, as well as Gabe Ortitz (who I worked with for PRU U23s last fall) and several players from the national level (U23 and otherwise) whose names I don't remember because I fail like that. I was the only AU player to make it there, but I was not lonely! There were at least 40 other players there: Catholic had their full men's and women's packs (since it was on their turf), and there were also players from Towson, Philly, UPenn, UVA, and all over the MARFU area.
We started out the day with dynamic warmups, then went over scrumming body position. First we went over having a good, flat profile (shoulders up, not rounded; hips tight, pulling your belly button to your spine; back flat; head neutral, looking over your eyebrows with your tongue pressed against the back of your teeth); then we made sure we could drop down several inches maintaining the same profile. Finally, we talked about the "angry cat" position - being on all fours and maintaining the same characteristics as the standing profile, and also keeping all leg angles at 90 degrees: thighs straight down, calves parallel to the ground, feet dug straight down.
Next we divided up into stations to work on that body position. I ended up with the VRU group, as they were a bit short-handed, and we started at the ab/core station. One drill we did was for one partner to be on her knees, with her hands supporting a leaning partner at the shoulder. Then the kneeling partner would switch moving her hands (so she'd be supporting the leaning partner with only one hand at a time) while both partners worked to keep their profile straight and tight. Then we did the highly entertaining "monkey" drill, where one partner picks up another in a firemen's lift, and the lifted partner climbs full circle around the standing partner's head while the standing partner tightens her core to support the monkey partner.
The next station we went to was the bungee station, which involved harnesses and rubber straps (fun!) Strapped first to a lamppost and then to each other (in a diamond pattern, so we were all going in opposite directions), we worked on keeping body position and driving against the backwards bungee pull. I apparently have good body position, but wasn't able to keep myself from lurching side-to-side in the drive, and actually was snapped backwards on my ass in the diamond formation. It really hit home for me that if I am going to physically be able to play a forward position at the level that I'd like, I'm going to have to find time in my schedule to go to the gym or at very least do some ab/core work at home.
The last station we went to was the Predator. We just lined up and took turns hitting individually until the end of the rotation. Again, I learned that I have good body position but not enough force. I'm so little! But as Lisa pointed out to me, there are plenty of great, little, strong rugby players out there. So the gym it is.
Before lunch, we took a little time to talk about binding. Instead of binding across to hips or sides, which distributes some force sideways, Lisa talked about having everyone in the scrum bind at the midline to distribute (or punch) force forward into the opposing scrum. Additionally, everyone enters the scrum on their feet in the same body position we'd practiced earlier - no going down to one knee for the locks. It's something Deanna's been working on with us for the past few seasons, but it still feels a bit odd.
In the first part of lunch, we also talked about hooker and eight footing. Both act as "brakemen" on the scrum, setting up with one foot forward, one foot back, and at "engage" they (counterintuitively!) move the forward foot back to move weight forwards. Weird, but it works (oh gravity!)
Then we broke for lunch. Yay lunch!
Following lunch we had Scrum Time. We practiced binding into our scrums and doing sprint engages, where instead of hitting anything we just sprinted forwards. The groups also rotated through using the Predator, and man was it nice to use a scrum machine! Then we graduated to hitting other packs, but by that time we were all getting a bit worn out and tired and the engagements weren't as clean as we'd like. The difference with the body positions and binds were still quite clear, though - the drives were hard and everyone's power went straight forward.
The best part, though, was that I got to play hooker! Our group was a bit short, and I'd mentioned that I'd like to learn how, so I ended up spending almost all my time rotating in and out at hooker, with only a few turns at lock and flanker and none at eight. I do wish I would've gotten a bit more practice locking and eighting in that setup, but on the flip side I'm now okay playing every position in the scrum but prop!
*Quick rugby hierarchy lesson: I play for AUWRFC (American Women's Rugby Football Club), which is in the PRU (Potomac Rugby Union), which is in MARFU (Mid-Atlantic Rugby Football Union), which feeds into the national pool. MARFU is made up of the PRU, EPRU (Eastern Pennsylvania Rugby Union), and VRU (Virginia Rugby Union). U23 is short for Under 23 All Stars.
Sunday, September 16, 2007
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