Image Of The Week

Survival Of The Fittest….

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I am not going to lie…Saturday was the sweetest feeling I have felt in my career so far….

I laid it out in my last Blog post how big Saturdays game was going to be and those of you that were there will confirm what a big match it was. In short we had to secure a bonus point to be safe and we secured 2 !!

Both teams gave it every thing to try and SURVIVE in The Championship-Esher at last playing to there Strengths- running from everywhere without fear without the shackles of a game plan.

And my boys-London Scottish-I cannot connvey how proud I am of how we played,how we reacted to the 5 Esher tries, how the pressure never got to us. Every time Esher scored the Scottish boys huddled and set out what the next job was. At no point did we panic even at half time trailing 12-21. In fact it was the calmest half time meet I can remember this season-the players sat took on fluids-the coaches talked then the players talked-nothing was to change stick to the GAME PLAN!

The game plan was to play structured and disciplined Rugby, drive the lineouts as much as possible, to keep the work rate higher than our opponents, to pressurise the Esher set piece and to keep pressing in defense-to quote  our defense coach, Alex Codling before and at half time;

keep coming forward in D we will score off an interception

How right he was as we sealed our Championship status with an intercept try from Charlie Hayter.

This coolness under pressure didn’t just happen by accident I put it down to 2 main ingredients-

1 Amor and Codling prepared the London Scottish team to play Esher throughly and left no stone un turned-the work done enababled our players to see weakness in their game and recognise our key strengths.

2. The players gave it their all and left nothing on the pitch-every single player emptied the tank. However the key was that despite giving everything and playing with great intensity the players kept their minds in the fridge and made precise professional decisions that got us the outcome we deserved. No stupid off loads or penalties just disciplined yard by yard inch by inch play.

Please enjoy the following video that features our tries v Esher on Saturday to keep us in The Championship and also David Howells try that got us promoted last season. And please feel fee to comment….

Please note how hard the LS squad celebrated each score which was a key objective before the game!!!

No Doubts…. Just Play

 

 

There comes a time as a Strength & Conditioning Coach when you are out of control and there is nothing more you can do. You have planned and delivered your programs and your athletes have applied themselves and worked their butts off.

I am in that situation right now while I write this-Its a strange feeling but its a great feeling because I know we are ready- I know we have dotted the ”i’s” and crossed the ”t’s” -the athletes are primed and rested up. The hard work was done months ago, the fitness testing, the conditioning, the lifting, the early mornings, the late finishes, the ice baths and a hell of a lot more.

There are no doubts just massive excitement to see my players get out there and perform and trust in the enormous effort they have put in since July.

 

London Scottish Training Video April 2012

Protein Ice Cream Does Exist!!

 

 

Getting in peak physical condition to play elite level Rugby is no easy task. In order to reach the elite level of Rugby the players eat well to make sure they are fueled to train and can recover efficiently.

When I hand over a nutrition plan to my players there is always the challenge of how to give them a treat without impacting on what they are trying to achieve.

I have been in the game long enough to realise that my athletes can have bad days. The challenge is how to turn these bad days back into good days.

When I first heard about Wheyhey Ice cream I thought it was too good to be true, an ice cream that an elite level athlete can treat themselves to without the guilt and negative results.

Wheyhey is  naturally sweetened, flavoured and coloured making it a fantastic vehicle for optimum nutrition and …. ITS AN ICE CREAM!

Elko

 

Snap Shot

Here’s a look in at what one of my Athletes is looking like at the moment as my squad prepare for a very important part of the season.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3lH0-lnVB6o&feature=youtu.be

Locker 27 Short Clip

 

 

 

 

Sky Sports Come to Visit London Scottish

Alex Payne is put through his paces by London Scottish Head of Strength and Conditioning Simon Elkinson during one of the squads conditioning sessions.

Click HERE

Preparing for the Pacific Nation Cup

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I was lucky enough to be asked to help out Samoan International scrum half Garrick Cowley last week as he prepares to play in the Pacific Nation Cup. I worked with Gazza at Esher 2 seasons ago, he a top guy and a monster of a 9.

His session consisted of a thorough warm up concentrating on correct execution of primal movement-squat, lunge, push, pull, twist and throw.

We then moved into some power work (clean grip shrug) agility and some rugby specific conditioning.

Check out the videos!!

Prowler Pulls    Box Agility Drills  Scrum Half Conditioning

I’d like to wish Gazza the best of luck in the upcoming Pacific Nations Cup and World Cup.

Thank you to Churchy for letting me use his amazing facility at Locker 

 

 

The Pitfall of Supplements

Esher’s Head of Strength and Conditioning, Simon Elkinson,  spent a day at Twickenham last Thursday at the RFU Sports Science Conference. One of the big topics of the day was the use of supplements and the danger for players of taking innocent products that have been contaminated.

http://www.skysports.com/video/inline/0,26691,12610_6882815,00.html

UKAD are trying to educate the players and their coaches to help us all make informed choices but at the end of the day if one of your players tests positive there are no excuses, the book stops with them and they will be punished. How severely depends on how the panel sees each case but it can range from a slap on the wrist to a maximum 2 year ban. The company we use batch test their products so if there was a positive test we could trace the batch and see if there was a problem but the athlete would still be put in front of a panel. Basically the message is that there is always a risk taking supplements and the player is completely responsible. My athletes have been tested an incredible 5 times this season and that does not include at games, UKAD have visited our training ground in the evenings and tested about 20 athletes. To date I am pleased to say that all the results have been negative and I am confident that is how it will stay.