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BEN STRANG
Last updated on 13:35, 20 July 2018
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Sarah Goss Addresses New Zealand Sevens Team
July 13, just over a week before the World Cup Rugby 7 in San Francisco, the last official training camp has ended.
For more than five years, players have traveled from all over the country to train at Blake Park, Mount Maunganui.
They spent a few weeks preparing for their next tournament and remembering each of their teammates, remembering what motivates them on and off the pitch. From the month of October, it will be permanent
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The national team of Allan Bunting will centralize at Mount Maunganui before the next World Rugby Sevens Series.
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Sarah Goss crosses the defense and tries a try in a test game at Blake Park.
Half of the players are already based in Abundance Bay, but the rest will follow. It means more training, more time together for the team to work properly and less excuses if things go wrong.
But before the World Cup, the preparations were as before.
The players arrive at the camp Two weeks before the tournament, in a hotel that hides in the shade under the mountain.
On the other side of the street there are hot pools. At the corner of the street, the beach. A short drive south is Blake Park, the training base in which players tear themselves apart looking for a ticket to America.
The World Cup camp was particularly difficult. No player gave an inch in the trial matches as almost all the athletes limped off the pitch, feeling the pressure of their efforts.
"We meet teams that are really physical, some teams are really good at the ball game," Ruby Tui, 26-year-old prop, said:
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" But when we play [trial games] they are physical, they are well placed, everything is there, we try to tick all checkboxes
"When we play with each other, we have to be very good and have something extra, otherwise it is impossible to enter this team."
Tui a made these comments after the last day of testing. a particularly bad lameness, the result of a leg stroke suffered on contact.
If this had happened in the World Series, or at a World Cup, it could be a little dark to the opponent who had hit it. In the field, it may also have been a little dark because adrenaline masked the pain.
But as players left the flooded field at the end of a sudden downpour, there were only hi-fives and cuddles. They congratulated each other on a difficult game, a difficult trial and wished each other great success for the upcoming selections.
Pressure makes diamonds, and even if they were a little bumpy, New Zealand women shone
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Gayle Broughton says that she has the "blessing" of being part of the national team of seven.
"We are truly blessed to be in this team," 22-year-old Gayle Broughton said: "For call it our job, wake up, train with your best friends and talk to them … it's a family outside of the family and it's a blessing. "
Broughton has grown up in these camps. She arrived in Mount Maunganui at the age of 16, before making her debut with the team at age 17.
Older players, like Sarah Goss, Nathan-Wong Tyla, Kelly Brazier and Portia Woodman, "
You can feel the camaraderie away from the field, when they go down to the high performance sports center of the city. University of Waikato, opposite Sir Gordon Tietjens Field. [19659007] Bay of Plenty Rugby and the national teams of seven also call center, using locker rooms, offices, a high-level gym and kitchens and lounges on the floor.
BEN STRANG / STUFF [19659000] Kelly Brazier's attack at Shiray Kaka in a final test match, leaving Kaka in train to heal his very tight left leg
tournament trophies, pro He is exposed in a glazed closet in the hallway, while mingling with people like the Black Caps pacemaker, Trent Boult, in the gym for off-season strength training
. Players sit together, sometimes with the men's team, to eat their meal, before enjoying the most free time in the community zone.
Woodman conducts a Sequence game, a board game combining strategy and playing cards. Others are watching Netflix or the television playing on the north wall. At one point, the players made a spontaneous interpretation of The Fresh Prince of Belair. Will Smith is on the screen
"I think having fun is extremely professional," said New Zealand coach Allan Bunting. "You must have fun part to motivate."
"Extremely professional is not serious and always have your head down and work very hard. There is a fair balance, and it could change day by day. It may not be the plan we had for last week.
"It's being able to have this relationship with your players and the management staff and what you get each day."
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Tenika Willison and Sarah Goss support Shakira Baker on the way to win a wattbike challenge
"One day we could have a concert where they can sing, and the the next day, you destroy them. The next day, you play rugby, and then you go home. "
Invited to develop these concerts, Bunting says it's a way to let off steam.
" We usually have sketches. They sing all the time and laugh and they dance. It's part of our culture, it's about laughing and singing and making sure you spend time together.
"It's stressful, you can not stay at this place all the time otherwise you will die mentally. Enjoy the country, enjoy the culture, and we have players in our team who know how to do it. "
The pleasure extends to some training sessions, injecting competition and rivalry, but without any stakes." 19659007] After a few hours of rest, singing, dancing, watching TV and play board games, players get rid of their boots and slippers, turn into exercise gear and head to the gym in a wattbike challenge. "title =" "src =" https://resources.stuff.co.nz/content/dam/images/1/q/w/5/d/1/image.related.StuffLandscapeSixteenByNine.620×349.1qvzs9.png/1532050513204.jpg "clbad =" photoborder "/>
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Portia Woodman Exercises For Her Team In A Wattbike Challenge
