On Being an Expert

This is not what I look like. Besides the facial expression that says, "What the heck are you doing?" that is.
©2008-2012 by dropoflight

As we've already established, I don't do things halfway.

I throw myself 100% into whatever it is that I'm currently into. And, since I'm a natural-born teacher, I also have this almost irresistible compulsion to become an expert on that thing.

And this has been a habit I've noticed at the very least since college (I can't think of any examples from before that). When I took my first college English class and fell in love with Paradise Lost, I stopped pursuing a music degree and switched to English and Classics. It was important to me that I be able not only to read and appreciate Milton, but that I understand the work deeply (like on a "I can read the Aeneid in the original Latin" level) so that I could better communicate to others why it was so great.

When I started doing triathlons, I read voraciously. I read everything I could get my hands on about swimming, biking, running, and how to put it all together. In the beginning, I did so to better coach myself. But as I read more and more, it seemed insane to keep the knowledge to myself. So I started a blog about triathlon, and used it to disseminate my new-found knowledge. Eventually, I became a trainer and coach, with an emphasis on endurance sports. Because that's where my expertise was.

Now, I have a new thing. And it's called rugby.

I find myself watching rugby anytime I can. Women's World Cup footage. Six Nations matches. Super Rugby. The more I watch, the better I understand the game, and the more I can see what makes a team great or mediocre.

I've got a notebook full of training ideas. They began as ideas on how I could train to be a great scrum half, but they've involved into full-on coaching. I want to develop a system for how to train elite athletes in a team sport. My co-workers joke about my zeal. Two months playing a new sport, and already I'm trying to understand the ins and outs of how to coach it!

But what can I say? This is how I approach all my interests. I want to be the best (or at least better than everyone around me) at what I'm doing. And if I'm going to be the best, that puts me in a prime position to teach others how to be better.

Practice: 5/1/2012

There's not a women's rugby team in Wichita, so normally I practice with the men. However! The Wichita Barbarians WON the Western Rugby DIII Championships! So they'll be getting ready for that, I assume. I figure I won't get much out of the practices, and I'll just be in the way as they're trying to get things all lined out for San Diego in two weeks. So I decided to do my own thing tonight. I was on my own, so my options were limited. I headed to the practice field at the local high school with my ball and some cones. Here's what I did:

15 minute warm up
 - Jog 1 lap
 - Eagles 365 Lunge Progression Series
 - Light jogging (as I evaluated the best place to do my HIIT sprints)
15 minute HIIT + grass drills (That link goes to an audio file I made that will coach you through the workout. If you don't know what grass drills are, watch this video.)
 - 2 x 15" max effort + 45" rest
 - 20" rest
 - 2 x grass drills
 - 20" rest
 - 2 x 30" max effort + 30" rest
 - 20" rest
 - 2 x grass drills
 - 2 x 10" max effort + 50" rest
 - 2 x grass drills
10 minutes agility drills
 - 3 x 20 m swerve drill
 - 3 x 20 m cone and hold
 - 3 x 20 m sharp cut drill
10 minutes work with tackle dummy
10 minutes practice kicking
 - Drop kick
 - Punt
 - Grubber
 - Chip

On Commitment

Training log, before and after

I do tend to go overboard.

When I first start something like rugby--that I really enjoy, that I think is awesome, that inspires me--I go all in. I spend hours reading about it. I spend hours watching it. I spend hours planning my own way to get involved. And then I spend hours doing it. In this case, I've worked for the past four weeks, figuring out what the best training approach will be. I relied heavily on the advice of Eagle365.net, a resource for aspiring female elite rugby players. I don't agree with all of the advice on there, but I'll talk about that some other time. And in the meantime, it saves me from considering and re-considering ad nauseum the best training plan for me. When you're a trainer and coach, sometimes you have a little too much knowledge for your own good. Sometimes you just need someone to tell you what to do (even if you disagree with some of it).

Anyway. I've spent a lot of hours on rugby. And I intend to spend more. It's entirely possible that I may burn myself out on rugby (like I did on triathlon and cycling). Then there will be another sport. Until then, I'm into rugby 100%.

On Being the Best

My proudest podium. Third in my age group, but twelfth overall. My goal, though, was to be in the top ten.

My brother knows me pretty well. I don't do things halfway. When I find something that I like and want to be good at, I really like it, and I really want to be good at it. As in, the best. As in, better than everyone else around me. As in, better than you.

I am (at least for a while) fully committed to that goal. It was the same with cycling, and before that, triathlon. It was (is) the same with personal training. For that matter, it was the same with poetry, academic writing, playing the guitar, playing the piano, even all-around intelligence . . . all through school, I was highly competitive, even though I never really got into sports. I competed at things like having the best score on any given AP Biology test (I set the curve on all of them, by the way) and being the go-to person for help on Geometry homework. I may have been the last chosen for pick-up basketball games, but I was always the first choice for a National History Day partner. And it drove me nuts when anyone in my high school show choir could out-sing or out-play (on the piano) me.

I've tempered my competitiveness in life a great deal, due in large part to my participation in sports (which is still relatively new to me). I no longer derive my self worth from whether or not I had the best sales numbers in a month (which is good, 'cause I never have). But on the race course, in a yoga class, on the pitch? You better believe that I'm gunning for you. Because I am going to be the best one doing this sport thing. And if you're better than me now? Just wait until next season.

My New Thing

This conversation occurred at a Verizon storefront, while we were waiting to have data switched over on our phones.

My Little Bro: "So, is rugby gonna be like your new thing now?"
Me: "What do you mean?"
MLB: "Like, are you going to be obsessed with that now? Is it going to be your new thing?"
Me: "Yes. Yes it is."

My First Game: MOARK vs. The White Sheep

I am wearing 16 there in the center. I'm like a tiger waiting to pounce.

I played a game of rugby!

And I didn't get hurt!

Well, not badly, anyway.

It's strange. I'm accustomed to writing race reports, and I'm always able to come up with plenty of detail about what went on, how I did, what I learned, what I need to work on. But in running, cycling, and triathlon, I have all this time where I'm alone with my thoughts, and I can process what's happening and compose my ideas as I go.

There's no time to compose thoughts in rugby.

So this will be considerably more scattered than my race reports.

That's me in the ruck!

I've been practicing to go in at scrum half and fly half, but the Sabres coach started me at winger. Which was fine, by the way; I was just excited to get to start! But I hadn't really studied winger much, so I was getting a crash course from my teammates as we went along. Highlight of the first half (of three, by the way) was getting an outside pass and running it for a gain of about five meters. Looking back, though, I recognize that I didn't use any of the fancy footwork, cutting, or spinning moves that I've been practicing. Instead, I ran it straight into contact, directly into the prop right in front of me. I took it in hard, placed the ball back, and felt that it was a successful play.

But it's not really how a back would play, is it? Especially wingers. Wingers should be swift, with good pace, an ability to read the defense, see the holes, and zip through them. I have no recollection of even looking for any holes. I had the ball, and I had every intention of running it straight forward, no matter who was in my way. Thinking back, I probably could have gotten around that tighthead. I'm sure that I was faster than her. And the Sheep's defense wasn't that great. There were probably holes there. And I was inside the 22. I could probably have scored a try. But I didn't.

See that hustle?

I sat out the second half, but there was a third half, because originally there were supposed to be two women's games, but too few players showed up to field three teams. I went in at strong side flanker for the third half. One of our props taught me how to scrum during the second half. And I adored it. I did get to run the ball a couple times on a pick-and-go, but didn't really gain any yardage. Where I really excelled was in rucking and tackling. As a wing, I felt like I always had to be backing away from the action, waiting for the ball to come to me, waiting for the play to slow down so the backs could have a turn. As a flanker, I could get right in the middle of the action and attack. Also, I got to hit stuff.

After a few minutes in at flanker, the coach asked me to switch to scrum half. I was excited to go in at the position I'd been studying! But honestly, it was a mess. I couldn't get the ball out cleanly very often, I didn't do very well at controlling the pace of the game, and I had trouble seeing enough of what was going on to make good decisions about directing my pack. And I felt again like I always had to hold myself back out of the action, waiting for someone else to ruck, someone else to tackle, someone else to run. I didn't like that very much, and a couple of times got frustrated and just rucked over myself.

This was just a match for fun at a festival in Columbia, MO, so it was a perfect opportunity for me to get my first playing time. And I have no idea what the final score was, but I know that we scored at least seven tries and shut the other team out.

"Whoa, WTF?! Aw, crap, that was the ball."

The most important thing that I learned in this game was that I do better when I can be a part of the action. I've been practicing at scrum half and fly half, but I've also wanted to get looks at 8 man, and now that I've played flanker a bit, I think that's where I belong. Maggie Alphonsi of Great Britain is a flanker, and she's a beast--driving the team forward at every ruck and at every tackle, it seems like. I can be that kind of flanker! And this isn't football; when I was on the front line playing football, I never touched the ball unless the other team totally botched the kick-off. But even playing in the pack, I have just as much chance to run the ball and score tries as I would at scrum half or fly half. And I can still practice my drop kicking and place kicking, and help my team there.

All in all, I was happy with my performance on Saturday. I can't wait to play again!

Injury roll:

Scratched and swollen eye, from a finger that found it's way into
my eyeball in a ruck.

Boot marks and bruises from getting stepped on.

Stiff, swollen fingers from jamming them on
the ball (knocked on), then bending them
backwards on a tackle.

See?! So swollen!

Q & A

Go ahead. Ask me a question. I'll research it, and answer it, and post about it. So c'mon. What do you want to know?

Leave me a comment or send me an e-mail if you have a question you'd like me to answer.