A Corner?

Last night was great and I hope we've turned a corner and the enthusiasm carries on from here out. It was good to see that even injured people turned up and made it a really good session. The difference between having say 14 people there training alone and 14 people with 5 watching and helping coach is massive so thanks to everyone who turned up.

For anyone who was not there last night - There is no training at Dearham on thursday this week, but thursday sessions will be resumed probably next week on a grass pitch in either Maryport or Cockermouth. These were the furthest north pitches anyone new of. This should knock a fair bit off the journey from carlisile and, i hope, see numbers increase to pre setback times!

What does everyone think about this???

Lets get back on track

spoke to netherhall rugby union, sounded positive the guy will take it to commitee and told me to pop down on saturday for a craik, the ground is just next to the school and there is changing rooms, too but the pitch will be fine. its surrounded by woods and few people go past

Spoke to Glasson who use Mill Tofts next to co op and opposite the spar in maryport they have finished using it and will have to wait till tonight until i get the guys mobile number, its a huge field but no changing areas
best things is its right along the main road

havent bothered with maryport ARLFC or Elbra yet as those pitches are narrow,

ill keep you posted!
Come on davey92 if you beat me on getting cockermouth i owe you a pint

and to the carlisle lads will it be quicker/better for you here if you take the wigton road?

and! im saying thursday is that ok?

I enjoyed it last night - today, I'm just hoping that someone will just shoot me and stop the aching...

Seriously, I knew I was out of shape - only 4 days previously, I was holed up in bed after another gout flair-up, so I think I did myself proud - literally running myself into the ground (rubberlegs and running don't mix, I've found).

I'm also happier now I'm able to prove to myself that I can block now that my big toe's not screaming pain every time I put any pressure on it, so today finds me a very sore and very happy guy.

And I'll tell you one thing - fully padded and helmeted players look damned scarey when you've not got pads or helmet yourself... especially when they're all blocking up the gut and you're the sole nose-tackle in the way of them.

Time for me to hit the gym and hopefully extend my fitness, lose some weight (found out that I'm 26 stone - heavier than I thought) and get some strength in there and I think I'll enjoy being in the DL.

And I think my being back may have lit a light under Butch's behind too, given that he wants the same position as me

TBH though, if I can lose weight and build speed, I'd be happy to move to DE - if nothing else, they get to flatten the QB once in a while

As for Thursdays, I'm stuck to lifts, so as long as I can get there, I don't care where we train - a Rugby Union pitch would be ideal - they're in their off-season anyhow I think and they tend to tear up their pitches with all their scrums so anything our OL and DL does to their pitch won't upset them like it would a soccer team. Not to mention they'll have the uprights which we might be able to use once in a while for kicking practice (yeah, so they'll be closer than they should be, but we can move the kick that little bit further away to compensate.

One last thing... thanks for getting us on the kick returns - now I know what I'm doing, I should be able to slot in with minimal practice and still be able to do the job - of course, practice makes perfect. The only thing I would say is that the guys need to wait for the ends to get to their positions before releasing - I was sprinting on some of those returns and still they were headed upfield before I could get to them - although this would probably be less of a worry with more than 3 blockers, I'll admit, since the distance would be less.

The fact that I've been away for so long also allows me to make this statement with some confidence... the team has improved a lot since I was there last and I think that a few sessions without some of the more experienced players is forcing others to step up and try - which can only be a good thing since we'll hopefully have everyone back together and we'll have players who can fill in for more positions than otherwise.

I also learned another thing last night - I'm useless as a kickoff returner since I can't catch them... but then with my eyesight issues, I didn't expect otherwise (born with a squint and have non-binocular vision, for the curious). I'll just stick to hitting things and getting in the way.

Flit: BTW mate, you were right about the cutting block - I had thought of that, but with no pads or helmet, the thought of having Marco and the rest of the O-Line fall on me was a little more than I could bear

keep at it youll get fit one step at a time just keep turning up and do a bit more each time,
being fit feels great (i remember it once) its getting there that hurts