I entered the den of doom yesterday with anticipation. There
had been rumours about this event, and people who attended the week before
looked at us first-timers with pity. True
enough, it was hard work. The sheer number of stations and which order they
were supposed to come in was all confusing but actually did their bit to take
your mind off how fucking exhausted you were. Admit it, every pre-season start
up is a slap in the face. Time doesn’t exist. Oxygen doesn’t exist. You. Just.
Keep. Going.
As I did just that, sweating my way through another push up,
squat, dead lift or weird commando roll, I noticed that this might be exactly
what we need. I don’t mean fitness-wise (although it’s embarrassingly obvious
that we do), but club spirit-wise. Our teams haven’t spent much time together
these last years, and honestly, we could do so much better than this. Invisible
barriers between juniors, ladies and men spread all sorts of negative energy
through everything we do (oh the fuckers
have stolen our match shorts again! / Naw, I don’t wanna go down to the club and
hang out with those drunken strangers / Why should I sign up for a job for the
club when others don’t? / Theres no
point playing for the seniors, I don't know them). It leads to absurd situations
where someone who’s played for this club for years gets asked who actually
brought her to that Saturday’s rugby party, being labelled as ’random groupie’
instead of the correct ’fullback heroine’.
These kind of barriers are easily broken down with sweaty
hugs. Seriously, when our gym session ended yesterday it was like the final
whistle in a game – people cheered, hugged and smiled (those who weren’t lying
in a puddle on the floor, that is). And even before the end, people were encouraging
others to keep going, shouting their names, slapping whatever they could reach
as they walked by (apologies here if anyone felt violated!). I’ve said it
before; when you feel like you’re dying, and you’re sharing it with someone
else, you can’t not be friends afterwards.
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Now ladies, this recruitment competition…hos many points do I
get for a masseuse?
