The den of doom

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?