Week 4 - 14.7.14-18.7.14

Internship Life.
Week 4. 14.7.14 - 18.7.14

The main squad had a week of this week, which meant that it was a lot quieter from my point of view. I must admit it has been a relief to have a bit of an off-week as it is definitely tiring. I love it to pieces, every day, but it is definitely draining. So to get a week where the pressure was off a little bit, and it was a lot more relaxed, came as a bonus.

As the main squad were off, the week was used mostly for work with the Elite Player Development Group (EPDG). This had all been planned by Tim a.k.a. Slim as he is head of S&C for these groups. So it was treated as a sort of mini-camp for these players.
The ages ranged from high school kids of maybe 14-16, to Sixth Form and College kids of maybe 17.
I'm not entirely sure of the ages to be fair so I'm just guesstimating.
They were split into two different groups - the Senior EPDG (older group), and Junior EPDG (younger). The senior group often new what is was they were being asked to do as they had been involved before, whereas the juniors were very green and needed a lot more technical work.

Throughout the week they had several sessions including sprint work, jumps, throws, weights, therapy (this was new to a lot of them so a good chance to give them advice on how to look after niggly injuries), swimming as well as quite a lot of rugby work with the coaches.

It was quite interesting from my point of view to be involved this week as it was good to see how Slim does things differently with EPDG as opposed to how he works with Senior squad, and also the Academy boys.

It was also a chance to work more one-to-one with some of the Senior squad lads, those who were still recovering from injury. So for instance this week I worked with George Robson, Rob Buchanon & George Merrick. We also had Ugo, Danny Care, Tom Casson, Kyle Sinkler & Tom Williams around this week. It was good because it was such a nice relaxed atmosphere and the guys all seemed to be enjoying their training which is good to see.

So next week is going to be a big week - we get all the returning England Players back into the fray. So it's going to packed full of all the players, I'm imagining it will be pretty tiring and hectic but I can't wait. Should be good having the entire squad back together.

Thanks for reading,
Rob.