August 19, 2010 - It's Good to Feel Like an Athlete Again

Thursday at practice we covered plays from the scrum, ruck and lineout. It's looking like my main position will be number 7, the open side flanker. This means that when there's a scrum I'll set up on the side left or right of the scrum that is next to the biggest portion of field. My main job on defense will be to get to the other side quickly and disrupt their offense. For me, this is great, because I get to run as hard as I can, and then tackle people. After never having played contact sports growing up, there's something really quite satisfying about a good tackle. As much as I love volleyball, I had always wished for a way to mix it up a bit more with the other team. Rugby definitely provides this.

In general, overall it feels really good to feel like an athlete again. This may seem like an odd statement to those who know me, because I've still worked out hard and maintained a decent level of fitness over the years. What I hadn't realized though, is how much I've missed the pure joys of sprinting, agility, and quick reactions. Firefighting and rock climbing require me to be fit and strong, but neither require any of the skills previously mentioned. Rugby is basically a big game of keep-away, combined with tag, where you get to tackle people. This is fun on a basic, almost even primal level. It keeps my brain engaged and motivated, and relieves stress, This, plus the benefits gained through the application of speed power and agility, has been the missing component in my workouts over the past few years.