The fringe benefits of playing for the national men’s rugby team are innumerable, but no one promised it always had to be fun.
And week three of training camp, especially on beep test day is decidedly a pleasure-free zone.
That day for the national ruggers who are gearing up to contest the NACRA 7s championship in Mexico in December was yesterday in the National Park.
For the 15 players that took part in the grueling workout, it was probably the worst fitness training day on their calendar.
“Its bloody hell” was how fitness trainer, Barrington Browne summarized the fitness test in two words.
For Patrick King (14.4), Rickford Cummings (13.2) and Joseph Rahaman (13.2), yesterday was bittersweet as they posted the top three beep test scores and were awarded medals compliments of Titan Table Club.
Brown was pleased with the threesome’s performances but was critical of some of the players who had scores in single digits.
“The guys know themselves and they have to do better next time” Browne told the media yesterday. He also disclosed that another beep test is planned in two weeks.
Browne added that “The average score today was 11 which is not too bad, but we are looking for 12. If we get 14 before we leave that will be very good.”
The national team will depart for Mexico on November 27 on a quest to secure their seventh NACRA 7’s championship. The two-day tournament kicks off on December 3.
Notes: The beep test is a multistage 20 metre shuttle run test for aerobic fitness. It is employed by many international sporting teams as an accurate test of cardiovascular fitness, one of the more important components of total fitness.
