Monday
Monday starts off at 11:30am with recovery on the beach. We will have played a match the day before, so this session is just about getting us out of bed and moving again. We take a walk down to the end of the beach, do some static stretching in pairs (yes, a whole bunch of big rugby players stretching each other does look a bit funning…) and then get into the water to get the blood circulating in the muscles again. There is a local café/bar across the road, owned by an ex-player of the club, where we finish the morning drinking coffee and reminiscing about the game the day before. At 8:30pm that night we have a video analysis session of the weekend's game, which can last anywhere between 1-2 hours (depending on the result). The physio is at the club from 6:30pm - 8:30pm on Mondays, Tuesdays and Thursdays so some of the boys go up early to have an injury checked out or just have a rub down.
Tuesday
Tuesday we at the club for 9:30am. In the morning, only the pro players have to be there. Some of the local lads work so can only make the evening sessions. We normally have about 15 guys in the morning. Backs and Forwards split, backs in the gym and forwards on the field doing skills and at 10:30am we swop over and do visa versa. Afterwards a group of us normally end up at a local coffee shop bantering away about anything and everything and definitely drinking to much coffee…but hey when in Spain… do what the locals do! That evening 8:30pm-10:00pm we have a full squad training involving about 26 players. The first hour is team play and some controlled contact. The last 30min is a hard fitness block.
Wednesday
It's a 9:30 start, backs and forwards split, while the backs are in the gym the forwards do lines and scrum work. We then swop over and the backs do their strike moves and forwards are in the gym. Afterwards we come together and finish off on the field doing some sort of team play or fitness games. The session ends at about 12, from here on training becomes a lot more toned down so that we are ready for the game on Sunday. The club is busy sorting out a few Spanish lessons for us once a week. These should start soon and will be after training at about 1pm. Some of the boys have taken well to trying to pick up a few Spanish words so this is often an interesting class - ending up with some crazy sentence being made up about one of the boys antics on the weekend. Wednesday night we have the night off which I try to spend doing anything but rugby ie Going out to eat or chilling at home with the wife and a couple of movies.
Thursday
Very similar to Tuesday, the only difference being that there is less focus on fitness but more on team shape and functionality.
Friday
Day off … No rugby! It's a day to sleep in late and chill out. Sometimes I do a little day trip to a small town or village nearby. In summer, there's definitely a bit of beach time thrown in for good measure.
Saturday
If we are playing at home this week we will have a captains run out at about 6pm and but otherwise try to stay off my feet and get in the liquids. If we are playing away we leave on the bus at 8am from the club. Normally the trips range between 8-14 hours…! Sounds terrible but its not that bad. There is normally some good chat on the bus between the boys, loads of cards and poker being played and every now and then a few classic pranks on the unfortunate sleepers! When we arrive we have a short captains run, a massive super and hit the sack for some quality sleep before the big game on Sunday.
Sunday
Kick off is at 12:00, regardless whether we are playing home or away. Afterwards both teams have a couple of beers in the home team's clubhouse while the post match formalities are done. Because it is such a long trip back home, the visiting team jumps straight back onto the bus and heads home. If it's been a home game for us we head down the hill into La Vila to a bar on the beachfront (the one owned by our old team mate). The vibe is always good, with lots of beer flowing, as there should be after any game of rugby! If the evening has gone well many of us end up in the Benidorm, a nearby party town, where the festivities continue.
