As an athlete I train all year round. I endure the long, boring conditioning blocks throughout the winter. I get caught up and dragged along by the hectic playing schedule of the spring. I search for that last ten percent with my GB teammates all summer. Then, one day I wake up and notice that there’s a slight chill in the air, or that it’s beginning to get dark earlier again. And that’s when I know that it’s time to go to work again!

It’s a strange feeling. Excitement tinged with fear, a sense of foreboding, the feeling that something very special is just around the corner! Some days you want to speed up time and just be there on court. Other days, you want the exact opposite. But, what you want doesn’t matter. The fact is, in one week’s time. No more, no less. I’ll be “tipping off” at the opening game of the 2010 Wheelchair Rugby World Championships!

We’ve spent the last two weeks at our training base in Norfolk putting the finishing touches to our preparation for Worlds. It’s been a mixture of conditioning, technical training and video analysis as well as full on game rehearsals under tournament conditions. The whole squad is looking very sharp and morale in the camp is high. Everyone just wants to get to Canada, put all of their hard work onto the court and come back with a medal!

The schedule has been relentless lately with very little time for anything apart from Rugby. So it was very nice to finally leave camp and get back home to my girlfriend, who surprised me with tickets to see the fantastic “Muse” at Wembley Stadium on Saturday. It was an awesome show and a great way to spend our last weekend together before I fly out to Vancouver.

While we’ve been working hard, so too have the organizing committee to make “Worlds 2010” the biggest Wheelchair Rugby tournament ever. They’ve even teamed up with a production company called “Square Wave” to make three stunning commercials featuring athletes from Team Canada. You can see my favourite, “Push” by following the link below…

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=V0PEYfd1H9g

The World Championship website is also packed full of information from the event schedule and team rosters through to media coverage and merchandising. You can find out everything you need to know at…

http://www.2010wwrc.com/

All that remains now is one last training session before we leave on Friday. The preparation is complete. It’s time to play! In my next post I’ll be giving you details of how to watch the Worlds via live streaming and letting you know what the atmosphere is like at the tournament hotel!