Two-part Special; A Chaucerian Christmas/Nose to the Grindstone

Part One; A Chaucerian Christmas

My Christmas started with a black tie reception in London. I was a guest of “Chaucer”, an insurance company within the Lloyds group who are sponsoring me in the build up to London 2012. My fiancée Alison and I enjoyed dinner and dancing along with over 200 employees of Chaucer at the famous “Waldorf Hotel” in Aldwych.

I got the chance to speak to many of the people who worked in Chaucer’s various departments and was delighted to learn that my blog is followed with interest at the company. I was also happy to reacquaint myself with members of the rugby team that I spent a great afternoon with last May. It was a fantastic evening that ended all to quickly and a great way to begin the festive season.

Christmas was a family affair for me. Good food, a few drinks and a lot of laughs. It was especially fun to watch Ali’s young niece and nephew as they tore open their presents and happily played with all their new toys. We celebrated my Dad’s birthday with him on Boxing Day and caught up with friends in the evening for the obligatory “board game” night, which is really a thinly veiled excuse for a party!

A brief return to training connected Christmas and New Year. Then, before I knew it, one last bad meal (depending which way you look at it) and a few cocktails saw out 2010, signalled the end of my “engagement honeymoon” and ushered in a very new chapter of my life!

Part Two; Nose to the Grindstone

2011 has already brought lots of new challenges to me. I’m training very hard throughout the week right now, laying the groundwork for later in the year. We usually travel to tournaments in the U.S. at the end of January but GB is not touring this year, electing instead to send key developing players on an intensive two-month training camp in Florida.

This has given me a great opportunity to really ramp up my fitness work with no interruptions, extending the traditionally tough winter training block by over a month. I’m very excited to see the results of such a change and I’m feeling extremely motivated now after some really nice downtime in December.

However, this isn’t the only focus I have right now. While I’m training hard in the day, my evenings and weekends are taken up with House hunting and Wedding planning. We’ll go to a couple of viewings in the week and a few more on Saturday, punctuated with visits to hotels in the country. Alison and I are both from the Kent/London borders so it’s been a real pleasure to drive down to places like Maidstone and Tunbridge Wells to see what they have to offer. All in all, it’s a very busy but thoroughly enjoyable time at the moment.

So, what’s next? Well, as I said, the early part of the year is all about preparation. It’s our “pre-season” if you like. Our domestic season all kicks off in March with a new look “Super Series” replacing our old league format. Teams will compete “en masse” at three separate tournament-style weekends, the first being held at Medway Sports Park in Kent on the 19th and 20th March. Other weekends are scheduled in Liverpool and Guilford and will all build towards our National Championships, taking place in Sheffield at the end of July.

For more details check out the “events” section of GBWR’s website at…

http://www.gbwr.org.uk/main/index.php

That’s all for now. Please join me next time, when I’ll be telling you more about GB’s aspirations in 2011.

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