Lifestyle Changes for Englands Women

by James Skitt - 19.08.10

England will look to wrestle the World Cup from the hands of New Zealand when the Women’s Rugby World Cup 2010 kicks off at the Surrey Sports Park in Guildford on August 20th.

The Black Ferns have lifted the last three titles, but current Nations Cup and RBS 6 Nations holders England will have high hopes of claiming their second World Cup crown on British  soil, buoyed by their victory over New Zealand at Twickenham last November.

England, whose squad access a range of English Institute of Sport (EIS) services including Strength and Conditioning, Physiotherapy, Performance Psychology, Performance Analysis, Performance Lifestyle and Performance Nutrition, have been in full time training since the beginning of July in preparation for the tournament, including training camps at Bath, Bisham Abbey and Guildford, where the group stages will be held.

With many of the squad having work or other commitments to put on hold, many of the squad have turned to EIS Performance Lifestyle Advisor Anna Palfreyman to help them sort through the logistics of putting time aside to concentrate on sport.

Palfreyman told eis2win.co.uk: “Many of the athletes have full or part time employment which sits alongside their Rugby, so to make the transition to being a full time athlete in the lead up to and during the World Cup they have in most cases had to negotiate with their employers to have time off or take short career breaks.”

Although the players receive additional funding in a world cup year, taking time out to focus purely on Rugby poses a number of challenges.

“Sorting everything out ahead of this period can be quite stressful for some players” Palfreyman admits.

“We really look at it on a case by case basis and consider the best course of action for each player. Some have taken career breaks whilst others have negotiated a compromise with their employers.

“Sadly we had an instance where one player felt there was no alternative but to resign if she was to be available for the World Cup.”

“That’s clearly not an ideal situation and a very difficult and potentially unsettling decision for someone to have to make at a time when they want to be fully focused on the ultimate achievement in their sport” she adds.

The story reaches a happy ending however. With support and guidance from Palfreyman, the player in question managed to secure a new job which she will start after the World Cup in September.

But employment issues aren’t the only ones Palfreyman is on hand to help address as the players get used to full time training.

“It’s quite a change for them to go from normal everyday working life to full time training where they are around each other every day for two months and there are still occasional instances where players have conflicting commitments so part of my role is to liaise with the coaches and make them aware of any issues around players at an early stage so they can be addressed and worked through without having an impact on performance.”

“The coaches are very supportive of wider performance lifestyle issues and the whole set up works well in a really close group environment.

“Recently the players, coaches and support staff all spent three days with the army in the Brecon Beacons.

“We had three days of activities all designed to test how people responded in certain situations and I’m sure it’ll stand the group in really good stead for the world cup.”

Following their short stint with the Army, the players have been preparing on the pitch with a series of training camps ahead of their World Cup opener against Ireland on Friday 20th in Guildford.

“Whilst the players are on camp I’ll generally go in two days a week to speak with them, whilst they know that I’m on the end of the phone if they need me at other times” Palfreyman says.

England lock Jo McGilchrist, who has been named in Friday’s starting line-up, siad: “Certainly having this resource has been very important for me. It has given me ideas about how I can combine both rugby and work, and has certainly made this demanding time in my rugby career a lot easier.”

The WRWC match action kicks off on Friday August 20 at Guildford’s Surrey Sports Park and the semi and finals staged at the Twickenham Stoop. England open their campaign against Ireland (6.30pm, August 20), followed by Kazakhstan (6.30pm, Tuesday August 24) and USA (6.30pm, Saturday August 28), with the semi finals taking place on Wednesday September 1 and finals on Sunday September 5. All England’s matches will also be shown live on Sky Sports.
 
For WRWC 2010 tickets visit the Ticketmaster website or call 0844 844 2010. Rugby fans who buy tickets for the WRWC 2010 will also be put on a priority ticketing information list for the 2015 Rugby World Cup in England. For a full schedule of fixtures and to follow England in the WRWC visit www.rfu.com/wrwc

Photography © Getty Images