sevens tournament

i am so knackered/shattered/tired. last i counted in the shower, i have about 10 bruises, and this is only on my legs. and now my left elbow, and both my wrists are a bit screwed, the left from last year's police touch, and the right just recently. this morning i woke up and oh, the pain, the pain, all over.

but it was an awesome day of sevens yesterday, my team played like never before, it was expansive and beautiful running rugby, with 5,6,7 often unanswered for 3 out of 4 matches. in the end we lost the final to a superior team (they have england youth and academy internationals and club players; their play reminded me of blacks, as they had real speed vision support and moves and fitness).

i am just amazed at how my team grew from match to match, improving impressively in support play and expansive attack. i've lost a lot speed and fitness, and there's only one way to go from here. still haven't scored any tries but that's really not an issue anymore. let me work on what i'm relatively better at, i.e. passing, directing stuff and keeping a calm head, and contribute in other ways.

something silly happened (again) though. we were warming up and driving into tackle pads that were help up by our coach and his rugby friend, ad. at first, ad was taking the 'pad resistance' a bit too far, instead of just absorbing our hits, he was properly hitting back at us with the pad. let me tell you that there is no contest in such a situation between and guy and girl rugby player. the first time, i was like "ouch!" but the second time, he hit me back so hard, i felt my shoulder 'crack' a bit, was stunned momentarily, and then i felt my eyes well up with tears.

what the hell is wrong with me? i wondered, as i got back into the line for more hits. was my shoulder painful? not really. had i injured myself? no. this was exactly like that time i tackled a huge forward in a previous match, had her fall on top of me and got up shocked and shaken, and with tears streaming down my face. it's like, i don't understand why i'm crying, i don't want to be crying, i don't even feel like crying, so why am i crying, and why can't i stop? this wasn't even during a match. maybe it's an unpleasant reflex action. my coach and some teammates came over and i felt pretty embarrassed. i muttered something about this being a 'dominici' (a lame reference to dominici of france who, after being tackled by 3 italian players at once during saturday's france v italy match, lay prone on the pitch for ages before being driven off on a stretcher and was later treated for shock), except that unlike him, i was still conscious.

i swear i will whack myself if i do this ever again.

p.s. after that incident, ad put up much much less pad resistance, and let all of us drive him backwards.

p.p.s. if my bruises don't clear up by the time i go back to singapore, you'll see me in long sleeve tops and pants. don't want my parents thinking i'm killing myself over here.

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wales have won wales have won wales have won!