By Bifta
August 19 2002

Well it's been a very busy time for Bifta since I last updated you, with a new job starting in a week, a family holiday, and a wedding where I was the best man. Despite all these distractions, the gym has still been seeing some regular visits from the honed body I am proud to call my own. Because training at the club is now twice a week, the schedule in the gym has been nudged away from cardiovascular work, and more towards building upper-body strength and core stability, key aspects of the rugby player's armoury. Lifting weights can be a thankless and grim task - the key to it is to keep some variety in the routine, and to allow recovery time between sessions. It also takes a while to have any noticeable physical effects, although the groom at the wedding I attended this weekend, who I haven't seen for 6 months, was impressed at the change in the Bifta body shape.

Down at the club we have had an enjoyable couple of weeks in the absence of the Director of Rugby, with the training being taken by one of our senior professionals (in the non-monetarist sense). Thus the concentration has been on working with the ball in replicating match situations, at varying speeds. This has given everybody a chance to get the ball in hand and gallop around the paddock. We seem to have been blessed with the weather by and large, with the hot weather tending to ease off in the evenings, thankfully.

As I said, I have been on wedding duties this weekend, so have relied on the message board and the local press for reports on the Tykes' activity. We seem to have had favourable reports from the Llanelli game, and it was especially encouraging to read about the successful debuts of Messrs. Hegarty and Ross. I am hoping to get up to Wakefield this Wednesday to watch the Tykes in action, and then the season is only a week and a half away. Hopefully my season ticket will have surfaced by then!

Until next time folks...