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| Ollie Phillips' LA Diary |
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| Falcons and England 7s wing Ollie Phillips |
| 8 February 2006, 10:40 am |
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| As he continues his globe-trotting with the England Sevens squad, Newcastle Falcons wing Ollie Phillips has reported back to base with the latest goings on from Los Angeles. |
We got up at eight and went to breakfast. Breakfast was the ‘Snelly and Ange sugar count’. Snelly is our physio and fitness advisor and Ange is our sports therapist – known collectively as ‘The Medical Team’. They spent the whole of breakfast literally checking the sugar content of all the cereals and juices we were having and telling us which ones we should and shouldn’t have. I think the multi coloured cheerios that Henry Paul (known as Sauce) had were the highest so not sure he will be having those again.
After breakfast we had a team meeting and our coach Mike Friday took us through some defence moves and talked through the mistakes we had made against France.
Training this morning was a tough one. It was held on a public baseball field and all the teams are training there but it was a bit of a scary experience as there were sprinklers and divots everywhere so half the pitch was covered in cones to stop us falling over! We had a real treat this morning as Snelly let us play football as part of our warm up. Normally it is the usual warm up of running between the cones, passing the ball, knee lifts etc. but today we were allowed to play football for ten minutes so we all loved Snelly this morning.
Our manager Terry had to join in with training this morning as we were a man short and it was one of the funniest moments of the tour. Terry is shaped like Mr Potato Head from Toy Story with little stumpy legs and it was hilarious seeing his dancing feet running down the wings during training. Although, I should be careful what I say as the squad reckon I look like Terry’s son and I call him dad so I should say that he is a fantastically good looking chap with great legs!!
Lunch was a repeat of the sugar count and was also a repeat of last night’s dinner but apart from that the food is ok. Very simple with plain chicken breasts, loads of salad and vegetables. They put out a massive plate of home baked cookies in the corner of the meal room each time and quite a few of us have been sneaking the odd cookie as desert when Snelly isn’t looking. I don’t feel too guilty as we have worked really hard in training today, plus I make sure I eat the raisin ones which surely count as fruit!
We had an hour and a half rest between lunch and this afternoon’s training when I would usually sleep or watch a DVD in the room but not today. Myself and Luke Narraway (from Gloucester, known as Naz) have been appointed ‘Duty Boys’ for the day. This is a new idea which has just been introduced and will be used at the Commonwealth Games. The idea is for two of the players to help out with some of the chores but I think it is just cheap labour for Terry! We have to clean the drinks bottles after each training session, fill them up with Powerade and collect the laundry. So far I have been blamed for forgetting to carry the drinks up from the van and losing two pairs of shorts and a vest. Despite the rumours that they are currently being sold on eBay, I am convinced it was Naz who has lost them. Two different players will take on the role each day. Taity (Mathew Tait, my team mate from Newcastle Falcons) seems to lose more than anyone else and needs mothering half the time. It was his birthday on Monday and he is now supposed to be a mature, grown up 20 year old but I think he has got more like a teenager since his birthday!
Training this afternoon included a touch game against Tonga which was good fun but fairly tough. I was pretty pleased it was touch as there were times when their huge players made a run for me and I was convinced I would have ended up in hospital if it had been contact!
Back to the hotel for ice baths and toasted sandwiches which the girls (Ange and Sal) make for us in the corridor as we get hungry after training. In fact they are starting to get a bit of a reputation as, because we get so hungry the whole time, the girls have been forced into 'borrowing' armfuls of bread rolls and fruit from the dining room each time we go so that we can eat in the evenings!
At the moment there is a $10 reward for anyone who can steal Henry (Paul)’s book. He is really into it at the moment and says it’s the most incredible book he has ever read so all of us want to steal it and hold him to ransom. He has taken to hiding it in the most ridiculous places during training so that we can’t find it but we will!
Dinner was fairly standard this evening and then a friend of mine who lives in LA came over the hotel and we had a coffee downstairs in the Starbucks at the hotel.
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