Last week saw the Force players and coaches embark on a much anticipated pre-season camp getting out into the community through open training sessions held in Rockingham, Busselton and Mandurah.
The training sessions allowed Force fans to get up close and personal, as the boys continued to prepare for a historic season of Rapid Rugby, while also enabling them to meet, chat and grab plenty of signatures from their favourite players.
Mandurah Pirates Rugby Union Football Club President, Bevan Williams, stated it was a “priceless” experience for the aspiring juniors.
Forehead signatures – we've seen it all now ??
It was an absolute pleasure to meet all you Force fans in the community last week as part of our Rockingham, Busselton and Mandurah open training sessions, the boys loved every minute. ?#BeTheForce pic.twitter.com/cBRdjvG0Pi
— Western Force (@westernforce) January 28, 2020
“Having the Western Force in Mandurah was a big deal for us,” he said. “There are a lot of very passionate supporters here who regularly travel to watch the Force and to have the team not only come to Mandurah, but to train on our ground and spend time with our juniors was fantastic.
“Seeing the excitement on our junior players faces was amazing. The engagement with the juniors and parents was outstanding and it was a pleasure having the Force down at our club.”
In between running through drills and meeting fans, the players had their resilience tested with a gruelling Bootcamp run by former SAS Commanders.
The squad were put through their paces by the team from The Mill to show them how the physical facilitates the mental and how the mental facilitates the physical.
"Stepping out of the comfort zone…" ?
Have you ever trained with ex-Special Forces instructors? The Force have experienced next-level resilience and performance training this week! Ready for Season One ?#BeTheForce #RapidRugby pic.twitter.com/kbdaaYVazi
— Western Force (@westernforce) January 24, 2020
“It was an early start, we had to be ready by 4AM for a kit inspection,” skipper Ian Prior noted.
“We were run through some strenuous exercises. We also got a bit wet with sets of bear crawls backwards and forwards in the ocean all while holding onto our paddle, which we had to hold at all times.
It was a very challenging, but very rewarding day for the group and they’ll certainly be looking to use the invaluable lessons learned when approaching training and the upcoming season.
There’s now just over six weeks until we embark on an inaugural Rapid Rugby campaign with all eyes fixed on our season opener at HBF Park against Malaysia Valke on the 14th of March. Don’t miss out on the historic Round 1 clash by becoming a member today.
