by Tom Billups

One of the contributions I was able to make while at the NEC Harlequins was to help steer my teammates toward becoming a professional athlete. As an American who played football and wrestled in college, I had already learned the time management and lifestyle skills required to be a professional athlete. All that was missing was the pay check! It was all very heady stuff back then, in the fact that we were getting paid to train and play for the first time. I feel like I was very fortunate to be on the ground in England during this historical period in world rugby

Here is what a typical weekly schedule in the English Premiership would look like today;

Monday

9:00 am
Skill work for the Backs followed by a strength training session

10:00 am
Skill work for the Forwards followed by a strength training session

11:00 am
Team video study, includes notational and statistical analysis

12:00 pm
Coaches meeting
Player Massage appointments

2:30 pm
Team Defense and aerobic conditioning.

Tuesday

7:45 am
Medical staff and coaching staff meeting

9:00 am
Team selection meeting – coaching staff

11:00 am
Strength training

12:00 pm
Complete team staff meeting
Player massage appointments

2:00 pm
Forwards – primary phase tactics installation

3:00 pm
Backs – primary phase tactics installation.

Wednesday

9:00 am
Med check for all injured players

10:00 am
Skill training for selected players
Strength and flexibility training for selected players

11:00 am
Core strengthening session for selected players
Strength and flexibility training for selected players

12:00 pm
Player massage appointments

2:30 pm
Team attack training

4:00 pm
Press conference with local media outlets

Thursday

9:00 am
Conditioning for those players not selected to match day 25 roster

Friday

9:00 am
Rugby specific training for those players not selected to the match squad

9:45 am
Coaches and senior leaders meeting

10:00 am
Match squad meeting with coaches

10:15 am
Captain’s training run

10:30 am
Strength training for players not selected to match squad

Saturday

12:00 pm
Lunch for match day squad at team hotel

1:00 pm
Taping begins

2:00 pm
Referee briefing and boot check

2:15 pm
Warm up begins

3:00 pm
Kick off

Sunday

10:00 am
Medical check for match day squad and injured players
Regeneration workouts for those who played.

Tom Billups began his rugby career in 1984 and has spent time as a player in New Zealand, the U.S. and England for domestic teams as well as representing the U.S.A. at international tournaments with the Eagles. After hanging up his boots, Billups got into coaching leading the Eagles and now with University of California – Berkeley. Read the entire bio of Tom Billups as well as Billups first column My Rugby Path and then check out what Billups is saying about the game of rugby in The Billups Column on Rugby Rugby.