"Gold medals aren't really made of Gold! They're made of sweat, determination, and a hard to find alloy called guts" Dan Gable (Oly)
There are only champions in this photo.
In preparation for the Federation of International Touch World Cup in July, England Touch Senior Women's squad toured to Singapore for preparation.
I'm still struggling to come to terms with what we, and in particular the Athletes achieved. tens of thousands of miles from home, in temperatures reaching in excess of 40 degrees, with less than a full international squad in number, an International series win with only 12 players fit during one of Singapore's hottest weeks, 11 full fixtures in six days.
I have lost count this week of the number of times; when faced with exhaustion, fatigue, sickness, injury; almost every uncontrollable an athlete or team can confront; Lexie Williams , Hanna Gildam-Clark or I have asked this team to dig deeper, asked them to find the energy and push forward, only to see them pull together and race headlong into the pain then ask ever more of themselves and each other.
Everyone; coaches, psychologists, athletes, have faced physical and mental exhaustion, but through our culture, team ethic and pure Guts we have succeeded. This has taken years and months of work on and off field to achieve
That it is being achieved by people with full time jobs, in an amateur self funded sport is remarkable.
As I reflect on what we achieved and how we've achieved it and how we prepare for world cup I hope to share some of those reflections.
