Friday, April 20, 2007

Why I Love Rugby Players

Reason 1899953342335: Chicken

I love how rugby players eat. I love how food is first in their thoughts, in their plans for a day or a weekend. Because I share this obsession with eating. Last Saturday, after our game, we had to wait through a men's a & b match before the social. After I play rugby, I am ravenous. Hunger like I have never imagined takes over my thought processes. If, for example, a teammate finds an apple rotting in the bottom of her cleat bag, I will fight her for it and fight aggressively. So it was no shock to me at all that I made even better friends with Mike, the rookie from the men's team.

I sauntered over to Mike, already feeling the 40 of St. Ides I was drinking for extra class, and realized he was eating delicious chicken. Mike had the forethought to pack a sandwich baggie filled with pre-grilled marinated chicken chunks. How smart is he??? In all my rugby days, I have never thought beyond a peanut butter sandwich and a granola bar for after game emergencies.

As Mike shared his protein feast, I realized that whole new worlds were open to me for away games. I could travel with hardboiled eggs. I could bring pasta salad. If he could secret chicken chunks into the vans, I could surely smuggle some hard cheese and fruit. Tomorrow, even though the social is right after our game, I might see if I can learn from Mike. I just might travel with some pre-cooked sausage. Or perhaps a pear?

My teammates are getting more and more like my students every day.

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

Don't do a pear... they get bruised easily.. unless you put it in tupperware first!

~Val

Emily said...

mmmm cheese and fruit.

take caution though if its hot outside!