The five stages of grief applied to building up to a winter evening training session.
- Denial. “I haven’t seen a text from coach on the WhatsApp group yet. It’s been raining so much I bet the ground will be waterlogged. It’s minus 3, we can’t possibly train in this we’ll literally get hypothermia and die and then how will we win at the weekend.”
- Anger. “I still hurt from playing two days ago why the hell do we train on Tuesdays? I have had a crap day at work and now I’ve got to go to training?! Why did I join a club so bloody far away anyway? Why is it so f**cking cold?”
- Bargaining. “If I miss tonight I’ll go to the gym tomorrow and do extra training. Maybe if I go home for a quick nap first I could just go for an hour. I’ll text around and if 3 out of 5 of the people I text aren’t going then I’m not going. If it is still raining by 5pm then I’m not going.”
- Depression. “I’m rubbish at rugby, there’s no point in me going to training I’m not even getting any better. I hate winter. It’s so dark. It’s so cold. I should just get into bed and watch Netflix and never agree to do anything, ever.”
- Acceptance. “Fine I’ll go.”
Goes to training.
Has a great time.
Team implements what they did in training in the game, and wins.
Train hard, win easy.
