The five stages of grief applied to building up to a winter evening training session.

1. 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.”
2. 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?”
3. 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.”
4. 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.”
5. 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.

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