Re-post from Rookie Rugby Club: Vanesha McGee’s Blog about the Road to the Women’s Rugby World Cup

Whew! Sorry, it’s been awhile, so I’m just gonna jump right back into it.

Someone asked about my mental game-how I stay motivated and keep pushing during hard times (poor weather, lack of games, etc.). Well here goes..

It’s really really REALLY hard. Recently I’ve been quite motivated by the World Cup and having a real chance to play on the team that represents the USA. I think about going head to head against other wingers as I’m lifting or doing sprints. I love to visualize crushing their spirits in the heat of a huge World Cup match!

However, it wasn’t until about two months ago that I really had this mental breakthrough with myself. I knew I was in the pool, but never really let it in my head that I have a real shot at wearing a US jersey in London this summer. Before I made this mental breakthrough winter workouts were hard, daunting tasks. I couldn’t see past the very near future (and I mean like one week) and with zero games in sight it made it extremely difficult to push through workouts.

I recommend finding a buddy to workout with. For me, this gave me someone I was accountable to for each workout and someone tangible-physically by my side-I couldn’t let down. I had to get to the gym for that workout or my buddy would be alone. It also made working out a lot more fun!

The past few weeks have been great for workouts and for playing rugby. The weather is warm! The games are frequent!  And..the senior select side season started two weekends ago. It’s really fun to play with skilled players from different club teams. We (NRU-Northeast Rugby Union) have a few games coming up and I’m looking forward to them.