Tenno's first taste of Rugby

Today my son Tennyson had his first training run for the Casuarina Cougars under 5's. In this age group they don't actually tackle it is like a hybrid game of touch. Tennyson was in his element and started running with the under 7's and was loving it.

Tenno is the one on the right of the lad with the ball. Passing in a circle with the under 7's

This, like I said was his first training session, but honestly and ignore that I am a bias, proud and excited father you could not tell. He was like a duck to water. He was running, passing, kicking and even a bit of tackling. Anyway pictures speak louder than words so take a look.

Tenno with his arms out making sure the spacing is right!

A bit of agility training.

Tenno in full flight out to get a football.

 

Running with some team mates

Tenno running up to Dad to let me know how much fun he is having and to tell me what he is doing.



That's my boy the first of many I think. Well done Tennyson!

General Update

I have been really slack of late but seriously, are you suprised? Last week I came down with some random bug that the boys had which knocked me around a bit. Then this week I had the flu pretty good and I have had to take the last two days off. As with most things there is a silver lining and that was that my boys were home with me. What would have capped it off would have been if Danielle was home to but the last two days she has been working at the hospital.

Obviously being crook and living in Darwin where it rains most of the day lately there was not much outside time. But today I was able to sqeeze a bit of time at the park with the boys and this was the result.

And with this result my face was looking the same they had a ball and I don't get to do this much with my sons because I am at work all week and most weekends I am working with my dad halping out with his gardening business. So I savour these moments, like I said the perfect day would have had my wife in the middle of the boys.

Just thought I would throw this photo in because I could.

On another issue, my weight loss/fitness update. Current weight stands at 82.9kg down 13.4kg since I started this blog. It is amazing how you feel when you loose weight and get fit. We have been in full swing at Rugby doing the beep test then sprint after sprint mix a bit of impact work and ball skills followed by timed multiple 400, 200, 100 and 50 metre sprints, before I know it the oval's lights are on and we have been doing this for almost 2 hours. Add my 6am gym sessions three days a week and doing garden work with dad on weekends, I think I am on track to smash this police testing. Which might I add has been scheduled for the 5th of June......Danielle's birthday! Did I mention that the testing starts at 6am and finishes at about 4.30am..........Bugger!! Applications for the police close on the 13th of May so not long to go now. Also at Rugby training our fitness trainer is actually one of the police trainers at the college, so Matty has been pushing me at training...which I love almost like having your own personal trainer...for free!

Ok that is it for me today and I promise my next blog will have some updated photos of me. See ya!

Top End Rugby

Hello I have created a new blog called Top End Rugby. This blog will have a pile of information on both forms of rugby from the Top End and beyond.

It is a work in progress so have a look and see what you think!

Another Step Forward

Another step towards the Police is now complete.

In the Police application you need to supply a completed form which says that you can complete a 200m swim. That form needs to be signed of by a life guard or someone that holds a bronze medallion. The last time I went for the Police I did exactly that. Do I need to remind anyone that I did not get into the Police last time around.

So how did I improve myself in this regard? Well weekend just gone I completed my bronze medallion course through the Royal Lifesavers. The course went all weekend so unfortunately I did not see my family for the third weekend running but at least I have something out of it.

I have decided that I am going to put everything into getting into the Police this time. If I am not accepted this time, I will not try again! I have been trying for at least three years and I am goinig to do everything in my power to get through this time but if it is not to be I need to look at other opportunities.

"Some men succeed because they are destined to, but most men succeed because they are determined to."

Doubters!!

Yes my first blog for this year is a February blog and a slight bitch session.

Why oh why does it seem that everywhere I look there are people around who seem to just look for things that I am doing that they can tell me how much short of the mark I am. My wife 99% of the time is the reason I stick things out and try for a positive outcome. Whether it is in sport or lately my professional aspirations it seems that most people are saying good for you for trying even though you know it is out of your league! WTF is wrong with people??
If people are thinking this about what I am doing now what do they really think about my dream of becoming a police officer?? What am I supposed to start acting like a complete prick like most people seem to think all cops are like??

As you could probably tell this is starting to really get to me. As the old saying says "If you have nothing nice to say shut the #@*! up" It is funny what motivation you get when you are doing weights at 11pm....ps still training to be a cop! I am going to be doing my Bronze Medallion this weekend.

Anyway this is a good vent at the beginning of the year.

Because I have not updated my weight or anything I shall inform you that right now for the first time in my life I am now lighter than my two younger brothers @ 84.6kg, only 6kg to go until my goal and in the health BMI catagory. And yes I am slowly starting to see abs emerge from my stomach, something I have not seen since school. I would insert a photo here but our camera has decided to stop working so this is the best I can do until next time. Both shot at the Darwin Wave pool.

Weight and Fitness update!

I am still an amature on the blog scene so when I do not blog for a while just stay with me it will get better. Ok so my goal is to eventually get into the NT Police, with that I need to be in the healthy weight range but also get my core fitness up to a level where I will give the recruitment staff no choice but to take notice.

Unfortunately I am still in the 'overweight category' which sucks but I am getting there. I can't beleive I am going to do this but I am about to post some before and after photo's.

Ok on the left was me earlier this year, and mind you not even at my biggest. At this stage I weighed in at about 96kg. In my last attempt to get into the police I weighed in at 97kg. The heaviest I got to was 98.8kg that was just after we returned from Tassie in August. On the right was me the weekend just gone weighing in at 86.9kg.   

I am going to the gym at 6am most mornings try to get there at least 3-4 times a week and also the rugby 7's training twice a week to look after my cardio. The plan at the moment is to try and shed another 4-5kg by January 22. I have chosen this date because this is my first milestone, that weekend I will be playing (with my brothers) in the Hottest 7's in the world tournament which is held here in Darwin every year. This tournament has become a very popular international tournament because of the $65000 prize money involed in it. This is going to be a real test as the opposition are real quality alot of the guys playing have represented their country from time to time in tournaments such as the Commonwealth Games and World Cup events not to mention the IRB sevens competition.....pure class. If I can get through this then I will have proven to myself that I am a real chance to get into the police. Then milestone 2 is that I will be going for my Bronze Medallion in February, and milestone 3 will be my police recruitment testing in June. Hopefully the end result goes my way. Between now and then it is going to be hard don't get me wrong, right now a have hit a little hill where I am always exhausted not so much sleepy but my body just needs to recharge a little. Maybe Christmas has come at a good time for a little break....maybe! Talking about sleepy and recharging it is time to go to bed me thinks.

Rugby and Stuff!

The weekend just gone we had our Corporate Rugby Sevens comp Grand Final. Even though we finished the seven week comp in second place we still had to qualify to play in the big game against the team who finished in third spot. The team we had to play first was named Defcredit, and you guessed it full of Army boys. They had good things going for them and some not so good. They were super fit and they had enough players to field two teams but they were not the most skillful bunch of guys.

My younger brother Josh and teammate George takling a Defcredit lad.

We had a little scare in the beginning of the game and after the first half we were only one try in front. Second half started and we went up a level and they had no chance. This was a very physical game and we all felt a lot better when it was over.

That win had put us into the decider against Hot 100 who had gone through the season undefeated and the only team who had beaten us during the season.

Ready for the start of play the first photo of all three Phillips brothers on the same Rugby park. Josh closest, Zac forth down and me at the far end.

This Hot 100 team have been the favourites to take this comp out from the very first day, something we wanted to make sure did not happen. The first half of play there was a lot of physical play with flashes of speed and skill. We played hard and at half time we were all locked up. When the second half began it was like there was no half time break we started where we left off. Our biggest plus was our defence, they had the highest try scorer on their side and through the whole game he touched the ball twice. Our defence made them get frustrated and they started to give away a few penalties.

We are being awarded a penalty.

Our boys held strong and started to put some points on the board. So the unbeatable team was beaten by us in the final. What a great feeling and to do it with my two younger brothers was pretty special. I also had my wife and kids there to share the moment as well. For someone who has never played any form of Rugby Union and to finish the comp as the second highest try scorer I thought was pretty cool....10 tries. So this Rugby tournament has finished and this week training starts for the next one in mid January The Hottest Sevens played here in Darwin. This comp has a total prize pool of $65,000 so this is now a fairly major tournament on the international calander. So my fitness will continue through into the new year. Bring it on!

I should give a little weight update while I am here also, I am now sitting at 87.4kg lowest point so far. Currently feel like I have hit a little peak that I just need to push thru to start losing even more but why stop now, I have lost over 10kg since I began my fitness program. I will be updating more regularly so talk to you soon.