The Adventures of the Honey Badger by Nick Cummins

Author:Nick Cummins
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: HarperCollins Publishers
Published: 2016-10-27T04:00:00+00:00

Barefoot on the beach and uke in hand, it doesn’t get much better on a day off.

This massive seagull stole my dinner. I swear it was on roids!

BACK WHERE I STARTED

(Hong Kong Sevens, 2016)

After a couple of red-hot seasons in Japan with Coca-Cola, I was looking for a new challenge – outside of trying to convey by way of mime that I wanted chicken at a restaurant. It seems tucking my arms and flapping them like wings means seaweed and rice in Japan . . .

Sure enough, just when I thought I’d have to learn a third language – my second is Pig Latin – I got a phone call that would change my direction. It was Scott Bowen, the newly appointed stand-in coach for the Aussie Sevens, and he asked me if I’d consider having a run with the potential of going to the Rio Olympics. Suffice to say, I jumped at the chance – it’s every athlete’s dream to go to a genuine Brazilian restaurant and enjoy a Whitman’s Sampler of strange meats. And the Olympics would be pretty cool, too!

But Sevens ain’t easy. Only Sevens players know how tough the training and playing really are. Super Rugby players are pretty fit and train hard but Sevens is a whole new animal. It’s a lot quicker with a lot more ground to cover in both attack and defence.

I’d been in a pretty fertile paddock since Japan but I’d tried to stay in reasonable shape and thought I’d be cool. Hell, I was only 28 and with nothing more than a couple of minor injuries – something every player carries. It’s a rugby standard. You just have to deal with it.

Anyhow, in my first Sevens training run I vomited twice in quick succession and it most certainly would have been more had I anything left to bring up.

The new fulltime coach Andy Friend made it really clear what was required and throwing up didn’t exactly give reason for confidence. He knows his stuff, Andy, and he expects the best from everyone. No excuses. And I wasn’t about to make any – but that seaweed and rice can play havoc with your guts after two years . . .

Chucky Stannard is the nuts and bolts of the Sevens team. Chucky and I were housemates when he was at the Force and his is a story of determination. He was playing footy in Brisbane and was chasing a crack at the top level. After moving to WA he played in the local comp in Perth, where some good performances saw him offered a rookie contract with the Force. Now, he wasn’t going to retire on the loot they offered him, but it was a start.

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