At the root of it all.

My schedule is getting busier and busier, which means that it's going to get harder for me to figure out a work out plan and I'm going to have to plan a lot more around fitting time in to adequately train for rugby. Just because I'm developing more priorities over this summer, doesn't mean that rugby stops becoming one. This wouldn't be so difficult if it was during rugby season, because the reasons to stay in shape are clearly right in front of me during practices and games where I utilize what I'm building up. But the "off-season" (although in my rugby philosophy, this does not exist), it is sometimes harder to discipline yourself.
The other day I was thinking about why it is so important that I make sure I don't slow down my progress in training and make sure that I continue to push myself just as hard, and deep down I know there is no better reason I can think of than for my team. The reasons of working hard for rugby in order to stay in shape/lose weight or become a superstar just end up being so fickle. They absolutely do not last. Sure, they're great things that can also develop from training really hard, but no goal will push me more than the thought that I am helping my team. I want to get better for them so that I can contribute to my team, and any other team I may play on, as much as possible. As much as I always depend on my team to help me and back me up on the field, I want everyone else to rely just as much, if not more, on me too.
It also drives me up the wall that everyone who knew me in the past as being athletic in other sports still cannot grasp why I have completely transferred over to rugby. While playing softball last weekend with an old teammate, I heard a comment from her that I've heard so many times before that always drives me up the wall: "I'm just really shocked that you ended up not playing softball in college. I never really thought you could stop playing, especially since there were teams that wanted you to play for them." People keep talking like I "gave up" on my old sports and picked up rugby as a "runner up" to those sports. It's not that I didn't like my other sports any less, I just liked rugby more. Even tonight my dad asked me, "Do they have flag football at your school? How come you didn't decide to play that?" I didn't decide to do flag football because I WANTED TO DO RUGBY! Everyone keeps giving me these different options, asking me if I've heard of this league and that league and if I've ever played tennis or tried this sport. Some people have even asked me if I still plan on trying out for my school's softball team, or if I plan on looking for a different college that I can play softball at. What is everyone's problem with rugby?! The thing that drives me insane is that about 99% of these people have no idea what rugby is, no idea what they are talking about, and have never seen a rugby game in their lives. The thickness of these people's logic is almost unbearable.
And it really seems foreign to me that a person can see a rugby game or play a rugby game and not instantaneously fall in love with the sport and the culture. I always tell myself that the people who don't like rugby have just never seen or played it. But when someone has seen/played rugby and still doesn't like it...that person seems almost inhumane to me. I've come across some of these cases personally, but two really stick out in my mind. One was a guy who began going to practices but ended up with a cracked rib from being tackled. He immediately stopped going to practices and bitched forever (and still does) about the fact that his school doesn't have a football team. But the sports have a decent amount of similarities, especially in the things that many guys look for when picking a sport (aggressiveness, being able to hit people, etc...), that I can't imagine someone being sooo obsessed with one and not liking the other at all. And the things that rugby has seem to just make it an even better version of football! You don't have to stop after every single play, the fun goes on forever (sort of, ha ha)!! The other person played for a few months and then completely threw rugby out the window. I think he described an injury he got as well happening right before he quit, but I would have thought that the months of awesomeness in playing rugby that he experienced first would have prevailed! I gave the first case a teensy little benefit of the doubt, telling myself he was unfortunate to experience a serious injury so early in his rugby career and not being able to learn that these injuries are not common in rugby. But this second guy....has no excuse in my book. None. I just don't get it!! I also remember meeting a perfectly random stranger that came up to me and started talking about rugby when he saw my sweatshirt from the team. He called rugby "polite violence" which I think is hysterical and I love using it on a regular basis. But he told me that he played one game of rugby and then decided he would never play it again. For some reason I feel like he also had an injury story to go along with the ending of his rugby career, which makes me ponder about the percentage of people who experience an injury (broken bone, concussion, etc.) and never play rugby again. I sure as hell hope this number is not high because I hope that my rugby game is not hindered at all when I go back to playing after this injury of mine. Luckily I don't think I'll ever have to worry about not wanting to play after an injury; the only thing I have to worry about is if a day ever comes when I'm physically taken out of commission (KNOCK-ON-WOOD). And when my father came to watch me play for the all star team, I couldn't stop thinking about how all the confusion in his head over why I stopped pursuing my Division 1 softball opportunities for rugby would come to an end. I thought that once he saw me play, he would immediately realize what it is that I love to do so much. But his comment tonight really threw me off; I totally thought that he had comprehended why I love rugby so much. I thought the interrogations from him would be over because he finally witnessed the greatness of rugby right in front of his face.
I guess this all just sounds so weird to me because I never experienced the problem of developing a love for rugby; I literally liked rugby IMMEDIATELY. It took me absolutely no time to fall in love with the sport, and I kick myself every day thinking about how blind and oblivious and unknowing of rugby I was until college. Another part of my rugby philosophy is that I truly believe absolutely anyone can play rugby because the sport is so accepting of all people. So it's strange to me that the opportunity exists for everyone to play rugby, and that not everyone takes advantage of it...mind boggling!