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Brett Smith BphEd, BSc, MphEd. STATS INTRODUCTION Ki ora koutou katoa, my name is Brett Smith. I am a lecturer in Sport & Leisure Studies at the University of Waikato, Hamilton, New Zealand. For the last ten years I have worked as a sport scientist with a wide variety of National sports in New Zealand and currently manage the sport science and medicine program for the New Zealand Rowing Association. My primary area of expertise is exercise physiology although I am currently completing a PhD in psychology. Unlike most "Kiwi Blokes" I did not play much rugby in my youth (apart from 1st XV at School). My major sport was rowing and I also played basketball plus a little volleyball at School. At 23 years of age I realised I wasn't going to make it as an elite rower so I took up rugby league which resulted in quite a serious neck injury. Since I could no longer tackle head on, I decided to play Rugby Union in Dunedin (Dunedin & Ahlambra Union), Christchurch (Canterbury University) and Hamilton (Waikato University) and played senior B with a couple of senior games (they would only let me on if their were lots of injuries or no chance at all of losing). I played loose forward in rugby league and generally lock or blindside flanker in rugby union. While a player of moderate abilities rowing training made me "quite" fit and reasonably strong compared to the rest of the team. While in Christchurch I met an amazing Coach named Laurie O'Reilly who together with Dale Atkins got me involved as a trainer (and player) with the University of Canterbury Rugby Club. Laurie was a master tactician, technician and innovator who aimed to have all his players understand the how and why of rugby rather than following blind traditions. At the same time I was working as a Physical Education Officer at the University of Canterbury where I was able to learn tremendous amount about applied sport science and training from Paul Carpinter. These two people were instrumental in enabling me to apply the very good theoretical knowledge I had already attained under Dr Will Hopkins & Dr Nigel Taylor during postgraduate study at Otago University. Under these conditions I learnt a lot about rugby and training, which one year after leaving Canterbury lead me to coaching the senior team at Waikato University (started off as trainer - assistant coach - head coach had a work commitment & a family bereavment - hey presto 6 weeks of inglory!). Given work pressures etc I now work solely as a physical trainer with the University of Waikato Senior Men's Rugby team alongside the two senior coaches Owen Booth and James Reeves (Boothy & Blindy). My reason for writing these pages is that I can't find much on physical conditioning for rugby (especially senior club rugby) and maybe this outpouring might stimulate some interest and discussions which could lead to further research and publications. Secondly and most importantly this page will provide the University of Waikato senior men's rugby team a written record of the ideas we discuss in team meetings on training etc. I would like to thank the following people (in alphabetical order) for their input into my knowledge of exercise physiology, physical conditioning and rugby; Mike Anthony (Head Trainer - All Blacks) And all the Coaches, Athletes and Teams I have worked with over the last decade.
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