2018 Rugby World Cup Sevens Commercial - Malik and Josh
Getting Ready for the Season
So far 2012 has been a great year of growing for Malik’s game. He played both Gold and Silver level for the Peninsula Seahawks Under 14’s side. He also played Junior Varsity and a few Varsity high school games for the Peninsula Green Rugby Club.
He had good showings at the end of the year tournaments at both levels for Under 14’s and at the High School level and qualified for the Bay Area All Star Team at the U14’s level.
He is now on to the 7’s Season and again “Doin’ BIG thangs!” He is playing the 7’s season for Peninsula Green Rugby Club at both the U14’s level and at the high school levels.
Penn Green opened the 7’s season with a bang and so did Malik. Sunday June 10th was the first installment of the Quicksilver Sevens Series and the Penn Green high school side finished second in a hard fought war and the Penn Green U14’s blew out all of the teams in their bracket not allowing any of the teams to even score against them.
The Plan - Update (June 21, 2012)
The focus for Malik’s growth is really based on two focuses this
year:One is to learn more about the
technical aspects of the game and the second is to just get more time on the
pitch to do more experimenting with these things and to make the new skills that
work into habits.
To learn the more technical aspects of the game I have had
Malik getting around more technical coaching in various places and I have been
teaching some of the more complicated details of the game.We have also planned for him to go to the next
referee training course and to on occasion ref a few games to get a more thorough
understanding of the laws of the game.
As far as getting more time on the pitch, he is practicing
with the Penn Green teams throughout the summer and playing in the tournaments
that come up weekly.He will also go to
my practices throughout the summer and participate in the parts he can
participate in as well as the added fitness that he will gain there.There are also a couple of competitive touch
rugby teams in our area that I regularly work out with that Malik will be
coming out to run with also.These are
really high paced games and will also be an excellent place to improve some of
his skills.
Then of course there is that Stanford Elite Rugby Camp which
Malik has been a regular at yearly for as long as anyone can remember.The Elite Camp last year was amazing and ends
with an end of the camp match that was beyond incredible.Malik (who was a really big sixth grader at
last year’s camp trained with the High School sides and not only played in the
end of the week tournament with the high school teams, but caused an eruption
of cheers when he broke through on the wing for a score late in the game.
The summer of 2012 looks to be a big year for Malik’s rugby
as he has already grown tremendously in skills, knowledge of the game and
especially in fitness.With Malik’s
desire to play in college and to play in the Olympics (he will be 17 when Rugby
returns to the Olympics) he knows that the extra effort is the price that has
to be paid to even have any hope (as well as continuing to remain on the
honor-roll).
Ending 2012 and Starting 2013
To finish out 2012, Malik not only played on the all-star team representing the Bay Area, he also played both Under 14s and High School Varsity 7s rugby for Peninsula Green. These were all amazing and growing experiences for him. The Peninsula Green Under 14’s team participated in one 7s tournament and took first place with a powerful showing. The high school varsity team played in a tournament that lasted throughout the summer and finished first in their division. All in all, we are piling up rugby medals and trophies at our house. Malik also went to the Elite Rugby Camp held at Stanford University which is always an amazing experience with players and coaches from the national teams and some of the best rugby training available. With a lot of extra training and fitness throughout the year, Malik ended the year in great shape and his game is growing by leaps and bounds as he hopes, dreams, trains for and plans to go the Olympics on the first US Olympic Sevens team (he will be 17 at the time which may be a little young to get noticed, but he intends to shine that much). I have had him practicing with men’s teams and playing a really high paced touch game in the area that regularly has current and former national team members as well as other high level players to grow different areas of his game and the results have been obvious. This weekend the first games of the 2012-2013 preseason take place for the Peninsula Green Rugby Club and Malik is looking to have a great showing. Onward and upward for 2013 and I hope to see you on the pitch.
Preparing For An Incredible Season
This year Malik will participate in three major tournaments one of them in Las Vegas along with the usual matches that take place throughout the season. Starting this week he is going to start a heavy work out regiment to make sure that he gets fit enough to play at this level effectively along with all of his school work (he is required to keep a high grade point average to play) and other responsibilities. Malik did play football in the off-season and for the first time he comes into the season with some level of fitness to build on. the difference has been immediately evident. As I get deeper into my preseason training, I will be getting him to play and practice at some of my various rugby trainings where I am either playing, practicing, or coaching to get him playing at tha level.