Pre season training is well under way for many of the PRP teams. With the season start date now back to the more regular Spring format, most teams will be using the Christmas holiday period as key turning point in their training preperations.
Today we check in with the long standing, West coast giants, Belmont Shore RFC. After a mixed 2017 Cal Cup, Belmont found solid form in the 2017 D1 competition, reaching the final four, before losing out to eventual Champions The Austin Huns.
Now with a longer pre season, the Cal. State Long Beach based team, under the continued Head Coaching expertise of Ray Egan (USA Selects, SD Breakers & Tiger Rugby), are looking to carry that end of season form in to the 2018 Samurai Sporstwear Pacific Rugby Premiership.
Belmont are now in to the fourth week of their pre season campaign. Coach Egan details, ‘I have taken a bit of a different approach this year with preseason in that we are implementing our structures first, then working on our conditioning’. Belmont will move on to a conditioning block after Christmas, looking to add pace and details to their game structures. It could be viewed that Coach Egans reversed approach to pre season will pay off, as teams often struggle to find match fitness in the first games of each new season.
At the end of January Belmont will put their hard work to the test with pre season scrimmages against local rivals Santa Monica and OMBAC, and a final test against original PRP members, Denver Barbarians.
As with any Club, Belmont has experienced both player departures and additions. Players that have left from last season are two New Zealanders, Valentine Meachen and Hilton Mexted, and long time stalwart Brice Schilling (Work placement in NZ). Player additions so far for this season are Danny Tomas (UCLA), Ray Mataele (Belmont), Nolan Pye (Lyndenwood), Epi Kalemani, Devon Stone (CSULB), Daniel Hodge and Adrian Ojeda (LA Rugby).
Equally as important, Belmont has a number of new coaches joining the team and working alongside Coach Egan. Phil Ayres Defence and Assistant coach, Pat Rashidion forwards and assistant coach, Scott Bracken Assistant forwards coach and Roger Cheswas, Assistant Forwards coach. Coach Egan states ‘both I and the club are delighted to have these men on board with all their experience’.
Belmont Shore are taking all the right steps to start their 2018 season with a bang. It will be really exciting to see how Coach Egans plans for the pre season translate on to the field . Will Belmont be fit, fast and ferocious with structure and intent OR will they be fit, fast and ferocious but missing the shape to execute? We will all have to wait and see!!!! #PassionPrideRespect