England team prepared for heat at the Sydney Sevens by jumping in the sauna
HOW do you replicate the heat expected in a rugby sevens tournament in January in Australia? If you’re in England’s sevens team, you jump in a sauna and start dousing the hot rocks.
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HOW do you replicate the heat expected in a rugby sevens tournament in January in Australia?
If you’re in England, you jump in a sauna and start dousing the hot rocks.
English sevens star Dan Norton revealed his team had been using sauna-sessions in a bid to help them acclimatise to the heat at the Sydney Sevens tournament, which begins on Friday at Allianz Stadium.
The heatwave conditions that greeted the world’s best sevens team arriving over the weekend are expected to cool off slightly by Friday, but only just, with highs of 30 degrees still forecast.
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The bad news for the players, however, is that with cloud cover also expected, humidity levels are expected to get up to 75-80 per cent and that is that is a combination that induces the worst heat stress for athletes.
Particularly those from the northern hemisphere, who have come straight from deep winter.
“Getting off the plane on Saturday and trying to do a bit of contact today was a bit of a shock to the system. But it is what you need when you are playing in these temperatures, and it is the same for everybody, so we’re used it,” Norton said.
“You have to give its respect. We did a bit of prep before we came. All you can do to replicate is saunas, so after training we were doing 15-20 minute sauna sessions, to try and help acclimatise that way. That’s the best we could get without spending too much money.”
The world sevens series circuit also stages a tournament in Dubai but on current forecasts, Sydney Sevens will be hotter than the event held in the desert last December. Top temperatures didn’t get above 30 degrees.
Most teams are well versed in dealing the heat, however; particularly those like Australia, Fiji and other Pacific-based teams, who train in sweltering heat over summer.
Scientists recommend players’ body temperatures are cooled wherever possible, so drinks are ice-slush and wet towels are kept in ice as well for halftime.
Between games this weekend, Australian teams will recover in air-conditioned dressing rooms at the SCG and most others will be in their own areas in the SCG Indoor Nets, with fans and aircon as well.