womens rugby Sharon Whitehead




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	Sharon Whitehead Player Profile...

Name - Sharon Whitehead
Age - 36
Position - Loose-head Prop
Country - England

Not your typical prop, Sharon has a scientific doctorate and works as an editor in London. After taking up rugby in the USA she was a late starter and made her debut at the age of 31. Although she retired from international duty last year she has been recalled by the England coaches to add experience to this year's England A side.

Q - How did you get into rugby?

Being brought up in St. Helens I was from a rugby league family and at the age of seven I used to polish my uncle's boots with bacon grease! After being a sporty kid when I went to secondary sport wasn't really encouraged. I think I saw my first recruitment advert for a women's rugby team just before my university finals in 1998. I liked the idea of playing - I always thought netball had been a contact sport where I came from! But I was busy with my finals and it wasn't until the second year of my postgraduate degree that I finally got around to playing when some friends dragged me along to training for the university team and I started their next game at prop.

Q - How did you get to international level?

After playing for York University for two years, mostly at No. 8, and was brave enough to try league rugby with York Clifton a few times. I moved to Manchester and played for Bury for a while before joining Sale who were in Prem 2 for 3 years, and moving forward to second row.

I got my first experience of representative rugby with the North West team, though I never made it through the trials for the North squad. Then I got a job in the US and played for the University of Idaho team for a couple of seasons. The American girls were great athletes but very inexperienced rugby players, so I was the voice of experience for them! In 1998 when I came back I got a job in London and joined Richmond, eventually progressing up from the thirds to the second team. When the rules on lifting changed nobody fancied lifting me, so my prospects were limited at 2nd row so, at the age of 31, I moved to prop. It must have been the right decision as soon after that I made my debut for the Richmond 1st XV.

I was considered too old (or not good enough) to make the '99 Player Development Academies (or PDAs as they're known) but I was called up to England A as a last minute injury replacement for their game against Emerging England the following season. I hadn't really been involved in the England set up at all and as I'd been around for a very long time I was pretty surprised to be selected for the England development squad for the European Championships in May 2000. Six weeks later, I was even more shocked to be called up to join the England senior squad for the NZ leg of their tour of Australia and NZ after Maxine Edwards broke her wrist. Yet another injury to an England prop helped me to my first full cap against Scotland in the 2001 Six Nations. Three Six Nations campaigns, two Churchill cups and 17 caps later, I'm still not quite sure how it happened - probably a combination of persistence, hard work and luck!

Q - What coaching and fitness advice do you receive?

As an England squad member the EIS (English Institute of Sport) provide us with trainers who plan what types of fitness sessions we should be doing each week (both in terms of CV and weights sessions). They also provide us with a lot of technical advice on weight lifting techniques for the important Olympic type lifts. The help and advice England players get from our club is mainly rugby specific as our coaches are aware that the physical fitness side is taken care of by the RFUW and England squad (and us ourselves of course). Our coaches do offer training programmes and help for the younger or newer players who aren't part of a national set up though.

Q - What's your top training tip?

Just because you play in the front row don't assume it's all about being big, strong and heavy. Nowadays to play at a high level the focus has moved towards being tough and powerful. Weight session are probably still the biggest part of a training programme but try to incorporate plyometrics and power lifts like cleans that will help you to apply your strength at speed, like you need to on a pitch. Although set piece is obviously important, you'll also need to be able to contribute to the rest of the game so don't neglect basics skills like passing, catching and tackling.

England prop Sharon Whitehead supports full back Kim Shaylor's break... (pic credit www.gerrymcmanus.co.uk)

Q - What training routine do you follow?
During the club season my programme would look like this.

Monday - Power or strength session in the afternoon with EIS trainer.

Tuesday - Lunchtime or before work a speed endurance session followed by club training in the evening

Wednesday - Lunchtime or before work a power or strength session and another speed endurance session or England squad session in the evening

Thursday - Club session in the evening

Friday - Lunchtime a 5km steady run and a hypertrophy (muscle gain) weights session after work

Saturday - Rest

Sunday - Match day

This would change depending on what time of the year it was. During the late summer (July and August), focus is on building muscle (hypertrophy) and cardiovascular endurance. Weights sessions (I try to do 2-3 each week) involve usually 3 sets of around 10 reps focusing mostly on barbell work (bench press, squats, lunges, power clean, barbell row, shoulder press etc.). I'd tend to do some longer runs (around 5 km) and include variety such as hill running and intervals. Park games of footie or touch that incorporate a ball also provide good general CV workouts and are much more fun (and easier on the legs) than pounding the streets! I also try to do some core stability work at least once a week.

As the season approaches, weights sessions begin to incorporate more faster, powerful movements. A power session would includes power clean going into front squat, cleans and push press (each 4 sets of 5 reps) as well as overhead squats and lunges (each 3 sets of 10 reps). My CV work is also much more rugby-specific and my programme also incorporates position specific skills sessions (like scrum and lineout work) and even some speed/agility work (only over short distances though as this is what I need most in a game.) We're together quite a lot as a squad from November to January so we have to taper our weekly training to make sure we get the most out of the demanding weekend squad sessions.

During the Six Nations you can't do as much fitness work as you need to be rested and sharp so you have to make sure that most of the hard work has already been done in the off season and pre season. Training focused much more on fewer quality sessions to make sure we're at our peak, mentally and physically when matches come around.