The entire 2020 season was marked by the Covid-19 pandemic. Due to the epidemic situation in the world there was a ban on mass events: sports halls, stadiums, gyms, swimming pools were closed... We had to make adjustments to the plans for preparation for the Championships of Ukraine. There was a need to develop an action plan to support and restore the physical, functional and psychological preparation of rugby players for the playing season. The coaching staff has compiled a set of online training, individual viewing of training videos by players, monitoring the performance of tasks at home, running loads, etc. Unusual training conditions, of course, did not allow us to prepare well for the games, game connections were broken, the psychological decline was obvious…
It is also worth noting that due to the circumstances, the summer training camp was not held, thus, we didn’t have the expected and projected result of performances in the 2020 season.
It should be noted that the team cohesion helped to get out of the situation with minimal losses. Constant communication with players on social networks, exchange of advice and recommendations were very fruitful and helped to preserve the experience of the past game years. Many thanks to our leaders for their patience, support of the whole team, and hard individual work in unusual training conditions!
Our long-time rivals from the Odessa Rugby Academy could train on the deserted beaches, hold a training camp, not lose their form and compete with us, despite our complete dominance in previous seasons, where we got used to being champions.
So, the start of the season was energetic, the tournaments followed one after another, there wasn’t enough time for the recovery of all teams, hence the numerous injuries, game and psychological fatigue of both players and coaches. Our unusual second places upset the players, since all the teams are especially persistent against the champions.
Some statistics and figures, which are the results of hard work of the team:
Odessa, September 5-6, R-15, players born in 2003-2004
- Our results: Anatra Odessa 22:14 Odessa CYSS 20:36
Kharkiv, October 2, R-7, players born in 2004-2005, Ist round of the final.
- 3 wins, 1 defeat - 3rd place in the first round
Irpin, October 4, R-7, 1st league of the Championship of Ukraine among adults
- 3 victories, got to the final from 1 place
Kyiv, October 10-11, R-15 final, players born in 2003-2004.
- in the semifinal we beat Anatra Odessa 26:14,
- in the final we lost to Kyiv-Darnytsia 12:16
The result is 2 place and silver
Odessa, October 17, R-7, 1st round of the final for players born in 2003-2004
- We won in the Donetsk region. 24:12
- A victory over Odessa CYSS 12:10
- Won over Ivano-Frankivsk 38:7
- Lost to Anatra Odessa 14:29
After the final of the first round we are in 2nd place.
Irpin, October 23-24, R-15 final, players born in 2004-2005.
- In the semifinals we won over Kyiv-Darnytsia 43:5
- The final was lost to the representative team of Odessa 12:32
2nd place and silver
Irpin, October 31, R-7, II round of the final for players born in 2003-2004
- semifinal: won from Lviv 28:5
- won from the Donetsk region. 27:7
- won from Odessa CYSS 34:12
- Final: won from Anatra Odessa 38:7
1st place - we are Champions!
Irpin, November 1, R-7, I League of the Championship of Ukraine among adults (9 teams took part)
- 3 victories, in the final we lost to the Leaders team from Odessa 7:12
2nd place silver
Odessa, November 8, R-7. II round of the final among players born in 2004-2005