By Mike Rubin

With the official Rugby World Cup commencing this week, the USA squad is certainly thriving in the experiences of preparation.

Over a week into the residency in England, Somerville native Jamie Burke is using this time, not only to bond with her teammates, but also to spend some quality time in the weight room, while fine tuning her conditioning.

“We took a bus out to Guildford and unloaded what seemed like a mountain of bags, upon reflection, it was a mountain of bags,” said Burke, who is blogging from England.  “I took a nap, which in hindsight was a bad idea.  When I woke up to go out for a run around I was a bit of a zombie.  Luckily we were just trying to get a little bit of lead out of the legs, so we played some football and tag and other fun stuff so it wasn’t too grueling or mentally taxing.”

After settling into the area around the World Cup Village, Burke and the squad continued to work on double sessions while working on planning schedules.

“(Last) Tuesday we had double sessions,’’ said Burke. “{We did some subunit work in the morning and then spent the afternoon on team play.  It was super gray and rainy, but the practice was really productive.”

Continuing to prepare for the World Cup, Burke and the squad maintained their rigorous workout schedule, working out at the local fitness center while enduring double sessions.

“Wednesday we had another day of double sessions ‘’ said Burke.  “The forwards got back into the whole morning core routine again and then we went to the gym as a whole team.  The sports complex that is being used for the tournament is brand new, so the weight facility are awesome, though it was a bit of a challenge converting all the weights from kilos to pounds.   In the afternoon, we had another team practice.  It seems like folks are starting to get over the jetlag a bit and practices are flowing.”

Not only has the team been preparing for their upcoming World Cup Tournament on the field, but off of it as members of the team also conducted in interview on TotalRugby Radio.

“We practiced again,’’ said Burke. “We had a morning core session for the forwards before heading to the field.  We had one morning session, which was held under an ominous sky and we just finished practicing when the skies opened up.  It was just a tough day overall weather wise. It was just a constant gray rain.  Some of us had to go over to the Sports Park to do an interview with TotalRugby Radio, but the perk was we got to enjoy a nice hot cocoa at Starbucks, which was great given the gray conditions.

Following the interview, the team continued to bond while eating dinner, watching local programs and enjoying the sights and scenery in England.

“After the interview it was an afternoon spent hanging with the ‘family’, reading, relaxing, and getting this all caught up,” said Burke “We had a great dinner together, and all in all it was a good day.”