Steve Thompson's Blog by Steve_Thompson

Sorry it’s been a few weeks since my last blog, but I’ve been trying to settle myself back into normal life. Coming out of the cocoon of life in the England camp is quite hard: having the whole day scheduled for you, all delicious and healthy meals made for you and clean washing left all pressed and ironed in a neat pile on your bed! What a life! The first week of training back at Leeds was hit really hard by the snow: we were having to find alternative places indoors to train. It’s hard to keep fitness levels up, as you spend a lot of time driving around and you're not able to do exactly what you need to be doing. I try to get to the gym and do extras every morning on the bike or the cross trainer to keep me topped up.

The weather has hit our fixtures too. The game against Northampton was called off, which was a shame, because I’ve haven’t played them yet. But in the last couple of weeks we have played Parma home then away. It’s been good for us to get away from the Premiership, just to try and get some confidence back in our play and that’s what we've been able to do: not conceding any tries and scoring over 100 points in those two matches does make you feel good. It’s a bit of a joke amongst the players here at Leeds that if there is a short way or a long way to take a trip, we will always take the long way. We flew out of Leeds airport to Venice then took a bus to Parma (which was about 4 hours) and then on the way back we went from Parma to Milan by bus then flew to Liverpool then back on a bus to Leeds…

It's been hard to get into the Christmas spirit with all the training and playing. Back in France, the teams get a week to 10 days off over Christmas, which is great to rest the body and mind. Oh and of course to have time for a massive feed on Christmas Day and to work it off before the fat test on the first day back! I also used to ski once a week during winters while I was in France, which I’m really missing. On the pitch our next game is against Newcastle; it was supposed to take place yesterday on Boxing Day, but it's been put back 24 hours until this afternoon because of a frozen pitch. Wish us luck! 

In the run-up tp Christmas, I went with a few of the lads to the Leeds hospital to visit some of the wards. Seeing the children there just puts everything into perspective: I have always found these visits hard, but since I’ve had my own little one, it’s even harder. When you hear stories about the things some of the children have been through, it's very difficult, but they are always the ones with a smile on their face and they are always the ones who are happy to see you. I hope everyone has been having a great Christmas and a Happy New Year to you all! Don’t forget the diet and new training regime start next year!!!