Training Sweden style - without the recommended six or seven layers!

In her second column for rwcwomens.com, Sweden captain Ulrika Andersson-Hall reveals the secrets to training in freezing temperatures and how Women's Rugby fits into the sporting spectrum in the country.

After my last column, friends in England have asked me how on earth we can play rugby in -18ºC. This is, of course, an extreme temperature and not very common. Sessions at around -10ºC are, however, not unusual!

The answer to how we do it is simple: Dress right and don't stop moving!

For sessions at our winter national camps or club trainings outdoors I'll basically wear the same as I do for cross-country skiing, plus a heavy duty rugby top.

I end up with six or seven layers on the upper body and three layers covering the legs. Add to that a hat and thin gloves with good enough grip to catch and pass a ball and we're set to go.

The coaches are well aware of how the temperature affects us and plan the sessions so that there is never a break longer than a couple of minutes. Theory is left to indoor white board sessions.

Recruitment drive

So in fact, some of the coldest rugby sessions and games I have experienced have not been in Sweden at all but in England!

Playing wet Premiership games in short-sleeved shirts and shorts in freezing January mud, typically a forwards orientated game leaving us poor backs freezing our arms and legs off is probably just as harsh an experience.

However, we still prefer to play our rugby in the summer in Sweden!

Rugby is, of course, a minority sport in Sweden where the most popular team sports for girls are football, handball and floor-hockey.

Recruitment is a challenge as we previously haven't had much exposure in schools and the media. Most players have been drawn in from other sports at a relatively old age.

This seems to be changing though with many clubs running kids and youth teams and more players picking rugby up early as their main sport. The hope is obviously that our qualification for the Women's Rugby World Cup along with rugby making it to the Olympics will give rugby in Sweden an even bigger boost.

My own recruitment at home is not going too well though with my oldest son refusing to play rugby since he "does not want to be in pain all the time like Mummy is". Hopefully when he gets a bit older I'll be able to explain to him what a fantastic sport rugby is.

Team of Carolina Klüfts?

The women's league in Sweden currently consists of 10 teams. Although all teams are located in the bottom third of the country (from Uppsala just north of Stockholm down to Malmö in the south), the trips are still up to a seven-hour drive one way.

So to reduce travel we have a north/south division in the spring leading on to an elite league during the autumn for the top teams. This is then followed by play-offs for the Swedish Championship. The current champions are my own team - Göteborg!

As for the national team, we had our last winter camp a week ago. The squad selection for our first two tests against the Netherlands at Easter has been made, so we are now starting to look more at our playing patterns.

The fitness is still very much in focus though as we have a great opportunity now in the off-season to keep building our physical foundation for the summer ahead.

One of Sweden's top athletic coaches came along to the camp for a second time, teaching us more about general fitness training and sprinting. Looking forward to having a whole squad of Carolina Klüfts (Sweden's former Olympic and world heptathlon champion) with ball skills turning up at the World Cup...

Next week we catch up with Canada's Julianne Zussman.

CHECK OUT THE WOMEN'S RWC FACEBOOK PAGE >>