More to summer than holidays for Rotherham Titans’ conditioning coach

The increasing demands of the game and the professionalism filtering down the leagues means players need to look after themselves better January through to December.

Rotherham Titans, who play in the third tier of domestic rugby, are no different.

They have a strength and conditioning coach in place in Callum Donohoe whose job it is to maintain and improve fitness levels.

“He has reached out to all the players in the off season,” explained team chief Harvey Biljon. "This time of year is an opportunity to rest from collisions and contact and to lower the load but training needs to tick over so we are in a better place going into pre-season.”

Donohoe is the man tasked with that.

He works with individual rugby players from other clubs as well as with semi-pro footballers and so speaks from experience.

“It’s trying to get away from the mentality that the whistle goes on the last day of the season and ‘we’ll see you in July.’ If that happens then you end up chasing your tail a little bit,” he said.

“We don’t expect the players to come back for pre-season training as fit as they’re ever going to be but we do expect them to come back in and make improvements in areas we’ve identified that will help them.”

Rotherham played their last game of last season on April 26. They won’t play their next league fixture in September but the time in between hasn’t been spend idling.

There’s an open door at Clifton Lane for players to come in and talk about fitness and self-care before they report back for real later this month.

“It’s not compulsory,” he said. “It’s just an opportunity to get some extra bits done. They get access to me during that time so they can ask any questions about what they are doing at home. I can also send out guidance to follow as regards weights and nutrition and things like that.

"Obviously the players have a break when the season finishes and they go on holiday but depending on who they and where they are in their career depends on where the focus is.

“For some if could be regeneration or getting fresh to go round again. For others it will be about improving some of the physical qualities we think are important.”

Age can be important in those conversations.

Rotherham’s team ranges from players in their teens and early 20s to experienced operators in their 30s.

“Players at this level can still be playing at 38 and 40 years old sometimes,” explained Callum, who is involved right through the year. “In that case it’s about educating them how they can go one more year.

“We obviously look after them during the season and then in the off-season the focus for them might be about improving their recovery, not so much giving them a blast, but just topping them up, because we know they can do a job. It’s just about getting them on the field.”

Callum was first involved at Rotherham during the tenure of head coach Gary Pearce, who he worked with at Hull RUFC.

He had a brief stint away and then returned early last season.

As a S&C coach, he is filling a void that has existed for a while.

“I have been around Rugby League and Rugby Union quite a lot,” he added. “People have tried to do this kind of thing in the past but probably haven’t had the expertise to be able to.

“In the last five or so years, especially the semi-professional clubs and the money that’s pumped into them, funding is being laid out for strength and conditioning here and there and that can only be a good thing.”