7 Layer Rugby

Today officially kicked off the return of rugby season (for me anyway - I believe the team has been practicing for a couple of weeks now). As you might imagine, it's freaking cold here. We had a high of 34 today, so I did my best to prepare for the weather. I found out the hard way last year that even when conditions seem bearable here in Fairfax, it's like the Arctic Circle in Chevy Chase (and maybe not even all of Chevy Chase, just up on the hill at SJC). I scrounged up four wearable layers of pants and four wearable layers of tops. I stopped by CVS and bought the store brand of Thermacare heat wraps in 3 different styles. The only thing I forgot was my freakin' scarf (though I must say that my neck was hardly the body party I'd complain about). I reinstated my customary Connecticut Ave. Starbucks run, and even went for the venti this time (I learned that the grande just doesn't go real far when you're using it as an internal heat source). I was all set for the freezing cold, but I didn't really accomplish the mission. My feet were still painfully numb (it doesn't help that I'm a totally Reynauds case) despite wrapping the thermacare thingies designed for your neck the entire way around my toes. I may make a drastic change from my sneakers in to my moon boots for the next game. I don't feel that I am as mobile in the boots, but I believe they're afford me the room for decent air circulation (which is what fules the heat packs). Once I get used to them I think I'll be just fine - frankly it can't be any worse than trying to move quicky with completely numb feet.
Anywho, on to today's scrimmage....
So, we scrimmaged a team that we played on multiple occasions last year. I'm really envious of about half of the kids on the other team. They go to the metro area French immersion school that I would've killed to go to, and would equally kill to have my kid go to (though I have no clue how I'd actually get him there seeing how it's somewhere in deepest darkest Montgomery County - nowhere near where we live). In a couple of the games last year, two of the other team's players ended up with pretty unsavory shoulder injuries. Thankfully, the one who I believe fared the worst, was pulled by his physician and went through months of rehab. I was pretty satisfied with this course of action and hoped that I wouldn't have to worry about this kid going forward. Unfortunately today was the day that all of that came to an end as the same kid suffered yet another dislocation in today's game. I was easily able to reduce it, ice it and put him in a crevat before sending him off to call his mom to let her know what happend. I did make a side note to him that I wished he'd find a different sport to play. He said his mother begs him to do that regularly. On our end things were relatively injury free. A slightly sprained ankle (that I wasn't told about until the game was over) and some bloody knuckles were the only thing I had to deal with, so no complaints there. I'm very fond of my team. Last year was relatively injury free until the final weekend when we had a laceration-fest and even a displaced nasal fracture. I'll count my blessings that we came away today with nothing too bad on our end, and hope that it continues through the season (even though I'll undoubtedly have to pass the torch as the season nears it end).