GLOBAL FLAVOUR: Jason Shoemark monitors the progress of Tim Pan (left) and Viviyan Philip. PHOTO/Duncan Brown
GLOBAL FLAVOUR: Jason Shoemark monitors the progress of Tim Pan (left) and Viviyan Philip. PHOTO/Duncan Brown
Singapore rugby players Tim Pan and Viviyan Philip have set playing in an Olympic Games sevens tournament as their long-term goals.
Should the 16-year-olds tick this goal off in 2020 or 2024 Hawke's Bay Rugby Union's player development manager Joe Payton and talent development co-ordinator Jason Shoemark will be ableto take some of the credit. Philip and Pan are the first players to undertake one of the union's global academy courses run by former Magpie Shoemark and Payton.
The St Andrew's Secondary School pair are seen as future elite players in Singapore. They arrived in the Bay on Tuesday night and will leave on Friday.
They have already had nutrition, mental skills and gym sessions. First five-eighth Pan and outside centre Philip, who are teammates in the Singapore Combined Schools under-16 team, have also had counter-attacking and high ball sessions with the Magpies All Black fullback Israel Dagg and goalkicking sessions with the Magpies goalkicking coach and technical adviser Peter O'Shaughnessy.
"We watch television coverage of the Magpies games back in Singapore. It was good to attend their Captain's Run today and see how organised they are," Pan said.
"We're looking forward to sitting alongside the Magpies subs when they play their semifinal tomorrow as well as experiencing the post-game reviews in the changing room afterwards," Philip said referring to today's match against Bay of Plenty.
He slept for almost 12 hours after an academy team training session conducted by Payton and Shoemark. It will be interesting to gauge if he is just as tired after the pair, who have both been playing for six years, attend a sevens training session on Monday with former All Black Sevens player and current Hawke's Bay Sevens coach Tafai Ioasa.
The two have a qualifying tournament to play in next Saturday for the prestigious Singapore Cricket Club's sevens tournament which will be played on October 31.
