Otis Blake thrives at Hurricanes U18 development camp

Otis Blake (left) enjoyed his time at a Hurricanes U18 development camp.

Young rugby player Otis Blake has revelled in a Hurricanes U18 development camp.

Blake, 18, was among of group of 35 rising players who attended the five-day rugby development camp.

They were accommodated at Silverstream College and trained at the New Zealand Campus of Innovation and Sport.

The camp involved indoor and outdoor training, listening to Brad Shields, Du’Plesis Kirifi and Ruben Love, recovery sessions, analysing video footage and more.

“It was a great experience,” Blake said.

“You had to keep focused at all times and it was good playing with the best of the best in the Hurricanes region for my age grade.

“I felt it was a great opportunity and opened a lot of doors for my rugby future.

“It was pretty much a week as a Hurricane.

“It was really cool.

A lot of the focus was on preparing for a game against a Crusaders U18 team at the campus.

Blake played right wing for part of the game, but had to come off after about 15 minutes because of a left hamstring strain.

Despite his limited game time, Blake felt he made a “good impact” in the 41-all draw.

And the team were happy overall.

“We were proud because we played how we wanted to play and executed the moves we had trained for in only four days.”

Blake has been passionate about running from an early age.

He started playing rugby for the Paraparaumu Rugby Club, going through the age grades.

At Paraparaumu College he went through U55kg and U65kg teams before becoming a member of the 1st XV.

He had been playing fullback but this year transitioned to the wing.

The college team, for the first time, played in the Tranzit Coachlines 1st XV Wellington division one.

“We came last, but at the start of the season we were beating the big schools like Rongotai, St Bernard’s and Wairarapa College.

“We showed we belonged in division one.”

Blake, who finishes his college years on Friday, intends playing for one of the rugby clubs in Wellington next season, depending on study options.

He would be “pushing as hard as possible to do the right things: gym, eat right, run”, not to mention getting the hamstring sorted.

He would see how far he could go in the sport.

“I’ve always loved the game, but it has grown a lot more in the last few years as I realised I’m a good-enough player and don’t just have to play socially.”