Fitness guru flying high with Edwards' Wasps

JOHN McCloskey is enjoying life in the fast lane with top EnglishPremiership side Wasps.

He played rugby at school but made his name as fitness coach toArmagh's 2002 All-Ireland winning side.

More recently he had been involved with Derry's Allianz Leaguewinning side.

Now as fitness and conditioning coach at Adams Park, his wholefocus is on keeping Wasps in contention for the major prizes.

Now living in Richmond just a 20 minute drive from the club hehas settled in well to his new life across the water.

It's a highly competitive environment but he's relishing thechallenge and the opportunity of working alongside Shaun Edwards.

Edwards is one of rugby's most highly regarded coaches, as muchfor his tough uncompromising attitude as for his ability to motivateplayers.

McCloskey, who previously taught at StBride's Primary School inBelfast, was once linked with a job at Chelsea and was also in therunning as Gaelic Games High Performance Director at the SportsInstitute Northern Ireland.

He's on a two-year contract with Wasps which will be reviewed atthe end of the season.

When he was confirmed as the new skills coach for Wasps, theclub's director of rugby, Tony Hanks, was unstinting in his praiseof McCloskey.

"The addition of John to our set up sees the introduction of anew role dedicated to the strengthening and development of ourplayers skills.

"To have someone totally focused in this area shows a commitmentto a long- term development and in John we have a man with a provencoaching and skills record in Gaelic sport.

"His strengths revolve around handling, aerial skills andkicking, all key aspects of the modern game.

"Having worked with him last season I was very impressed withwhat he had to offer and I'm convinced his appointment will addgreat to the Wasps squad both in the short and long-term."

McCloskey's remit at the club is to concentrate on improvingskills, especially the ones Tony Hanks referred to.

Tuesday is normally spent for the most part on reviewing theprevious weekend's game while on Thursday the emphasis is onanalysing the weekend opponents. The Belfast man feels very much athome in his new environment though often the pace is unrelenting.

"Only for the fact we're out of the LV Cup we wouldn't have had aweekend off between September and the end of the season.

"May 8 is the last round of our league games when we're away toNewcastle.

"This weekend we have London Irish who are currently fourth inthe Premiership and we're 5th so it's akin to a cup final.

"Basically we need to win our next four games to be certain of aplace in the play offs.

"There's also a game coming up against Gloucester in the EuropeanChallenge Cup.

"Ideally we want our season to run until the end of May asopposed to the beginning as that would mean we'd still be involvedat the business end of things."

McCloskey was back home in Belfast for a long weekend recently,glad of the opportunity to meet up with family and friends.

He still manages to stay in touch with the world of GAA throughboth the internet and the RTE website and is determined to take in afew championship matches come the summer.

He's thrilled to bits with both the success of the Antrim countyteam and St. Galls All-Ireland club success.

On joining Wasps he signed a two-year deal which he and the clubwill sit down and review some time next month.

"I played rugby at college, but I don't come from a rugbybackground.

"It's not something you can acquire overnight. It's all aboutbuilding up both knowledge and experience.

"I'm in the fortunate position of being surrounded by topcoaches like Shaun Edwards. Tony Hanks and Trevor Woodman.

"Everyone's been totally supportive. From a professional andpersonal perspective it's been a brilliant experience."

When the season ends there's no respite for big John who issigned up to do a charity cycle race in France that takes in astage of the tour de France.

Preparations are progressing well, but after one 60-mile spin hewas left questioning his sanity.