---

While most people will be relaxing over Christmas, enjoying fine food and more than a few libations, one man will be focusing on keeping his training going.

This man will be far from slipping into the usual Christmas routine of letting one's training ease off for a few weeks.

Tom Healy will be putting the final touches to his preparations as he gets readies to fly out to Uruguay to represent the West Indies 7's rugby side in the Punta Del Este tournament.

This tournament will also have teams of the calibre of Samoa, Tonga, Chile, Uruguay and some of the Argentinean provinces, as well as a Serevi Select side brought by Fijian superstar and 7's rugby legend Waisale Serevi.

The West Indies 7's rugby team have been invited to take part in the prestigious Hong Kong 7's tournament that takes place over the weekend of March 27 to March 29.

After the recent rugby 7's World Cup Qualifier/Caribbean Championships, a squad of 20 was selected for the initial West Indies squad. This group was divided in two, with one group playing in the Trinidad 7's at the start of December, while the other group, including Healy, is playing the Punta Del Este tournament.

The final squad to go to Hong Kong will be picked based on their performance at these tournaments.

Healy has shown a huge amount of determination and dedication to get himself to the best possible level of fitness. He trains twice almost every day, getting up to go to the gym at 6 a.m. on Monday, Tuesday, Thursday and Friday every week.

He also heads to the National Stadium for speed sessions every Monday and Wednesday evening, as well as his normal rugby training and matches with his club Renegades on Tuesdays, Thursdays and Saturdays. Sunday is a light recovery jog for the committed Healy.

"The most difficult thing is motivating yourself to train alone and getting out of bed to do gym sessions," he said.

"I've received a lot of help, the Bermuda Rugby Football Union have covered some of the costs and my teammates have been great to train with me at the track, especially Conor McGlynn."

He flies out on December 30, where he will meet up with the rest of the squad before flying on to Uruguay. "I'm really looking forward to the tournament and hopefully all this training will pay off," he said.

Healy has previously represented the West Indies at the Trinidad 7's, so he will already be familiar with some of the players.

With a bit of luck, he will make the squad for the Hong Kong 7's and give another huge boost to rugby on the island.[[In-content Ad]]

---