Their faces are rapt, their attention gripped. About 75 teenage students at Motiv8's inaugural Performance Excellence Academy are awaiting the arrival of Donncha O'Callaghan.

Little did they know that for most of the morning, the double Heineken Cup winner, Grand Slam winner and Lions captain had himself returned to his childhood as he wallowed in classes instructing him in everything from nutrition to media skills, mental toughness and, erm, how to monitor the state of your pee.

O'Callaghan was once like these kids now in his thrall; now he is their hero but when he's asked to recall his own childhood heroes, he has little time for reflection.

"Martin Johnson," he fires back. "For me, he was just an icon. I remember when I first came up against him, I was just so in awe of him. I remember we were trying to delay a line-out so I was pretending to make a mess of my shoelaces.

"Suddenly I see this shadow looming across my feet. It's Johnno. The abuse he gave me I can never repeat. I got up as quick as I could and took my place in the line-out. I was so scared! But he said afterwards that he enjoyed the battle so that meant a lot."

essence

O'Callaghan is here to wrap up a week in UCD which is organised by former Armagh footballer Enda McNulty's Motiv8. To some it's a glorified summer camp; in essence, it's a design for life, specifically a sporting life.

"In addition to athletic development and overall conditioning, we'll teach them team building and leadership," says McNulty. "We'll work on certain key aspects of character development -- confidence, discipline, mental toughness and communication.

"These are all skills they will need for their school life, their college life and their working life. We will also talk to them about nutrition."

O'Callaghan's involvement is simply derived -- he has widely acknowledged McNulty's aid in the area of sports psychology and didn't hesitate in offering his thoughts.

"I was asked to talk about a year in the life of a rugby player but it might get a bit boring so if you want to ask questions later, I'm much better at that," he confides. "Anything except Leinster beating Munster in the Heineken Cup and the time I played in the red jocks."

In the front row, a young girl feels faint; clearly, she hadn't been paying attention during the hydration lecture.

O'Callaghan calls pre-season a horrible part of the year. "But it's the most vital," he admits. "This is the time when we lay down the foundations to get us through the season."

He has just finished another short, sharp session with the Irish players in Limerick. Hydration was measured constantly. Their urine was analysed. The stronger the colour, the worse their hydration. They were weighed before and after each session.

"We have something called a Dexter scan which is a bit like an X-ray. It checks your body fats and your muscles. It weighs your bones. It just shows how tight the margins are in terms of our preparation. Unfortunately, I came in at a big enough score so I'll have to keep an eye on that one. When the season starts, you're probably at your fittest but it doesn't always go to plan that you're playing your best rugby.

"We'll have our group training but players always like doing things on their own. A lot of us are selfish to be honest, but I don't mean that in a bad way. It's just that you have to have a certain amount of selfishness if you want to thrive. We're always looking for more sessions, whether it is extra time in the weights room, or getting extra advice from nutritionists. I like to do some extra psychological work with Enda."

Another crucial part of Ireland's Grand Slam success was a renewed concentration on the basic skills.

"It may seem a bit strange at this stage of our career," he acknowledges. "Last week, we spent a lot of time doing basic drills, switch plays and loop plays. Simple things like that.

"Because when you're tested the most, it's your basics that you have to rely on. I remember we lost a Grand Slam match against France because we missed a kick-off. The basics.

"I was always struck by something Colin Montgomerie said about his practice routine. At the end of every round, he'd be on the putting green and wouldn't leave until he holed 100 short putts without missing one. So even if he got to 89, he'd go back to the beginning and start again. He knew he'd need these basics but he had to put the time and effort in until it became second nature."

He then talks about the week of an international rugby player. Speed work is crucial -- "but only for the first 10 metres" -- for a forward like O'Callaghan. Wednesday is a day off but most of the players book extra time for ... yoga.

And he prefers when Brian O'Driscoll is in charge of the captain's run. "He'd tend to want to do it in his runners and not do too much," smiles O'Callaghan. "That suits a few of us at that stage of a week. The coaches know they have to let us take charge from that stage anyway.

"So when you look at it, there's only really 10 hours or so of training as such but what happens outside of that time is just as important in terms of diet, hydration, recovery or else for me having a chat with Enda.

Time for questions.

How do you de-stress?

"I like to relax with my friends and family, maybe just go to the cinema. I've started to do a bit of reading. I never used to lift a book in the past but I'm getting into it a bit more now.

"I'd like to grow vegetables! Sometimes I'd be around in a friend's house and we'd be having food and they'd be saying, 'Oh me Mam grows these vegetables out in the garden'. And they'd be gorgeous. It'd be something different anyway!"

How difficult is it to combine sports?

"I played basketball and rugby but I think it's better that you concentrate on one if you want to pursue it to the highest level. Your mum will probably want to kill me if you tell her what I said!"

Any superstitions?

"Guys slag me for being superstitious. I always like getting my gear bag packed before the Late Late starts on a Friday for example. And I always pack a new pair of socks. Paul O'Connell is always slagging me about that, he thinks I have a mountain of socks in the bedroom.

"But you have to be careful about being overly superstitious. I remember Steve Redgrave always used to wear the same old grey shorts but they ripped on him one day. He had to ask himself whether he was going to let all that his hard work go to waste just because he was worried about a piece of ripped fabric. So it can hold you back as well if you're not careful."

Do you like to use a sunbed?

"No but I do hold a tan well, thanks for that! On the Lions tour, they told us that they had a room set aside for anyone who wanted to work on their tan. I was rooming once with Andy Powell and it was like there was a fake tan angel in his bed when he got up in the morning.

"And the smell of it puts you off as well! And then another day Rala (Paddy O'Reilly, Ireland and Lions baggage master) came to me wondering what a hair straightener was! He'd never heard of one before but one of the fellahs was looking for one. Probably one of the Welsh ones as well!"

What's the best way to deal with set-backs?

He offers Jerry Flannery, injured on the eve of the Lions tour, as an example.

"Mental focus is a huge thing. I met Jerry the day after he got the injury and I was worried about what I might say to him. I said 'Hard luck' or something like that but he was positive.

"He said 'look, I'll have four weeks off and then a full 12-week pre-season to get properly fit'. He had goals and immediately re-focused straight away. It's about turning a negative into a positive."

Do you think about life after rugby?

"It's only now you start thinking about it when your friends start retiring. I played with John Kelly for years and he's already a fully-qualified accountant. It seems like yesterday that we were playing together. It sort of hit me then like a bolt of lightning. I know I need to further my education, I just don't know when I'll be able to do it."

What are the differences between Eddie O'Sullivan and Declan Kidney?

"They were different people," offers O'Callaghan. "Eddie was probably the best coach I ever worked with but his focus was on you as a player. Declan is just a different personality. He'd walk into your kitchen at home and know the names of everyone in your family. He worries about you as a person as well.

"It's the same with Brian and Paul. They're both brilliant captains in different ways. Brian leads by example while Paul leads by fear! Only kidding!"

How do you deal with criticism?

"I'd love to chat to my Mom after every game because she'd always tell me that I was great! I wouldn't be interested in what the media says about my performances. My brother (Ultan) would be a big influence on me and then the coaches that I respect.

"Merv Murphy (Ireland's video analyst) is someone who stands out in that respect. He isn't biased at all, he's not flowery and he'll tell you straight what's what. He can be very harsh and you need that."

Then the forbidden topic. Not the red underpants but the red capitulation in Croke Park last season. Suspiciously, the 'student' has greying hair and an expansive girth.

"I told you not to ask that," he scowls playfully before dropping Axel Foley's old line. "Ah, we're better when we're bitter. We've set goals for next season. But we're trying to adapt the way we aim for those goals. Last year, Doug Howlett brought in this concept of planning ahead in four or five-game bunches. So for example, you'd set a target for five league matches and if you were falling short, you knew you might need four or five points from a particular match. It was more realistic for us.

"We haven't done our goals yet but you can guess for Ireland it would be to do back-to-back Grand Slams and for Munster it would be to win the Heineken Cup again. You have to be positive.

"If you walked into a room when we're all doing weights, you'd probably think we're the most arrogant crowd going because we're always shouting and roaring. But look, it's like Muhammad Ali and the way that he carried himself. Always re-assuring himself. A positive mental approach is crucial."

Which is what brought him here in the first place. Beguiled by O'Callaghan's easy nature and inspirational titbits, some of these kids may aspire to become like their hero, others may abandon sport altogether but at least retain sport's driving tenets in whatever they choose to do with life.

And they will all remember the opportunity granted them to peek inside Ireland's greatest every rugby story.

"A lot of the stuff you guys are doing here is so important," concludes O'Callaghan. "If you don't even kick another ball or run another race, the things that you have learned here will stay with you forever."

- David Kelly