My Year Through Sport
2015 started in the best possible way, I was at White Hart Lane on January 1st with my mate Sam to watch Tottenham stuff Chelsea 5-3 in one of the best games I've ever seen there. It's been a good calendar year for Tottenham and we hope to have an even better 2016. Thanks to Baiju & Milan for the ticket. I also had the pleasure of seeing Spurs beat Aston Villa in November - thanks to Howard for that one & Stuart & Chris for my chariot.
In April I popped over to Ireland to visit my cousin Nigel and his family (Freda, Tara, Sean and Cian) and whilst there I took a trip to Sligo to watch one of my Sierra Leone boys, Mustapha Bundu play for England Schoolboys U-18 against Ireland. A little note about that journey My return flights via Ryanair were £29.98. My car parking at Stansted was £38.00. At what point does renting a tiny piece of concrete in rural Essex become more than a return plane flight? Absolute madness. Anyway, Mustapha is a very talented footballer who was able to secure a scholarship with Hartpury College in England after passing his IGCSE's the year I was Headteacher at the school. I am immensely proud of his progress and he is now playing non-league for Hereford F.C. and scoring regularly. A name to watch out for...
On the running theme, June 2015 saw me 'officially' complete my first 5k park run inspired very much by Laura. I have to admit I hate every moment of the run itself but do enjoy the glowing feeling of accomplishment and exercise afterwards. My intention is to do a super-sprint triathlon in 2016. Watch this space.
In August Laura and I added another new sporting venue to our ever growing list - the Aviva Stadium in Dublin. Nice spot.
My February sporting highlight was a week of skiing in Englebert, Switzerland with Christian tour company 'Oak Hall'. As always with Oak Hall, I met some amazing people and even a business contact. Thanks to Adrian, Sallie-Anne, Matthew and Q.
In March, Laura and I went to our first NBA game in New York as the Knicks took on the L.A. Clippers. Sadly it wasn't a great season for the Knicks and they lost quite comfortably but it was a great experience to be at Madison Square Garden for a basketball game.
In April I popped over to Ireland to visit my cousin Nigel and his family (Freda, Tara, Sean and Cian) and whilst there I took a trip to Sligo to watch one of my Sierra Leone boys, Mustapha Bundu play for England Schoolboys U-18 against Ireland. A little note about that journey My return flights via Ryanair were £29.98. My car parking at Stansted was £38.00. At what point does renting a tiny piece of concrete in rural Essex become more than a return plane flight? Absolute madness. Anyway, Mustapha is a very talented footballer who was able to secure a scholarship with Hartpury College in England after passing his IGCSE's the year I was Headteacher at the school. I am immensely proud of his progress and he is now playing non-league for Hereford F.C. and scoring regularly. A name to watch out for...
April also presented an opportunity to fly to a Southend away game in Morecambe (fly to Manchester and coach to Morecambe) from Southend airport to a game in which Southend would be promoted to League One if they won.
Predictably Southend lost but it didn't stop me having a great time with my new friend Jeff and the rest of the boys (Finny also pictured). Southend were eventually promoted via a last minute goal and penalties at Wembley...a game I could not attend.
May provided another enormously proud moment for me as Laura completed her first marathon (Milton Keynes). It is an amazing feat to run for 26.2 miles and she did it quicker than she had expected. It wasn't just on the day that I was proud of her though, it was her dedication to the winter training and her single-mindedness to complete the task. Laura speaks about her marathon so eloquently here: http://thethingwithfeathers.net/2015/12/19/five-things-i-learnt-in-2015/
On the running theme, June 2015 saw me 'officially' complete my first 5k park run inspired very much by Laura. I have to admit I hate every moment of the run itself but do enjoy the glowing feeling of accomplishment and exercise afterwards. My intention is to do a super-sprint triathlon in 2016. Watch this space. In August Laura and I added another new sporting venue to our ever growing list - the Aviva Stadium in Dublin. Nice spot.
Finally, in November I was able to fulfil another sporting wish and got tickets for the tennis season finale - The Masters at the O2 Arena. We struck gold with the players drawn, Murray v Nadal and it provided a great opportunity to take mum too.
