Saturday, November 20, 2004
Thursday, November 18, 2004
Brussels
Well we finaly made it to Brussels. Although for not long enough as far as both Tracey and myself were concerned. But I must say what a lovely City it is, (Although the Hotel could have been better). We did get to see a few sights Including the weeing boy!!.
We had a lovely meal Sunday night. Well I thought it was lovely but no doubt Tracey will tell you all how she didn't really like the taste of the meat but that's her story to pass on and I will leave it at that.
Already planning to be back in Brussels next April/May for a longer stay.
Here we are in the Square :)
We had a lovely meal Sunday night. Well I thought it was lovely but no doubt Tracey will tell you all how she didn't really like the taste of the meat but that's her story to pass on and I will leave it at that.
Already planning to be back in Brussels next April/May for a longer stay.
Here we are in the Square :)
Another Sunday
OK
Feeling good.
Felling real good.
Team I coach at Rugby won today !!!!!
Second win of the season ...... Doing better than the team I support "Harlequins"
Really should explain everything. This year was meant to be my year off from coaching but ....as is the way ....something went wrong and the coach they were going to have this year, after 2 losing matches, decided that he wasn't going to coach. Hence I was asked to come out of retirement and coach the team again.
Well I spoke with my Darling wife Tracey and she agreed to allow me to go back to the team.
So there I am ....with a team that had just gone through 2 HEAVY defeats last one being 87 - 7 and no we weren't playing cricket. Team moral was very low ...... and the team virtually at the give up point.
So Thursday 14th October I went to the team changing room and told them I was coming back to coach them ...... the cheer was deafening ..... and made me fell humbled ..... and ashamed that I had wanted time off for myself. We had a good training session that evening and all the lads worked hard ..... without arguement for the duration of the session.
Sunday morning came and the Match was against Southampton, (This is the team that I played all my Rugby at before injury forced me out of the game)
After a hard fought battle on the pitch my team came away the winners. I don't know how to explain the differance but it was there ...... It's hard to know what the reason behind the complete turnaround was, but we had the same team members that we had started the season with.
Anyway .... on to the next week and the 1st round of the Hampshire cup. We had been drawn against Portsmouth (last years county champions, and undoubtedly one of the best teams in the area) So it looked like another cricket score was about to be dished out to us ........ And it started ..... 5 minutes into the game and Portsmouth had crossed our lines for a try ..... Just as I was begining to figure out how many 5 minutes there were in the match, and how many tries were going to be scored against us ..... the little buggers went and scored against Portsmouth ...... They also managed to convert the try ....geez .... 7 minutes into the game and it was 7 - 5 to us ...... The whole Portsmouth team (including the coaches) seemed to go into shock. Me ...I was looking for a de-fribulater to restart my heart. Anyway we didn't win ....but Portsmouth knew they had been in a match and were full of complements for my team ........
The next week was a bit of a let down ........ Still feeling big headed about the comlements from the Portsmouth coaches they went into the match feeling like they were untouchable ..... Big Mistake ...... New milton in the first half took them apart ...to the sum of 39 points ...... to nil.
So a wake up call at the start of the second half from me seemed to have the desired effect ..... Second half saw the team pull their socks up start putting the tackles in and win the second half 10 - o .... unfortunately that still made the final score 10 - 39.
So to today .... we go up to basingstoke for a meeting with yet another of the top sides in the county ..... We came away the victors after a hard fought match . ..... The match was played in 3 20 minute segments ..... looking at the Basingstoke bench there replacements for that age group were all pretty small yet ......... After the first 20 minute segment And some of the other Basingstoke teams training sessions were drawing to a close .....they suddenly seemed to have all these big "Under 14's" around ......... and on the pitch .... well it made the match much harder for my lads but ....we still came away victors .......
If you want to keep up with the team and how it's progressing ....the Link is here
http://uk.geocities.com/andykidderfc/fixturesu14.html
So today feels pretty good
Feeling good.
Felling real good.
Team I coach at Rugby won today !!!!!
Second win of the season ...... Doing better than the team I support "Harlequins"
Really should explain everything. This year was meant to be my year off from coaching but ....as is the way ....something went wrong and the coach they were going to have this year, after 2 losing matches, decided that he wasn't going to coach. Hence I was asked to come out of retirement and coach the team again.
Well I spoke with my Darling wife Tracey and she agreed to allow me to go back to the team.
So there I am ....with a team that had just gone through 2 HEAVY defeats last one being 87 - 7 and no we weren't playing cricket. Team moral was very low ...... and the team virtually at the give up point.
So Thursday 14th October I went to the team changing room and told them I was coming back to coach them ...... the cheer was deafening ..... and made me fell humbled ..... and ashamed that I had wanted time off for myself. We had a good training session that evening and all the lads worked hard ..... without arguement for the duration of the session.
Sunday morning came and the Match was against Southampton, (This is the team that I played all my Rugby at before injury forced me out of the game)
After a hard fought battle on the pitch my team came away the winners. I don't know how to explain the differance but it was there ...... It's hard to know what the reason behind the complete turnaround was, but we had the same team members that we had started the season with.
Anyway .... on to the next week and the 1st round of the Hampshire cup. We had been drawn against Portsmouth (last years county champions, and undoubtedly one of the best teams in the area) So it looked like another cricket score was about to be dished out to us ........ And it started ..... 5 minutes into the game and Portsmouth had crossed our lines for a try ..... Just as I was begining to figure out how many 5 minutes there were in the match, and how many tries were going to be scored against us ..... the little buggers went and scored against Portsmouth ...... They also managed to convert the try ....geez .... 7 minutes into the game and it was 7 - 5 to us ...... The whole Portsmouth team (including the coaches) seemed to go into shock. Me ...I was looking for a de-fribulater to restart my heart. Anyway we didn't win ....but Portsmouth knew they had been in a match and were full of complements for my team ........
The next week was a bit of a let down ........ Still feeling big headed about the comlements from the Portsmouth coaches they went into the match feeling like they were untouchable ..... Big Mistake ...... New milton in the first half took them apart ...to the sum of 39 points ...... to nil.
So a wake up call at the start of the second half from me seemed to have the desired effect ..... Second half saw the team pull their socks up start putting the tackles in and win the second half 10 - o .... unfortunately that still made the final score 10 - 39.
So to today .... we go up to basingstoke for a meeting with yet another of the top sides in the county ..... We came away the victors after a hard fought match . ..... The match was played in 3 20 minute segments ..... looking at the Basingstoke bench there replacements for that age group were all pretty small yet ......... After the first 20 minute segment And some of the other Basingstoke teams training sessions were drawing to a close .....they suddenly seemed to have all these big "Under 14's" around ......... and on the pitch .... well it made the match much harder for my lads but ....we still came away victors .......
If you want to keep up with the team and how it's progressing ....the Link is here
http://uk.geocities.com/andykidderfc/fixturesu14.html
So today feels pretty good