DN has just started football training and this week he received a Man of the Match certificate for his skill, concentration and aptitude. Bearing in mind that he is still only four years old we are all very proud of this achievement.
When I came across this Soccer Assoc. T-shirt in a charity shop this morning I thought it would be most appropriate for him. I also came across this 'Tub o' Dinosaurs' which I hope he'll like too.
Nobody else in our family has ever shown the slightest interest in sport. Mum and I quite enjoy Wimbledon and Dad used to sometimes watch the snooker, but that was pretty much the extent of our sports interest. None of us ever had any interest in taking part in organised sports at all. I dreaded the compulsory sports day events. The only thing I was ever any good at was throwing things - javelins, discuses etc. I once came third in the discus competition - the pinnacle of my sporting achievement.
Dad, my sister and I were pretty keen swimmers though. At the hospital where Dad worked, the social club had a lovely heated outdoor swimming pool. My sister and I spent hours and hours in that pool when we were children. We'd stay in so long that our eyes would fog over from the chlorine and our fingertips would go all wrinkly and prune-like. I have such happy memories of floating about in the water looking up at the bright sun and the blue sky (why is it memories of childhood summers all seem to be of hot sunny days!) Sadly, the outdoor pool ruined any other form of swimming for me, I really dislike indoor swimming pools which I find very noisy, smelly and claustrophobic.
I had no idea that many other countries don't heat their outdoor swimming pools until I jumped into a particularly inviting-looking pool in Spain and found that the water was so cold that I couldn't breathe - and this was on a day when the temperatures were well in the 80s. It was a great joy to me to discover that the outdoor pools in Iceland are beautifully warm and if you don't mind the smell of suphur from the geothermally heated water - which I don't - then you are in clover swimming there.
Anyhoo, back to the Man of the Match. We have great hopes for DN's ability to kick a ball about - even if we don't understand the attaction. If he doesn't end up being a future Beckham then perhaps he'll be a future Jonny Wilkinson. Whatever happens, I foresee many hours shivering on the sidelines of a sports pitch in the future whilst we all cheer him on.
My Son played football right through from 4 years old to 13, many years of standing on the touchline for my Husband, I'd go along on a fine sunny morning sometimes but the lure of the Boot Sale was usually too strong!I HATED sports when I was at school, I just wasn't very good! It was excruciating for me,sports days were a trial and if I could get out of them I would. Even now my stomach turns at the thought of sports days!
It's great that DN is playing in a team, it teaches them all sorts of other things aprt from the sport itself...teamwork, responsibility, discipline, and of course having fun!
Posted by: Gill | 01/26/2008 at 09:30 AM
I'm a fellow indoor pool hater. Give me the sea any day (though perhaps not in the UK!).
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Posted by: Manchester United | 07/03/2009 at 07:03 AM