Football Training

A Busy Night, A Busy Morning

Last night was the Firework Display at Hucclecote Rugby Club.

It was the first time we'd taken Daniel to one of these and he really enjoyed it. I'd quite underestimated the amount of people turning up to the event as in the end it would have been quicker to walk than to drive!



There were hundreds there and the display was really good, lasting for about 25 minutes with a huge bang at the end!

Then this morning Daniel had his first football training session with Hucclecote Youth Football Club Under 5's.

Nine children were present with the session running alongside the under 6's. They were given basic dribbing skills from side to side and then from one end of the small pitch to the other - then scoring some goals which they obviously all enjoyed.

Daniel was probably slightly slower with the skills than some of the others but took care to dribble round the markers that were set out rather than just running past them. In the end there was a little match which was good fun and a nice way to finish the session.

The coach huddled everyone around and said that each week there would be a trophy awarded to the player who impressed the coach the most. All the children had done really well but you can imagine how chuffed we were when he said Daniel was the winner for the first week for listening and doing everything he asked. Now he gets to keep the trophy for a week before taking it back next Saturday.



He's really enjoyed it - I think he'll be going back somehow!

TUF Heavyweights

The Ultimate Fighter - The Heavyweights

Been watching this with interest on the FIVE USA Channel on Saturday nights.

I can only think so far that Dana White must be incredibly disappointed with Rampage Jackson as a coach. As his fighters have lost he's started to disown them after the fights leaving Rashad and his coaches to console them! Plus, his pre-coaching of Zak Jensen was absolutely appalling.

Instead of coaching the guy he just continually went on about Darrill Schoonover having "titties". Jensen looked embarrassed at times and it was cringing to watch. I bet most of his team wish they had Rashad Evans coaching them!

Ross Noble's Tour Of Australia

Great viewing on Channel 5 (always on Sky+ though so I can whizz through the boring adverts). Ross is a lucky boy, travelling on his motorbike to see remote parts of Australia that few of us will ever get to see.

Saw him at Cheltenham Town Hall a few years back and he was great. I do wonder where they store the giant inflatable balls on the road mind!

Sunderland 0 Aston Villa 0 (1-3 on Penalties)

Brad Guzan - penalty king! Not only saving the day in normal time with the save from Kenwyn Jones but to save so many in the shootout was amazing.

Massive well done to the club for laying on free transport too. Something they were not obliged to do but did it nonetheless.

The last time a Villa goalkeeper had a blinder at Sunderland in a League Cup match (Mark Bosnich at Roker Park - his best ever game IMO), we did rather well in the following ties I seem to recall.....

5FDP Review

Five Finger Death Punch - My Review

I have to admit really liking these guys after hearing their debut album and then the follow up which has not long been released.

I've always liked hard rock / various forms of metal but never particularly liked screamed vocals - this has plenty, but also has enough good clean vocals to clamp people like me, and now I'm hooked.

The first album (The Way Of The Fist) is heavier than the second in my opinion, not that the second is soft but the slower ones are definitely not as heavy. Probably like many people I heard "The Bleeding" and thought it was excellent and went from there with the rest of the album. Most of the record follows a "screamed/growled" verse and "sung" chorus which works very well.



Certainly on the first album there isn't a track I don't like whereas on the second there are a couple which get skipped. On the second CD (War Is The Answer),"Dying Breed" is a really brutal start and "Hard To See" is a great single. "No One Gets Left Behind" is my personal fave.



I've since bought a few albums from bands I probably wouldn't have before. 36 Crazyfists, All That Remains and Atreyu, finding some really good stuff in there. It would appear my musical taste has certainly got heavier in the last few months having had no temptation to buy albums from Muse and Editors who I've followed both from the start due to very average sounding singles.

Lyrically there may be a flaw or two with 5FDP but I'm not going to argue with Ivan and his boys! I'd love to see em' live!

Treetops Nursery

TreeTops Nursery, Hucclecote

I just wanted to give them a shout out and to say thankyou for a great 3 months Daniel had with them before he started school.

He learned more and was stimulated way better than at his previous nursery where things had become very disorganised and stale. The move was the best thing we did and 3 months later Daniel was as prepared as possible for school life.

He really enjoyed his time there - we actually looked into Treetops years ago but they were too expensive at that time. When we enquired after All My Friends decided to close we found their prices were marginally CHEAPER!

The staff were great - we would happily recommend them to anyone and they are head and shoulders apart in quality from All My Friends (formally Tiddlywinks).

Blues 0 Villa 1

Blues 0 Villa 1

It looked like Richard Dunne and James Collins had been playing together for years. Dunne had a touch of "Laursen" about him in the way he won everything in the air and Collins really impressed me too - M.O.N may well have struck gold on the final day of the transfer window.

The game really only came to life when John Carew came on for Nigel Reo-Coker. Only then did we get forward and start to look like a threat. The big fella played his part with the nod back for Gabby to head home.

The away end celebrations reminded me of games at The Hawthorns in the late 80's - it looked absolutely mental.



We should have got a couple more after that but we'd done enough - an excellent three points from a game where if we're honest, we never got out of second gear. They huffed and puffed to their limit but it still wasn't enough.

Gabby may well know their alternative version of our song for him, but he had the last laugh on them all.



Here's to the next 3 points on Derby day....

1st Day At School

Wednesday 2nd September 2009 - 1st Day At School

Nearly four and a half years - just where have they gone exactly? On the Tuesday before I took him to MagicLand so he could have some fun before all the seriousness of school began...

Daniel started his new school on Wednesday morning. We took him down and waited outside his new classroom where the school had a clever way of getting the children in quickly to avoid any major tears.



By lunchtime when I went to pick him he already had dirty shoes and trousers! That was within 3 hours! Having this deliberately booked 2 weeks has been great for me as I get to take him in and collect him too.

On Thursday his new school jumper arrived and it fitted perfectly.