Soccer Sunday

So with the climbing cancelled, I was able to join the first footy session on Sunday. Since most people on Sado for teh Earth Celebration, about eight of us turned up (including Will, an eager newbie from near Nagaoka) and we negotiated a match against a groupd of Japanese kids (well, I'm sure they were university age, but most Japanese people look younger than they are).

The first half wasn't too bad and we managed to blow off the cobwebs and actually play some football. The sun was pretty hot so we called for half-time after 20 minutes. During teh break the park staff came across and told us that we couldn't play. The reason they gave was that we were using cones to mark out the playing area and that meant that no-one else could use the grounds. The fact that the only other people in teh ground were in teh corners playing baseball had no bearing. But, and this is the strange thing, using bags and shirts instead of cones would be okay. Confused? So were we. And it scared the Japanese team, who were unsure is they should or shouldn't carry ine playing. So we called it a day.

But, Pete had a 5-a-side match organised from 5pm and asked if I wanted to play. Not wanting to drive a three-hour round trip for 20 minutes of footy, I agreed. And I was glad I did.

The five-a-side was at the futsal place near Uchino and the court was booked for two hours. I was fun to play and was the first time in a few weeks that I'd trained longer than 60 minutes. I was tired at the end but felt good for teh long run out. I even managed to score a few goals, including a nutmeg on Pete.

I actually feel a lot sharper too after that session. At the training with Kawaji last night, I felt a lot more fitter and confident and was pretty much scoring and setting people up for fun. I need to keep this up and train harder so I'm fully fit before I fly back to England. This way I can be ready for the Nagano tournament when I get back and help my team on our way to Saitama.