Tel Aviv

So on Friday we woke up and had planned in the week that we wuld take a trip to Tel Aviv, alot of people have been telling us mixed thoughts as we were told there's only shops and nothing to see and other people had told us that it's a place worth going to, so we thought we had to go there while we are in Israel. We left the house around 11ish and were headed to the bus station as the trains were on strike, so yes it's not just London and England that have train strikes. We thought we would knock on Zippee's door before leaving to let her know and as luck would have it they told us they were actually leaving to go to Tel aviv in less than an hour and they were more than happy to give us a lift there, another stroke of luck we have had whilst living in the Holy Land. The car journey was just under 2 hours and as soon as we got there we found a hotel called Tal Hotel and left the bag in the room before heading out around the town. The first day was a bit windy and overcast so we took a walk up the street to a shopping mall and then went to Hacarmel market there, just walking around exploring. The market reminded me a bit of Mong Kok Market in Hong Kong however the markets old everything from knock off handbags to fruit and veg. After the market there wasn't much, we also saw a couple of men arguing/fighting, one threatening the other with a knife although I'm not sure if he intended to use it but still, I think they were drunk, drugged up or maybe just not all there, but anyway after walking past that going on we found ourselves at the beach, by now we were very hungry and found somewhere to eat on the beach which compared to places in Akko was a lot more westernised and served generous portions so after sharing a starter then having a main we were completely full. After eating we decided to walk more along the beach front watching the surfers. We then stumbled across a bar called Mike's Places which we had seen advertised in a brochure at the hotel. We decided to go in and see if they were showing the Arsenal game for the following day, they told us they show all the big sports games so obviously Arsenal was on. They also had Magners cider which I hadn't had since I arrived in Israel so we sat down and had a couple whilst watching tennis and playing trivia games etc on the tv screen at the table. After Mike's we went back to the hotel to relax before heading back there in the evening. Saturday we woke up around 9ish and headed down to breakfast, the weather was great outside so we headed out walking along the beach front again for quite a while seeing many people running, cycling etc and alot of playing a sport with rackets and a ball, not sureof the real name but you always get them by seaside towns but here they take it seriously and I haven't seen anyone so good before. After quite a long walk we got to Jaffa which is an old town, like Akko it has changed hands so many times from crusaders, ottermans, Arabs etc, over 5000 years of history! We took an underground tour of Jaffa which I would recommend for anyone that visits, the town has always built up on so you can go a few feet underground and go back long ago in history, some of the brickwork is still there from Roman times. There are also many artefacts including a mould used to make weights so merchandise could be weighed in the market/port to make sure sellers would not be cheating customers.

Hacarmel Market

That sport I mentioned

Jaffa in the background

Denys in Jaffa

Walking around Jaffa we saw many buildings and great views, one of which was on the wishing bridge.

My Zodiac sign - Capricorn

So I'm guessing you read the sign in the picture about the wishing bridge, so we both walked ont he bridge, found our Zodiac signs, looked out at the beautiful view over the sea and made a wish.



After we felt we had seen and found out enough about Jaffa we took a walk back down the sea front before stopping off at Mike's place one last time to watch the football, first we saw Manchester United vs Liverpool followed by Everton vs Chelsea and Sunderland vs Arsenal. The Arsenal and Chelsea games were on at the same time and the games switched between each other, luckily it worked out quite well though as we saw more of the first half of the Chelsea game so we saw the early Everton goal and the second half was more Arsenal so we got to see a great finish and see Thierry Henry score another important last gasp goal and add to his record tally, a fairytale ending for his last game with us in the league, once again it was just written in the stars, what passion he has for the club, a true legend. Whilst we watched the game we enjoyed a couple of loads of Mike's hot wings, after the game unfortunatly it was time to say goodbye to Tel Aviv although we were tempted to stay and watch the England vs Italy rugby game followed by the spurs game but it was a good job we didn't. We also bumped into Esti's son at the bar, Esti is our anager at UJIA and her son actually works at Mike's Place. The trains were still on strike so we had to get to the bus station and bus it back, we both fell asleep after about 30 minutes on the bus where we woke up at Haifa to change for a bus to Akko, the bus from Haifa also stopped somewhere and we had to change to get the 271 which was a bit of nostalgia as It was the 271 bus in london I had to get on Tuesday and Wednesday mornings to go to training at Rosemary Gardens. Anyway the whole journey to get back to Akko was around three and a half hours so we got back home and went straight to bed ready for the next week which will also be Denys' last week in Israel.

Mike's Place from the outside

Sunset over the Mediterranean Sea

Sunday and Monday we were at Rambam and Eshkol schools where we worked on shooting and focusing on them using the inside of the footbal for a passing shot and the laces for a driven shot with key points about shooting and changing it so use of both feet for each type of shot. Sunday evening we also had Ben Gurion friendship house, our favourite of the friendship houses where we did the same shooting drill before moving into a small sided game. Our friend who we nickname Frank because he supports Chelsea and is also the one who called me Evil Van persie wasn't there this week so we missed out on a bit of banter from the Chelsea Vs Man United game. Both days so far have been warm and sunny so it has been great to be outside coaching the sun, we have both also noticed that we have caught the sun now.

Sun, Sea, Football, Bowling & Rollerblading

Hello again to everyone reading. Lets start off where we left last time which is Monday. Monday we are at Eshkol school in the morning, one of my favourite schools. We had lessons up till 2pm of all ages mixed boys and girls. We did some heading and volleying drills followed by short matches. During breaktime once again we signed autographs, got chased around and managed to join in with the childrens football match for a short while. In the evening we went to Burla which is a youth centre type group of boys aged around 16, we did a short session with them before they played a game, this is how the guy in charge of the group wants it done, half of the session as a warm up and work on technique then the other half they get a game. All day we were by ourselves without any of our assisants from the local university who can translate some things etc.

Tuesday we went to El Manara school which the previous week we couldn't coach at because part of the goal there had cracked and it was at risk of falling so the teacher didnt want us to use the area, better to be safe than sorry. Luckily this week it had been fixed and we were back out to coach from 8am-2pm, once again nobody from the university so it was up to us to let our feet do the talking. We did turning and most of them did understand us and the standard may have been a little poor at first but after us going through the groups showing them closer they soon got the hang of it and were performing some good turns. Whilst we were in the staff room on a short break we spoke to one child called Mahmoud who had apparently hurt his foot so after a few minutes I decided to ask him if he wanted to come and play football which he replied "yes!" straght away, haha the foot can't be that bad can it? The I asked him what lesson he should have now to which he replied "geography", so I asked him if he liked Geography " no". Kept us amused during our break and I think we also kept him amused rather than sitting by himself and to little surprise later on he was in one of our classes playing football.

The evening took us to Bustan Hagalil, the diability session we have once a week for ages 18-22 years old. The weather Tuesday was really windy making it a cold day and when we got to Bustan we had noticed the wind had blew one of the goals over. We go to the centre and went inside as usually they are already outside waiting for us warming up on the pitch but when we got inside we noticed it was a bit quiet and nobody was expecting to play because of the weather, we asked if they wanted to but they kept pointing to the weather outside and didn't fancy it, so instead we sat around for a while and talked before going back home.

After getting home and checking emails etc we went to a little food place right by our house that does different meats or Falafel in pita bread. We had already been before a couple of times so I decided to have the chicken again but this time while we waited we decided to order a few falafels to try. Food once again was good and after we headed to the shop to buy an ice cream which we split in half and share, it's become a bit of a habit now, everytime we go to this food place we have to walk to the shop to buy an ice cream after. Avi one of our helpers also called us on our walk back and told us that him and his wife plus a couple of friends are going bowling if we wanted to join them, we jumped at the chance and wen't bowling for the first time in Israel. It was a good night once again to get out somewhere new. Avi, his wife, sister in law and friend went on one lane and me, Denys and Avi's friend bowled on the lane next to them. The bowling surprisingly wasn't a bad standard and always came down to the last few throws. I think we all ended up winning a game each and me and Avi's friend both threw 3 strikes in a row at the end of a game and Denys got a score of 145.

Denys, Avi, me and his friend Igal

Wednesday we were at Hertzog school which starts at 9am so an extra hour in bed for us. The weather wa back to being nice and sunny again, when we got to thr school the gym which we usually use had drilling and workmen inside so instead we used the outdoor football pitch which worked out even better as it meant we could be coaching outside in the sunshine. Once again we did heading and volleying followed by a short match at the end. On our break we went to our favourite Russian bakery again. When we got back we got back into the sessions and at the sametime next to the pitch other classes were doing rollerblading so I had a little look and when the guy asked me if I wanted a go I couldn't resist getting them on! So I joined in with the kids rollerblading for a bit and also decided to do some coaching whilst on rollerblades which the kids found amusing. Hopefully if we're outside again next week and rollerblading is going on I can get involved in some of the roller hockey. After we finished at the school we waited in the playground for Avi to come pick us up, whilst we were there we had loads of kids chasing us around and jumping on us so we joined in and got down to their level for a few minutes. When Avi got us he took Denys to go and get a haircut and a shave at his local barbers which cost 40 shekels (approx 6-7 pounds) so similar price to back home at a barbers shop. He offered to take us to lunch with some of his colleagues but because we had already ate at the bakery we were quite full so instead he dropped us back home. We then decided to take a walk to Napoleons hill which is a few minutes walk from the house, there's not alot to see there but still we can say we walked up the hill.

Mini Benayoun on the right

This has actually given me a few ideas for the younger groups we coach to keep them amused

A view of Napoleon's hill

Cactus we saw on our walk aswell as a man asleep on a bench but we thought the cactus would be more interesting

In the evening we had Mig Dalor which is an Arabic friendship house/youth centre. We had a group of children of similar age which was good, the only problem was Sameh and Yakov were there to assist us as Sameh works at the house anyway but translation was like speaking to a brick wall, we would say something expecting them to then translate but they seemed to want to stand around starring into space or talking to each other. We managed to get what we wanted to across though but translation was needed for this one as we did it where they stand in a circle pass and move then dribbling following onto overlaps, one two's etc so it was all about communication. Eventually with little help from our 'helpers' they were doing it well so we progressed into a game for around 20 minutes before finishing for the day.

Thursday we were in Weizman school which is by the sea and once again we had brilliant sunshine which always helps lift the mood for the last day of the week, sometimes the sun even goes to our heads abit I think. We kept to our main weekly topic of volleying and heading and all the sessions went well, this is another of our favourite schools and there a number of both boys and girls there who are very good.

For the evening Avi took us to the Canyon Mall to see another movie, this time we saw a movie called Son Of No one. It was an average movie and was quite slow moving so hard to get into but it did have a few twists in the storyline which keep you interested. After the movie we went to the games arcade and as Avi told us apparently he is number 1 in Israel at air hockey, like me and Denys thought how can someone be that good at air hockey!? I'ts an ongoing thing we find here in Israel, someone is always number 1 at something or knows someone who is. So I gave Avi a game not playing air hockey since I was about 10 and yep you guessed it I beat him so I guess that makes me Number 1 in Israel now (wink wink). But once again it was nice to get out to the mall and we had a really good evening with Avi with plenty of laughs.

Once again if you have got this far then thank you for reading and be sure to come back soon for an update over the weekend.

Written in the stars.....

Hello to everyone once again, my second post in 3 days. I thought I'd start of by saying that we watched the Arsenal game today and what a game it was! 7-1 to the Arsenal with a Van Persie hat trick, double strik from Chamberlain, a nice goal by Arteta and to top it off the legend that is Thierry Henry came on to grab a late goal! Because my blog name was inspired from the Tinie Tempah song Miami2Ibiza I thought it was only right to have the title as Written in the stars as it clearly was written in the stars that Henry would make his come back to come off the bench and score the winning goal against Leeds in the cup in true Henry style and then to come off the bench today to end a great day with a link up with Robin Van Persie and score his first Premier League goal in 5 years.

So back to how this great Saturday started. We left the house at around midday in excellent weather, 22 degrees sun and decided to go to the Bahai Gardens in Akko as we thoroughly enjoyed our time at the Bahai Gardens in Haifa. It was about a 40 minute walk from the house past Bustan Hagalil where we do our disability session every Tuesday, It was quite a nice walk as it's more out in the countryside. The Gardens were alot bigger than Haifa but more flat, all in all still a very well kept and impressive place. No tour guide here so it worked out well that we went to the one in Haifa first where we had a guide and managed to learn about the Bahai's before visiting the one in Akko.

The road leading out of Akko towards the Bahai Gardens

One of the entrances to the Gardens that was closed

Me at the start of the gardens



After we walked down to the old town in Akko along the sea front where we were meant to meet Sameh and Yakov but in good Israel fasion they were about 30 minutes late. But then they took us to the betting shop/cafe type place where we watched the football. It was an arabic place and when I say betting shop its nothing like at home, you can sit down order food and drink and it was in an old building so the tv was on the wall but all around and inside is the old brickwork. As I said already a great game 7-1 to the Arsenal! After the football we went to get a Schnitzel baguette and sat on the wall by the sea looking out to Haifa which reminds me of back home as its like being down Bournemouth beach looking out to the Isle of Wight. Then we went back down the market and bought an Arabic sweet, not sure on the name but it sounded something like canaffe, it was once again very good, afterwards Sameh and his friend showed us inside the Mosque in Akko before walking home to burn off some of all the food we ate!

Denys, Sameh and his friend

Sunday morning soon came round which meant the start of a new week in Israel. Woke up to another day of lovely sunshine outside the window yet also to lots of photos and news from family and friends about the snow fall in the night back home. Denys wasn't feeling too good in the morning and had been up most of the night so decided to stay at home. I took off to walk to Rambam school with a bag of footballs, bibs and cones in the warm sunshine. When at the school I decided to do heading and volleying in pairs changing round every few times with plenty of progressions, the sessions went well and we played games at the end for around 10 minutes. When I got home it was such a nice day outside I decided to take a walk down near the sea and get some photo's rather than stay inside. I met Yossi on my way to the sea and we walked along most of the sea front taking various pictures. Here are todays blog selections:

Me on the wall

After the town I rode back home on Yossi's bike as he wanted to run and we got back and saw Denys before all heading to the friendship house for 16:30 (Denys is now back to normal). We did a session with a circle and passing then following your pass, then onto dribbling before adding in various progression like one two, overlaps etc. Then we got into a game where we joined in and had fun, my friend who calls me evil Van Persie was also there again and we had a good laugh and talked about the Chelsea vs Manchester United game that was on tonight. When we got home we went up to Zippee's to watch the football, another good match Chelsea going 3-0 up then United coming back to level things up at 3-3 which isn't a bad result for us aiming to achieve a top 4 finish. After the match we had another dinner at Zippee's house with the Italians and an American woman, all of which are leaving in the next week. We found out that Zippee was once an undercover police officer for 3-4 years, a party trick how to get a cork out of an empty wine bottle and that Tupac is jewish. Well Tupac is not jewish but when our American friend made a 'W' sign with her hand and asked if we knew what it was me and Denys immediately said westsiiiide! Turned out she was talking about Spok being Jewish and the sign he used to do but me and Denys mentioned Tupac and immediately she said he was jewish... Made us all laugh and joke, probably one of those things when you had to be there in the moment. Once again though it was a good meal all sitting around the table having a good laugh and sharing stories.

I have also this week signed up to do the Be a Gunner Be a Runner fun run for charity, 10 laps around the Emirates Stadium and all money raised goes to save the children foundation. I arrive back in the UK on the 23rd March and will be running on the 31st March. I am sure that some of my fellow coaches will still be abroad and will be organising a similar run in their countries.

Another great week completed and a trip to the Lebanon border

So another week has gone by so quickly, let me start on Wednesday where we were at Hertzog school, a very religous school where boys and girls learn in seperate buildings on the school grounds. We did sessions with different warm ups followed by dribbling and games apart from for one class who the week before weren't so wel behaved so we did a warm up followed by shuttle runs with and without a football before giving them a short game at the end, now they know they have to behave well if they want more football and game time.

In the evening we were meant to be at an Arabic friendship house called Mig Dalor but the session was cancelled as Sameh who assists us with language etc also works at the house and told us that the pitch was covered in puddle from the rain and not safe to coach on plus 5 minutes after we got off the phone to him thunder, lightning and heavy rain struck.

Thursday we coached at Weitzman school, the weather was excellent just like a summers day. We did different warm ups followed by turning sessions then if there was time after they did four different turns we would get them into some small sided games. The teacher Nissim also told us one class were not behaving in their other classes so told us to tell them what would happen if classes didn't behave in London, so once again we did the same as we did the previous day at Hertzog School, warm up followed by shuttle runs with and without a football and the message got across to them, I don't think they will be misbehving too much during the week now (by the way they were misbehaving in other classes, they're always good when we're there so Nissim wanted them to know that the football class with the "Arsenal coaches" could be taken away from them). At the break time we decided to go to our favourite Russian bakery again. After school Avi who helps us with some translation etc took us to the college where he works and we also got given a cap of the college each, also bumped into Sameh who studies at the college. Then we wen't to the Grand Canyon mall again where we went to the cinema to see Man on the ledge, another good movie with a really good storyline, so 2 out of 2 good movies we've watched whilst in Israel.

We got back in and had about 20 minutes before going to our first evening session at a friendship house called Mifratz Schlomo 17:00-18:30 then home for about another 20 minutes rest then to our final friendship house Burla from 19:30-21:00. Finally our weekend had begun once we finished this session so we got home sat outside for a bit listening to music then ordered a schnitzel to be delivered.

Friday we woke up to the sun again, it was around 20 degrees whilst we've been hearing everyone else complaing back in England how it's about -5 degrees. We made ourself some lunch before waiting for Danny who picked us up around 13:30. We then went to the Lebanon border which is further out, the drive was down some quiet country like roads with lots of trees and also banana trees at the side of the road. We drove up a mountain and parked overlooking a beautiful view of the coastline. We got some photos and saw parts of the border. There was also a sign on one of the gates saying "Closed military area photography is forbidden" but being from England its the first thing Denys decided to take a photo off, some Americans on a tour also said "did you just take a photo of the sign saying no photography" our response "yes we did, we're English". We then went into an American style diner that was there verlooking the views of the sea again and playing some modern western music, sounded like Yossi's car again as it was exactly the same music like Pit Bull and Taio Cruz but remixes aswell. After we had some lunch we took a short cable car ride down to where the caves are. We watched a short video about it how the water had eventually worn away parts of the rock to form these caves and how the British had been there and made a tunnel and put a railway line in which also carried around 200 survivors from the Holocaust. Another very interesting place with plenty of history.

The view the top of the caves

 

Photography forbidden

Part of the cave inside

Me Danny and Denys in the cave

Cable car

After we had seen the caves we took a short car journey upto a park, before we got there we had to drive up the mountain up a long winding road, all I could think wa I wish I had my car and was behind the wheel whilst driving up the long twisting road overlooking some amazing views with the sunset. Once we got upto to the top we parcked up and took a walk to look at the view and also see part of the mountain where shepheards used to keep their goats etc but over the years the water had worn away the rock so there was no longer a roof but it left an arch way which we walked over, once again some amazing views so we got quite a few pictures, here are a few.

The archway in the rock

Another view from up on the mountain top

It was about 5:30 when we left the mountain top to go and get petrol and a drink. We had an arranged dinner at 18:30 with Esti our manager at UJIA at her house so to kill some time Danny took us to Nahariyya to show us the town and boulevard where there were various restaurants/bars etc. It looks like a nice town and is close to our house so may go back to visit sometime, I can imagine it being really nice walking down the boulevard in the summer with the restaurants and bars one side and the sea on the other plus people rollerblading etc. After this short stop we headed to Esti's house which in a Kibbutz which we are told has changed tradition over the years but basically it is a community with its own schools, gym, player area etc etc. They also have like a committee team who run the operation of the kibbutz and can kick people out if they do something wrong and likewise decide and have a say on anyone who wants to move into the community. We met her husband, 2 of her sons and the 2 dogs then we went over to the dining hall where many people gather to eat and see each other, there were many options of what to eat kind of like a buffet. After we ate we went to the members area and had coffee/hot chocolate and biscuits before finally saying good night and parting our ways. It was an interesting thing to see and we have been told that there are many different kibbutz's in Israel.

Once again thank you for reading and I'll be back with another update very soon.

Wiiiiicked!

Ok so to start off with so far this week the weather hasn't really changed much, it can start of sunny but be raining in no time, just like England! Even the locals have been telling us they can't remember it ever raining so much in one month, looks like we brought the weather with us. We don't mind though as its alot warmer than back home right now and the nice days we have are as good as a summers day in England.

So Sunday we wen't to Rambam school which is the closest to our house, only a few minutes walk so we get a few minutes extra rest in our beds! Sunday was raining so we wen't inside and coached both girls and boys, when its dry we take the boys outside and Reut the P.E teachers takes the girls inside.
So we did a warm up, tag/stuck in the mud followed by turning in a skills corridor where they run out to a cone that acts as a defender, do a turn then return back so the next in line goes. We did four types of turn, inside, outside, dragback and the famous Cruyff turn plus getting our coaching tips in, keeping low, knees bent for balance and accelerate out of the tun. We would also go around and personally show some groups or individuals how to do it and shortly after they would soon all be demonstrating great turns, we would also pick some out to demonstrate to us in front of the group which they were more than keen to do so. Afterwards we would get some games going for around 10 mintues.

In the afternoon we had a new friendship house group, it was right by our house and Yossi also come with us to help out. We started with the Arsenal Chelsea warm up where they line up and theres 2 sets of coloured cones either side of them, red-Arsenal, Blue-Chelsea, whichever one is called out they have to run to and back.
Then we did some domes and dishes with and without football where they are in seperate teams and have to run out and turn their teams colour cone over, first team back in a straight line shouting Arsenal with all their cones turned over wins. After this we went into a game in which we also joined in to make up the numbers, of course mine and Denys' team won with Yossi on the end of another defeat, sorry Yossi ;). Whilst we were playing one the players on the other team told me that I play like an evil Van persie, he said it was like a Van Persie/Balotelli which I had never heard anything like before so it was quite funny. For the first session with the kids everything went really well and we made it back just in time to watch the Arsenal vs Aston Villa FA cup game which at half time we were a little worried but a great 10minutes and we were straight back in the game and through to the 5th round, happy days!

Onto Monday where we went to Eshkol school, one of my personal favourites. Not sure why I think its just the teachers, the school in general and the place where we coach, also the 2 previous times we coached there it was like a summers day. Well yes I jinxed it because this Monday it was raining, which wasn't much of a problem as the outside area where we coach has a roof over it. Because we have a different school everyday we do the same topic for the week so we did pretty much the same as at Rambam but just adapt it to suit the groups and do different warm ups etc. Everything went well and once again had loads of kids asking for autographs which in Hebrew is something like hadema, so we hear hadema hadem hadema alot.

Because of the heavy rain both evening sessions were cancelled as they are both outside.

Tuesday we woke up to sunshine, Zippee ordered us a taxi which turned up on time which is something amazing for Israel, It was also a Mercedes so we were travelling to school in style this morning, unfortunatly when we got to the school the P.E teacher told us how one of the goal posts has cracked and is unsafe as it could all fall over and there was no where else to coach so it had to be cancelled for today but we are assured that next week it will all be sorted. So we went and got some shopping done which should last us a week or 2. After that we went to Haifa with Yossi and got some lunch at a coffee shop then went and got a drink at another place which looked over the city. Afterwards we went to the Bahai Gardens which has 9 different levels and is kept immaculate, all the grass, plants, gravel etc is perfect and nothing is out of place or overgrown. We missed the english tour but decided to go along for the Hebrew speaking tour so we could just walk around and see the gardens but luckily when we got there most other people were english speaking so the tour guide decided to do the tour in english so everything worked out perfect anyway. The tour guide kept calling us mates and also gave us alot of useful information, he also told us how there are around 7million people following the Bahai religion worldwide and also the gardens are privately owned so the tours are free and we are visitors on the grounds. We walked down 658 steps and at the beginning of the tour after telling us some facts the guide just asked us if we understand and to say something positive, Denys at this moment couldn't stop himself from bursting out with a massive "wiiiiiiicked" in the most London slang accent to which our guide found very amusing as he had stayed in London for a few months.

Overlooking the city

Bahai Gardens

Me on one of the 9 levels of the gardens

Me Denys and Yossi

We got back to the house around 3:30, Este came, she is the woman who is Delilah's manager from UJIA so we gave her some receipts for taxi's and food. We get an allowance of 500 Shekels per month each for food and an extra 180 shekels each for other misc things, 6 shekels is approx 1 pounds but I must stress we were both surprised when we went to the supermarket and found alot of things were more expensive than london prices. Este then gave us a lift to Bustan Hagalil which is where we do a session for young adults 18-22 years old with disabilities. We start at 4 and finish around 5:30-6:00 then go inside and have a drink talk etc. We really enjoy this session as much if not more than they do! But they have great fun and always invite us back to the house inside afterwards, great group of people. We started of by everyone standing in a circle and passing the ball then following the pass switching places, we then progressed it to dribbling to the person and changing places, after this we did it so they ran one way and changed direction keeping close ball control. We decided to progress it further each time so in the end they could communicate and say hold run round the player then release to get the ball back, one two so pass in move and pass back to them or take where the other player takes the ball into the circle, finally we added some cones into the circle to encourage change of direction and head up etc so the cones acted as defenders before we finally got into a game. This week was a small group so once again me, Denys and a couple of the other volunteers working there joined in. Me and Denys were on the slightly weaker team but thankfully we had a German volunteer called Miri on our side who must of scored about 10 goals! (our secret weapon). The group bond really well and also play some great football getting in some Messi like skills and tricks in the game aswell.

Afterwards we got a taxi home, once again to finish the day another Mercedes to take us home so we started the day in style and ended in good fasion too haha. When we got home we sat outside on our little patio area in the garden and had a few snacks etc before going to bed.

Here are some photos from the evening session, it was a small group today as some of them were away doing other things but usually we have a bigger group, it was nice as we could do more work with them though.

Denys relaxing outside

So almost another week done, I will keep you updated with plenty more updates and pcitures from what we're doing and as my American friend Danny (another Arsenal gapper currently in kenya) would say "Lovin life".

Hope everyone back home and all the gappers in their current countries are doing good and enjoying their experiences as much as we are.

Joe