Squad rotation
As you will no doubt recall, having joined a football club, I suffered a pre-season injury set back.

Despite a concerted effort on my part to exacerbate the problem, I'm delighted to say that the injury has cleared up and I've spent the last few weeks training hard in an effort to get myself back into contention for the first team. After a particulalrly brutal session on Tuesday night (the email saying "bring trainers" translating to a night doing a combination of 800m runs and 400m sprints with not a ball in sight) I was pleased to see how much my fitness has actually improved since the start of pre-season training.

I've also noticed an element of weight loss, which is no bad thing, and has seen me return to the weight I was when I got married over three years ago. (The down side is my beautiful Thai-tailored suit is now slightly baggy.)

Anyway, the hard work appears to have paid off, as the combination of a stag do and some other commitments ruling out several first teamers meaning that I have made my way into the 14 for Saturday's match.

Whilst there's every chance I'll spend more time as a linesman than I will on the pitch (I'm thinking a five minute cameo at the end with the game won against tiring opposition, where I open my account for the season from a corner) I can't help but be really excited about the prospect of playing.

Expect a brief summary of my contribution to appear next week. (Unless I shin an own goal which costs us the match.)
- posted by Paul @ 2:06 pm