It started off well, Martin and I got up, had our room cleaned and went on our morning run. We're slowly managing to get further and further, as we did 2 laps of the park next to us which, in this heat, wasn't too bad. After showering and getting dressed, we headed down to the local shops to pick up some more juice, as we seem to be drinking down about 6 litres every few days.
We came home to have lunch, which was fish cakes, potatoes and salad. It didn't sound too great, and with the food we've been getting over the last week, our hopes weren't high at all. But thankfully, they were delicious.
After lunch we headed to the Communicare head office in town, to grab some posters for Joe, before dropping them off at the Learning Centre. We then made our way down to the Waterfront to prepare for our Waterfront 5's session.
We got there around half an hour early, so we had a quick kick around while waiting for the kids to show up. They eventually arrived, around 15 minutes late, which cut our session a bit shorter but we didn't mind.
After a quick introduction, we split the 7 five-a-side teams into a group of 3 teams and a group of 4. The group of 4 stayed on Martins pitch, and the group of 3 came over to mine.
As I started to get things underway I began realising a big problem. Not one of these kids speaks a word of English. I found it odd how they looked at me with such blank expressions, and realised it as I tried explaining what I wanted them to do. Eventually, after saying 'Pass', 'Move', 'Possession' and 'Keep Ball' a million times each, they started to get it. It was going well, we were playing a piggy in the middle game in their teams, and it was starting to run smoothly. Until one player (who was barefoot) got his foot stamped on by another (who was in metal studs). It was horrible to watch, because everyone who's played football for any club has been trod on at least once, and it hurts. But as I guided this kid to the side, I realised his toe was gushing with blood. He quickly hopped on my back, and I carried him over to by the little office building, blood dripping on the floor with every step I took. As I sat him down I turned to the adults and told them what had happened, expecting them to jump right into action. Oh no. That's not what happened. They handed me a dirty, old first aid kit and said "Do you know how to use this?"
Brilliant. I had to leave around 20 kids to themselves and hope they don't cause chaos while I patched up this kids toe. On went the rubber gloves, out came the antiseptic wipes and I started. After about 10 minutes of using the awful first aid kit they had, I was done, and the player had a beautiful bandaged up toe. I told him he couldn't play for the rest of the day, and had to keep his toe rested. Did that happen? Of course not. About 20 minutes later he was back involved, playing in matches, with a spare pair of trainers he must've got off someone. Had to give it to him, this kid had determination. After checking with the adults that were sat with him, I had little choice but to let him play.
Thankfully, half an hour and a ball to the Crown Jewels later, the session was over. I had one aim. Get in the car and get home. Which is exactly what we did, after picking up our Gatsby's from the office. They were beautiful, again.
Not in the mood for going out after a poor day, so Martin and I are settled downstairs, currently watching the Six Nations game between England and Wales, with our buddy George by our side.
Tomorrow hopefully watching Yonick play, then taking him down to the Waterfront to watch the North London Derby!! #COYG
Harry
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