Day 7, 7th May 2013 – Training Session 4

Another day, two more training sessions.  A smaller crowd turned out this morning for training at the YMCA but the kids who came along were great and played really well.  It is possible to see an improvement in how they play in even the short space of time we have been here, which is very encouraging.  It is also fantastic getting to know the kids and some of them are real characters.  John (pictured on right, blue and white t-shirt) has become the first official Onside kit-man and seems to try and carry as much of our kit for us as possible every day, even though he's one of the smallest guys playing.  We have also been assisted very ably by Asaph, Sanjay and Isaac who are all members of Christ Church.  Future Onside coaches???  Watch this space!  All of the kids have been listening very well to Rob's talks and today Churchill introduced one of his famous (infamous?) skits into proceedings.  During the skit he was attacked (very enthusiastically, it must be said!) and left lying in a heap by the other coaches and the kids had to work together as a team to get him medical attention.  This afternoon we are going with one of the Christian Sports Fellowship coaches to work with a girls team, running a training session for them and after that we try yet another sport after Churchill challenged us to a game of tennis.  Could be a pretty tiring afternoon!
So far the trip has been going well and we have been meeting a lot of interesting people.  It is great to be working with Churchill again and he has been fantastic in helping us every day.  India is a great place to visit and he is a superb guide.  If you would like to find out more about his work and foundation for underprivileged kids, please visit www.drjohnjosephfoundation.org.  It is hard to believe how quickly the time has gone and that we have only two more training sessions before heading back to the UK.