With the weather here in the UK looking to show early intent that we're in for a harsh and drawn-out Winter I'm looking to move my focus to indoor sports, so what sporting options do I have available for The Everyman Olympics?
Swimming I've just bagged (report to follow soonish...I know I owe you a few) so what else do I have left to tackle in The Great Indoors?
Fencing - a sport I've been keen to start for a while; its got swords and cool outfits, plus the added benefit of decent war wounds - what more could a lad ask for? Having just noticed I'm being followed by @britishfencing on Twitter I've sent them a message, fingers crossed they'll come back with a way for me to get started!
Wrestling - I've a tenuous link to this one: a pal of mine works with someone connected to the GB team for Greco Roman Wrestling - if you read this Chris, lets talk more on this when I visit Friday.
Basketball - 'Pat Ball' as my ol' Grandad used to say (bless him). Apparently a girl very close to me knows someone who may know someone who can help, but you know how those kind of contacts tend to go...
Football - OK so really this is an outdoor sport but I'm up for a game of indoor footie soon if YOU are? (Hoping to bag this one in December)
Water Polo - @GB_WaterPolo have got back to me on Twitter and I may be able to hook up with the actual GB teams in late January (thanks to both Ollie from the BBC, @BBCSport_Ollie.and Una - @aqua2swim - for the contact via Twitter)
Diving & Synchronized Swimming - here's hoping Una and Lauren can help me here too x*
*Over-friendly kiss - hoping it helps!
Handball - I've no links whatsoever for this one...HELP!!!!
Boxing - Rocky famously trained outside on some occasions but the beatings usually take place in a warm and 'cosy' ring (Pete Puma - insert gag 'here')
Track Cycling - I'm in need of getting to Manchester Velodrome, or waiting till the actual Olympics one is finished in nearby London - then hoping the very helpful Karim of @catchsport can convince Lord Coe to let me use it (I see the great man follows you on Twitter)
Taekwondo - If you're out there and can help with this one, please get in touch!
Gymnastics - Artistic, Rhythmic or Trampolining - I'm even up for these if you can point me in the right direction y'all?
Volleyball - Isn't this just Netball for boys? (Just kidding ; )
So if you can help me with these Winter Warmers please GET IN TOUCH... email me at theeverymanolympian@googlemail.com or send me a tweet on Twitter
I look forward to hearing from you soon x*
One man's accidental quest to complete a challenge in EVERY Olympic Sport
Sunday, 28 November 2010
Monday, 22 November 2010
The Big Debate: Trunks or Swim Shorts?
Yes it's been a while and Yes I am still marching on with the challenges for The Everyman Olympics and Yes I do owe you the write-up on The Decathlon Challenge and The Table Tennis Challenge but while work has managed to soak up almost every spare minute of my time lately, this past week I've been able to start The Swimming Challenge, thus sparking The Big Debate: Trunks or Swim Shorts?
Lets be honest, when it comes to pool or seaside fashion us Brits are not exactly known for our taste in garments; knotted handkerchiefs on heads and white socks in sandals to name but 2 of our faux pars.
Our swashbuckling European neighbours are far more at home with flaunting their tanned limbs though is it true to say that ALL of those on the Euro mainland vacuum pack their giblets into shiny nacker sacks?
As a dapper English chap in possession of many national traits, including reservedness, I'm not one to strip to the waist the minute the sun comes out and neither will you see me reach for the Speedos when its time to take a dip in the pool, but my own bloodline is a cocktail made up of Italian, French & English so surely my personal choice in aqua-wear is exactly that: a personal choice.
So what say YOU? Trunks or Swim Shorts? Debate.
Lets be honest, when it comes to pool or seaside fashion us Brits are not exactly known for our taste in garments; knotted handkerchiefs on heads and white socks in sandals to name but 2 of our faux pars.
Our swashbuckling European neighbours are far more at home with flaunting their tanned limbs though is it true to say that ALL of those on the Euro mainland vacuum pack their giblets into shiny nacker sacks?
As a dapper English chap in possession of many national traits, including reservedness, I'm not one to strip to the waist the minute the sun comes out and neither will you see me reach for the Speedos when its time to take a dip in the pool, but my own bloodline is a cocktail made up of Italian, French & English so surely my personal choice in aqua-wear is exactly that: a personal choice.
So what say YOU? Trunks or Swim Shorts? Debate.
Sunday, 7 November 2010
The Everyman Olympics: Re-Galvanised
How 12 Events became EVERY Sport in the Olympics...
As the buzz of The Canoeing Challenge settled I started to envision putting together an event around my next task, so as to get more people involved all together in one glorious day...though this wasn't the only thing taking up my spare time: word of my tasks had started to get me noticed and this attention lead me to re-think the core idea at the very heart of my challenges - this is the story of how The Everyman Olympics became Re-Galvanised.
As you may know, this is how I first layed down the rules to myself:
You might also recall that my reasons for doing this series of tasks were purely targetted at weightloss - more specifically I wanted to lose a stone of the fat stuff.
Oh and there was the slight matter of beating my pal Carl in the race to lose this stone....some of us will already know how that story ended.
Back to the point in hand...
A few days after hooking up with Graham, who I'd met on The Cycling Challenge I received a phone call from Mike Miners, a journalist for the local paper - The Evening Echo.
Mike had heard of my sporting challenges through a mutual friend of his and Grahams and wanted to write a report on me.
I was already in training for my next event at the time and so after a telephone interview we agreed to meet at Southend Leisure & Tennis Centre for some photos to be taken of me in action.
A few days later I was staring at myself on Page 5, here's a link to Mike's great article:
http://www.echo-news.co.uk/news/8382831.Olympic_Games__I___m_in_training_for_every_event/
Literally the day after this came out I was contacted on Twitter by the very delightful Shana Pearlman, a producer for BBC Essex Radio no less!
Shana invited me onto the Dave Monk Show to be interviewed live on air - naturally I lept at the chance (being an 'Olympian' and all).
(Unfortunately for some stupid reason Blogger won't allow me to upload the recording I have of this interview - if anyone out there has any tips on how to get this on, please let me know)
Before I did this chat on the radio I looked back at the interview for The Evening Echo and realised that Mike Miner's had printed a quote from me which I hadn't really taken in:
“Originally it was a 12 month project, but now I hope to try every sport before the 2012 games in London.”
EVERY SPORT??!!!....I. Must. Be. Bonkers!
Realising that I'd clearly got excited in the moment, I took the bull by the horns, marched into BBC Essex Radio HQ and ran with it.
So there you have it, the London Olympics in 2012 will feature 26 Sports (though some are broken down into more events) - I've now completed 8 of them and have 20 months left to do the rest.
Here's a list of the sports I've yet to tackle:
Archery
Basketball
Beach Volleyball / Volleyball
Boxing
Diving / Swimming / Synchronised Swimming / Water Polo.
Equestrian - Dressage / Eventing / Jumping
Fencing
Football
Gymnastics - Artistic / Rhythmic / Trampoline
Handball
Hockey
Judo
Modern Pentathlon
Sailing
Shooting
Taekwondo
Triathlon
Wrestling.
If I'm going to achieve this I Need Your Help - leave your details in the comment box below or email me at theeverymanolympian@googlemail.com to find out how YOU can help me and get involved in The Everyman Olympics.
Thanks in advance,
The Everyman Olympian
As the buzz of The Canoeing Challenge settled I started to envision putting together an event around my next task, so as to get more people involved all together in one glorious day...though this wasn't the only thing taking up my spare time: word of my tasks had started to get me noticed and this attention lead me to re-think the core idea at the very heart of my challenges - this is the story of how The Everyman Olympics became Re-Galvanised.
As you may know, this is how I first layed down the rules to myself:
- One challenge to be set every month for a year, based on a different Olympic sport
You might also recall that my reasons for doing this series of tasks were purely targetted at weightloss - more specifically I wanted to lose a stone of the fat stuff.
Oh and there was the slight matter of beating my pal Carl in the race to lose this stone....some of us will already know how that story ended.
Back to the point in hand...
A few days after hooking up with Graham, who I'd met on The Cycling Challenge I received a phone call from Mike Miners, a journalist for the local paper - The Evening Echo.
Mike had heard of my sporting challenges through a mutual friend of his and Grahams and wanted to write a report on me.
I was already in training for my next event at the time and so after a telephone interview we agreed to meet at Southend Leisure & Tennis Centre for some photos to be taken of me in action.
 |
| The Everyman Olympian (Me) |
A few days later I was staring at myself on Page 5, here's a link to Mike's great article:
http://www.echo-news.co.uk/news/8382831.Olympic_Games__I___m_in_training_for_every_event/
Literally the day after this came out I was contacted on Twitter by the very delightful Shana Pearlman, a producer for BBC Essex Radio no less!
Shana invited me onto the Dave Monk Show to be interviewed live on air - naturally I lept at the chance (being an 'Olympian' and all).
(Unfortunately for some stupid reason Blogger won't allow me to upload the recording I have of this interview - if anyone out there has any tips on how to get this on, please let me know)
Before I did this chat on the radio I looked back at the interview for The Evening Echo and realised that Mike Miner's had printed a quote from me which I hadn't really taken in:
“Originally it was a 12 month project, but now I hope to try every sport before the 2012 games in London.”
EVERY SPORT??!!!....I. Must. Be. Bonkers!
Realising that I'd clearly got excited in the moment, I took the bull by the horns, marched into BBC Essex Radio HQ and ran with it.
So there you have it, the London Olympics in 2012 will feature 26 Sports (though some are broken down into more events) - I've now completed 8 of them and have 20 months left to do the rest.
Here's a list of the sports I've yet to tackle:
Archery
Basketball
Beach Volleyball / Volleyball
Boxing
Diving / Swimming / Synchronised Swimming / Water Polo.
Equestrian - Dressage / Eventing / Jumping
Fencing
Football
Gymnastics - Artistic / Rhythmic / Trampoline
Handball
Hockey
Judo
Modern Pentathlon
Sailing
Shooting
Taekwondo
Triathlon
Wrestling.
If I'm going to achieve this I Need Your Help - leave your details in the comment box below or email me at theeverymanolympian@googlemail.com to find out how YOU can help me and get involved in The Everyman Olympics.
Thanks in advance,
The Everyman Olympian
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