The Basketball Challenge: Match Three, Southend Swifts vs Erkenwald Ladies

Oh yes, there's a new British BBall player on the Allstar circuit!I know what you're thinking - how can this be? well read on my friends...

While I've been running the boards of Leigh-on-Sea, my fellow Brit, Luol Deng has been wowing US coaches, through averaging 16.0 points and 7.3 rebounds this season playing for the world famous Chicago Bulls in the NBA's Eastern conference. His performances have earned him a vote onto this month's Allstar game in Orlando, Florida. I earned eight minutes on the court Wednesday evening while 'my boys' (that's BBall talk y'all) battled a spirited ladies team for a 101-45 victory. I'm guessing you're equally proud of the pair of us, Great Britain.

Luol Deng, a kindred spirit?...probably not.

Louis' self-imposed voodoo about playing girls teams came back to haunt him (again) as he go downed in defence and then blocked in attack, but he wasn't the only one to fall fail of an Erkenwalk Ladies team who fault well for the only female team in the league, I for one respect them - I'm reckoning Dan, having been mugged of the ball, and others in the Swifts side who also got blocked that eve will be thinking likewise.

Southend led from the get go and dominated every quarter but amongst the ranks of the fairer opposition No.4 & No.5 each had skills in going up to the net, No. 10 & No.15 proved at times to have nerve with scoring shots from distance and No.7 bossed their side by example; I had to mark her during my time on court and believe me, I got little joy.

There were some real moments of maturity, composure and skill from the cool kids in black: Reece, Jordan, Dan and Brad all displayed some excellent skills while making point-scoring breaks; the highlight of the night goes to Dan for managing to bounce the ball off of his head from a pass, into his own path and coolly lift it into the hoop under pressure.

Nathan, or The Mop as I shall now name him, used his significant height advantage (dude must be 6'4'') to hoover up many of the rebounds in the first two quarters, and this surely added to the impressive points tally.

I too bagged my first competitive points; a penalty was awarded in the third quarter our way and Coach Butterworth gave instruction to the team that I was to take it - I'd have 4 shots...I fluffed the first, then the second (though this time aim was on target, just the power let me down), then miraculously after a bounce on the ring and backboard, my third sunk. A huge cheer went up, I was beaming but with the mini crowd all behind me I opted to compose myself for a final throw rather than revel in the moment. The ball arced disappointingly and we played on.

I was replaced soon after, though once again came on for the final few minutes, Jordan netted the final basket and we saw out the match having just made the ton mark.

I've now played in my third match, and scored 1 point which means I'm averaging 0.33 points per game. By my reckoning this makes me 0.02% the player that Luol Deng is, after just two training sessions ever, the Allstar team selectors may have to rethink the British allocation.

The Basketball Challenge: Match Two, Southend Swifts vs Southend Players

Jarring my back while digging my car out of the snow last Saturday, during a Winter we'd almost convinced ourselves wasn't coming, then driving nearly a thousand miles prior to turning up at Match Two of The Basketball Challenge this evening, wasn't exactly the ideal prep but sometimes life is literally all swings and roundabouts.

The term 'Players' is cool if you herald from Phili and head up a fraternity called something like say Alpha Betas, but when twinned with the word Southend it just comes across as lazy to the British mind. While Southend Players were far from lazy, they were hardly Swift; even I could keep up with their play, albeit from the bench.

When these two local teams last met, Southend Swifts gave them the kind of drubbing that the Harlem Globetrotters dish out in droves, though this evening the Players were lead by a No.9 who Coach Chris described as 'the best player I've seen while at a match', high praise indeed so we had to be on our toes.

Alex, our talismanic No.8, started sprightly and the opposition just couldn't handle the speed of his breaks but gradually the older squad from nearer the sea managed to disrupt our play and create scoring chances of their own. At the end of the first quarter, the Players were edging it.

Coach Chris spelt it out for the lads 'Carry on playing this slowly and they'll continue to lead, play our way; quick and attacking, and we'll win the game', the game was there for the taking, we just had to go up a gear.

The second quarter was the most dramatic, while I watched on from the sidelines I became enthralled in the battle for power as steadily the Swifts picked up points. From five minutes in, the scoreboard swung alternately in favour of either side with almost every passing second.

While my fascination and love for this sport continued to develop, I was still getting painfully few minutes on the court and still any understanding of the rules and signs used by the two officials escaped me; at times it looked as though barely a thing had happened to stop play when the shorter of the refs (the one with the angry haircut) would walk towards the 'judges' table and seemingly play Rock Paper Scissors with himself before give a summary of a made up offence. I was baffled.

Coach Chris was content to use less time-outs than last week, I think this may have been to ensure that the older men were kept moving as much as possible, in order to wear them down.

Southend Players seemed a team based around two key members; their excellent No.9 (unfortunately two knee injuries had robbed me of the chance to see him in his prime) and a lad called Chris who clearly knew the sport well and while not the greatest of shots, thrived on disrupting his opponents play. Outside of this they had a No.13 who looked like he could have been cut'n'pasted from the 70's, a No.14 who flattered to deceive; he looked the part but had the shooting ability of a baddie in the A-Team, and no-one else of note.

The highlight of the third quarter was when the Players' Chris got sent off, seemingly for a double obscenity in reaction to a ref call he didn't agree with. Swifts were already starting to create some room between themselves and their neighbours on the scoreboard through a reinvigorated Alex and the skillful long shots of Brad, and now playing against a weakened side they started to skip away with the lead.

The frustration had clearly got the better of them, Players' No.13 got a little too close to Swifts Alex who had to come off for a bit to recover from the meeting, as he left the court one ref asked how he was and this was the reply, 'I think I've lost a bit of my penis', it turns out that our man from yesteryear had squeezed Alex's manhood in an attempt to put him off his game - his aim had worked as for a good few minutes I thought my team mate was going to pass out from the pain.

Coach Chris gave me the nod once he felt secure in the win and with less than a minute from the final buzzer I joined the action, 'Who shall I mark', I asked...'Number 13' came the reply. I feared for my penis.

This time I didn't get the ball before I knew what was going on. When I joined we were in attack, this quickly switched to being in defence so I spotted my man and got between him and the basket. I managed to trap him and the ball actually came to me in defence just seconds later...I bounced it, bounced it again and it hit my own hip...then for some reason the whistle blew - I think I may have travelled with the ball, but Coach if you're reading this then please can you add a comment on here to confirm whether I'm right). Anyhow, when the ball came back into play it was only a matter of a few ticks before the timer ran to zero and the buzzer signified our victory.

Head Coach Pearl gave me a Southend Swifts t-shirt, an incredibly generous gesture - I intend to earn the right to wear this tee before I even take it out of its fresh wrapper.

Our next match is at home on Wednesday 15th February against Erkenwald Ladies Basketball Team, why not come along?!

The Basketball Challenge: Match One, Southend Swifts vs Pipps Hill Bears

Lebron James scored 25 points, 9 assists and 6 rebounds on his debut for the Cleveland Cavaliers and no doubt didn't get subbed once. My first taste of competitive basketball differed....just slightly.

Southend Swifts have been so unbelievably welcoming that when I received an email from Head Coach Stephen Pearl saying I'd be in the squad for a match in two days time, having only trained once, I had to check I wasn't dreaming this while dribbling onto my pillow. Realising I was in fact actually sat having breakfast, the next thing to dawn on me was that I hadn't as yet ever even seen a full basketball match on telly, let alone been to a live one!

Pipps Hill Bears had beaten the Swifts by 50 clear points on their last outing, Coach Butterworth explained the key reasons for the opposition teams dominance in that last encounter before enthusing our players with the know-how and confidence to go out their this evening and take charge of this game. The buzzer sounded loudly, signifying one minute before the start, Coach outlined the starting team and gave some final instructions, the buzzer sounded again and then the boys were up...

That first quarter Southend ran and weaved and shot hoops and robbed the ball with such ease that they already looked out of sight, the Bears looked more like the Pipps, though as the match wore on they did start to resemble bears once more; only the type that have a sore head and growl because things aren't going their way.

I tried to stay warm, think about the set up of the teams, how we were being successful, who was marking whom. I did a great job of warming the bench in the coolest kit in the league (all black - can't get cooler than that, even if you're a tubby fella with a beard tinged with ginger), though my grasp of the game kept getting punctuated by the sheer enjoyment gained from watching silky skills and the growing annoyance of older opponents; the Bears had opted out of playing the Swifts first team and were instead tonight facing our second and slightly younger squad.

Coach's talks in time-outs and breaks between quarters were focused on righting our flaws and boosting confidence, his respectfully disciplined approach would be welcomed in most businesses, let alone in competitive sport.

By midway through the final quarter their cocky No.7's antics had stopped annoying the home team and subsequently they came to a halt, gamesmanship can have its place but teenage lads against grown men who through feeling inferior resort to using physical and rumoured verbal infringements of the rules is simply bullying.

Alex silences their No.7 with pure class.

Four minutes from time I was proud to be wearing Swifts colours, I wasn't expecting to get the call of duty - the ball came to me all too soon and like Andy Murray in a Grand Slam Final, I was shell shocked in the limelight.

My only touch of the rubberised sphere resulted in a pass back to an unexpectant team mate, resulting in a counter attacked where I simply didn't know who to mark - the number I'd been given to stick to had been subbed as I came on and it took one of my colleagues to tell me 14 was now my man.

In our next attack Chris pulled me aside and gave me two simple tasks to follow, this helped snap me out of my daze but with just one minute remaining the buzzer came before I had a chance to redeem myself. Thankfully by then Southend Swifts had gained sweet revenge against the Pippiest of Hill lurking Bears.

Lebron James can rest easy, I'm not yet fit to darn his laces.

The Basketball Challenge: First Training Session

Last Wednesday night I met up with Head Coach at Southend Swifts Basketball Club, Stephen Pearl. I'd landed on my feet...

Basketball first caught my attention when a Greek lad at school started playing the game in London and promptly stopped wearing trainers and starter wearing 'sneakers'. The year was 1990, I thought the kid was double cool.

Michael Jordan may have made the sport globally recognised but this kid in my school, also called Michael, was the only person we actually knew who played the sport. I think even our PE teachers secretly thought he was cool, despite their preference for football, rugby and athletics.

Around the same time my pal Johnny had a basketball net put up by his dad on the carport attached to their garden and my first playing experience came with the boys I grew up with; we'd try and 'slam dunk' the ball but at less then 5ft tall we would have to resort to sitting on one anothers shoulders to get the job done.

As we settled into our teens this Amercian fad passed, our hair grew, and grunge music and girls took our attention.

So when I met Coach Pearl in the car park of Eastwood High School I expected to be greeted by a giant from across the pond....though while Coach Pearl may not be a giant in terms of physical size, he is a goliath in terms of Basketball knowledge and hospitality.

Stephen understood my need to compete in the same number of games as a team would in the Olympics, from day one to the final, and what's more he'd already worked out exactly how I could do this all with Southend Swifts - what a star!

We talked about the club's set-up, standing in the community, the expectations of the players to give something back to the club - Coach Pearl was as proud of the young Swifts that helped introduce basketball to kids at local schools as he was of the 17 students who'd gone on to play in the United States.

I wasn't just there for a chat mind, within half an hour I'd joined the 16-18's and was doing lay-up drills under the coaching of Simon, one of the clubs talents who'd played in the US, he's now returned to coach at the club that gave him his opportunity.

We progressed through shooting hoops from the penalty line, practising 2-on-3 scenarios with an outnumbered defence, learning and role-playing set plays and finished on a best-of-three / first to seven baskets competition.

I thoroughly enjoyed my first training session for The Basketball Challenge, and was wholeheartedly welcomed in by the lads; including Louis (who gave me penalty shooting tips), and Little Darren (he's 6ft 9'...but is shorter than his brother!).

They've even got a player called Jordan, so they must be good!

I've a few weeks of heavy work, where I'll need to focus on challenges during the weekend, but then I'm looking forward to working with the Southend Swifts and will definitely make the effort to give something back.

Slamming Kicks

I'm a great believer in having the right tools for the job, for Running I always wear NewBalance; personally I don't think there's a better brand out there, their tech is top of the range and they manufacture in both the UK and the US which no other Global Sports Brand does. But yesterday I had to find a pair of Handball trainers, and that's another matter entirely...

As ever when shopping for kit I'd done my research, very few specialised Handball brands sell into the UK market, it's just not popular as a sport over here (given that Handball shares traits with Football - other Brits who are useless with their feet really should give this a go!), so I was having a mare finding them and me being me I needed them for tomorrow (Saturday).

Coach Kuller Rabaca had advised me that Basketball trainers would be fine, and though I did manage to find a brand German called Kempa (named after Bernhard Kempa, a Handball Hero back in the 50's) but they only look to have one English stockist and I couldn't be sure that I'd get my kicks through the post in time.

So I switched the focus of my research to Basketball and of course only one brand kept coming up on the world's favourite search engine, Global Sports Goliaths: Nike.

I saw that my working day would take me right by their newest UK store, at Westfield Stratford City; conveniently located right by the main London 2012 Olympic site.

I located the right area within the store within a minute and had been intent on buying a pair of Lebron James 8PS which had just launched. Michelle in the store was quick to kit me out with a UK11 but after a few cheeky shuttle runs in a quiet corner, I could feel my toes jarring into the front so switched up to 12's.

The ankle padding compared with a Running shoe is vastly different and cushions movement at a higher level in the leg than needed for just forward motion, I could tell these kicks would be excellent for Basketball but maybe too bulky for Handball and another pair had caught my eye which Michelle informed me were better for speed but less of an all-round option...the Zoom BB 1.5.

Michelle with the Zoom's which I opted for and a card from The Everyman Olympian

Michelle also told me a website I could use to help find a Basketball team, that she'd live in the States for 5 years and played BBall out there, her son's a special player and making his way up the rankings AND even gave me some tips! Nice one Michelle ; )

For the uninitiated you can check out a Handball goal here:

Saturday 22nd October I'll be at The Brentwood Centre, joining my team Brentwood Handball Club for our first match of the season against Warrick - starts at 3:15pm, feel free to come and watch.

Winter Warmers

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*

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:

• One challenge to be set every month for a year, based on a different Olympic sport

Because I work in a job where I travel around 35,000 miles per year by car, and have various trips abroad and would be organising the whole thing myself I thought that this would in itself be plenty to keep me busy.

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