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So much happened I cant write it all down but some summaries will have to do.

Football - played 2 games in the tournament - damaged my hamstring again though not badly - however will be needing some work on it. Played full forward for about 15 minutes and kicked a behind, got a tackle that went un rewarded, missed another kick and had 3 coring opportunities where the ball kicked to me didn't come straight to me and I couldn't mark it. Still hd lots of fun and the team is starting to gel. The rest of the time I played in defence and laid a lot of tackles and disposed of the ball cleanly. The coach said afterward I had clean hands. Oh and I had a contested mark inside 50 that I went back to kick, but one of our players ran into space in the pocket so I kicked to him, and his kick was touched on the line.

Fortunately minor ones. Our practice game of AFL on the weekend was good - though I could see virtually nothing as my contacts hadn't arrived. I hurt my knee in the 2nd quarter and was reduced to jogging - couldn't sprint. However was able to lay some good tackles, get some good hand balls away and some good kicks. Missed a mark that would have gotten me a kick for goal - slippery ball came in at my knees. I did get it off the ground, busted the tackle that was laid on me and and handballed to one of our guys running through at the goal, only he kicked it into the square and it was marked by the opposition. My knee is a lot better now and I will go for a run today and see how it goes. Should be ok. I get my contacts today also.

Yesterday while cleaning the fish tanks I sliced the end off one of my fingers. It is bandaged up thanks to Jude but I'm not sure I shall be able to mark a football with it for a couple of days. It has definitely slowed my typing down also. I'm trying to write an article for this site that is taking me ages so I stopped and wrote this mini update instead.

Training on Tuesday night was awesome. I couldn't wait to get there and went early. Got to meet the blokes and have a great warm up - jogging some laps and kicking some balls to loosen up. From here we went into drills and I was pleased to be one of the youngest blokes! I was not the fittest but well up there and my ball handling and kicking skills were good compared with some blokes. I am playing on Saturday night - can't wait! However the training was much lighter than I am used to, and so after I went home and iced my legs I had no discomfort. Wednesday morning I went for my run with Judith and did plenty of sit ups, step ups and stomach crunches. After we got home I had the usual massage from Helen our masseuse who worked out all the knots in my legs. I feel great.

By the way the pic is of me showing up the young fellas in a soccer match 2 years ago.

Tomorrow I head off to my first training night with an AFL Masters team - for 40's and over. The good news is they only play once a fortnight to allow time for injuries to heal!

I have upped the intensity of my exercise to get me tuned up. I am pushing harder in my running - yesterday I ran up the hill I normally cycle up (as my bike chain is broken) and then back down again. Was a good hard session and I lost 1.6Kgs doing it.

I have also stepped up the intensity with the Thursday night basketball crew, now running more and more fitness and skills drills before we have a half court scrimmage. The net result they have asked me to coach the basketball and volleyball teams for their school tournament in October. Today I met with school guy to get official approval for this - pending discussions should be a done deal. After that I went straight to the library and checked out some coaching youth basketball and volleyball books. Drills will be getting tougher!

I'll check in after tomorrow night's training with a report on how I am fairing there. On and a long overdue update on my thyroid - it has almost come back to normal. It appears that maybe the radioactive iodine dose I was hit with 2 years ago is finally starting to work.

Over and Out.