Summer Select begins...

Hi all. Apologies for the rather long delay in a new post going up. I've just been very busy and also had a day of being very ill. I'll explain later on in this entry...

So, I've just had my first practices with each of my two teams from the Summer Select Program. And to be honest, both went very, very well and I was extremely impressed with the talent on display. All the pressure is on me to win the three tournaments, which we will be participating in, as I apparently have the two best teams (U10 + U13 Boys). Well, I have no worries as we have the best players and, of course, the best coach in me - Gareth Haylins. Yeah, that's right. No, I'm only joking. All I can do is give it my best shot, which I intend to do. It's actually been a very good couple of days as I now have my own car! When I accepted the job, I was told I would have a company car. However, when I arrived in New Jersey, there were severe problems to the company cars and so for the past two months I've been jumping in and out of different cars. It's been quite frustrating but now, thankfully, everything is sorted out. I've got the Ford Crown Victoria, which apparently is the car the cops use around here. It's very fast - so should it be too seeing it belongs to the world's best soccer coach (that's Gareth Haylins by the way...)

In addition to Summer Select starting, myself and some of the boys were offered the opportunity to go on a night out in New York City. I've been in New York before, when I came to America two years ago. However, since arriving here 2 months ago, I hadn't made a trip to the big apple yet. The ever dependable Gary Foster (the ladies man) was driving to Staten Island to meet a lady friend of his and he said he would pick us up after our night out. This was the perfect opportunity and so we jumped at the chance.

When I get excited, which I definitely was for this trip to NYC, I tend to party too much. Actually, we all did on the night but, unfortunately, I came off worst. The next day, I spent the entire day in bed. It was dreadful. I must have caught some sort of nasty bug. It must have been food poisoning as it only lasted one day.

Anyway, I'm off to bed to get some good sleep before I begin my second set of practices with my teams. I'll try my best to post more frequently. Take care all.