Balancing family and football

I've finally got round to writing another post!  It seems ages ago and since my last post, the following has happened:

• Season started
• Ecclesall Rangers U11s have played 5, won 2 drawn 1 and lost 1 
• Oh, I nearly forgot....my wife gave birth to our 3rd child!

The latter has taken over life and certainly put everything else on a back burner.  Martha Ava was born on Friday 13th September (our 2nd child to be born on Friday 13th!) which meant missing the game on Sunday (Only my 2nd game in 3 seasons I might add!).  As one parent pointed out, my No2 coach has a 100% win record when I'm not there!

I had all my plans in place before the big day to pass on all football responsibilities and everything seemed to run fairly smoothly for the game I missed.  Everyone involved with the club have been great.  Flowers and card from the parents, presents from parents and club chairman and secretary were all unexpected but a lovely touch.  The football community is like one big family and one I am proud to be involved with!

Martha with flowers and card from ERFC U11s parents - thank you

Now comes the difficult part of trying to fit everything in.  All football admin tasks have taken a back seat and have generally been done at the last minute!  Thankfully the league, Sheffield & District Junior Sunday League, have made things so much easier by making everything online.

So what does Martha think to football?  Well, on Sunday after an hour of getting everything ready to get out of the house (everything takes 4 times as long these days!), my wife and I finally managed to get Martha out to her 1st game.  To be honest, I'm not sure she took it all in!