Sport
Sport has always been a hobby
As a child I played football for the local club, either in goal or as centre-half, and I played for school teams but that's as far as it went. I was better at badminton and tennis and then at university I encountered squash for the first time.
Leeds United
I started following Leeds United in 1969 just before they won the League for the first time. I saw my first match in 1970 - a 2-1 home defeat to Spurs.
I joined the local branch of the Supporters' Club and we used to go to home matches. The 4-0 defeat of Burnley and the 7-0 defeat of Southampton stick in the mind! What a team that was - Norman Hunter was and remains my favourite! It's funny - I can remember and name the line up of the Leeds team for the 1972 FA Cup Final but struggle to remember what I had for tea yesterday!
It went downhill, of course, in those 44 days of Brian Clough's reign and it took some recovering from - but there were more good times under Howard Wilkinson (who had vision), George Graham, and David O'Leary until the financial mismanagement of the Chairman nearly forced the club out of existence.
Sadly, as time went on, a lack of time and money have prevented me getting to matches but once you have a team you stick with it through thick and thin, through the years of Championship and Division 1 football. I am delighted to see Leeds now back where they belong and wonderful that we can once again feel optimism.
VX
Funnily enough, sport is now my main occupation as I work to develop and promote the young sport of
VX. The BBC called it 'the best sport you've never heard of.' It's inclusive, it's gender-neutral, it's for all ages. It's fast and exhausting with lots of aerobic and anaerobic activity. Played in singles or teams it has competition right up to international level.
Covid set us back a bit but we are rebuilding, clubs are picking up the pace again and the V2 (singles) leagues have started again and we look forward to the 2022 V2 World Cup in Hong Kong.
We are pleased to see so much growth and development from our friends in India, Hong Kong, Uganda and Kenya and are keen to see other countries pick up the pace, too.
We are always keen to discuss with anyone who wants to be involved in some way - as player, coach, administrator etc. We're also looking for partners and sponsors - so many opportunities.
England's Henry Pittham
England Youth Player Henry Pittham enjoys a training session
Action from England training session
England's Matthew Leyshon prepares to unleash a shot
Coaching session in Uganda
VX Coaching session at Canaan VX Club in Lugazi, Uganda
Action from 2019 V2 World Cup
Scotland's Iona Freeborn in action againt India's Laddi Bhardwaj at the 2019 V2 World Cup
Other Sports roles
From my first degree in German it's been a long and winding road to the point where most of what I do is sport. As well as VX I'm a Committee Member for the Sport REcognized Association and I am the UK Representative for the Sports Aid Network
The Sport REcognized Association is an organisation to provide a voice for those sports that are not Olympic recognised, for minority sports, for new sports.
The Sports Aid Network is run from Uganda and uses sport to help disadvantaged children in Africa. This fits perfectly with the ethos of VX and I am proud to be their contact point in the UK.
