We started off the day with my last coaching session with JSSL at VJC. The plan was to get all the under 8's, and split them up into seperate groups, with each coach taking a group. This means that both Dan and I got our own group to coach for the whole session. Happy days!
The session plan sent to us for today was based around passing and receiving. I started off sticking to the plan, getting the kids passing to eachother in partners, but they didn't have the ability to progress the session beyond that, so after that I stopped sticking to the session plan. I stuck on with the same passing drill, and varied it a bit so the kids can try out different things. I then progressed it into a small dribbling session, where they had to dribble through a line of cones, and pass it back. They were a lot better at this, so I kept making it harder for them. We finished off on a match, where my group played against Dan's group. The final score was 2-2, which was fair in my opinion. I had the technically better players, while Dan had the bigger, more physical players. So it was a good game.
After that, my session was over. I got changed, said goodbye to all the coaches and staff, which was sad, and headed for home. Dan and I had a busy day planned so there was no time for hanging about!
After getting changed, we headed for Raffles hotel, to try a Singapore sling. This was recommended by my great uncle and aunty, who had been to Singapore years ago and had one, and said they were amazing. So expectations were high.
It was gorgeous. It's a cocktail with a mixture of Cherry, Pineapple and Lime flavourings, mixed with Gin and a few other ingredients. It was very nice indeed. It came at a cost, though. $30 (£15) it cost for the drink, which shocked me and Dan, as we didn't think it would be that much. But to say I've tasted it at Raffles Hotel, the original home of the Singapore Sling, it was worth the money.
Next up, we planned to go on this big wheel, very similar to the London Eye back home, just the Singapore version. However, when we got to it, it cost a lot more than we anticipated, so we skipped it and went for a Fish-Foot-Eating date instead. These fish were HUGE, and covered your feet. The feeling was a lot stranger than the first time, but oh my days, my feet felt so soft after. Was well worth it.
On our walk round, we saw a big building with a banana shaped roof. We decided that, instead of going up the big wheel, we'd go to the top of there instead. Great decision.
This building was the Marina Bay Hotel, and it was absolutely gorgeous. Apparently rooms START from £250 per 2 people per night, so we knew that this was a decent place to stay.
We bought our tickets, and got in the lift up. The views were absolutely incredible. Ridiculously incredible. You could pretty much see the whole of Singapore up here. It was beautiful. Those of you that have me on Facebook, my pictures are all up there, but words can't describe how amazing it was. The only thing that tops that, for me, was Table Mountain, in Cape Town. It's that good.
We stayed for a drink, before deciding it was too hot and headed home. We had a pretty chilled out evening, as I'm up early tomorrow, and don't want to be up late and miss my flight! Tomorrow, home.
That pretty much concludes my time in Singapore, as well as my time abroad representing Arsenal. It's been an absolutely incredible experience, both Singapore and South Africa, and I wouldn't change anything for the world. All of it has, hopefully, given me more experience, helped me develop as a coach, and changed me for the better. We'll see.
I'd just like to thank every one of you that's taken the time out to read either one of my blogs. It really means a lot how you guys are taking an interest in what I'm doing, and gone out of your way to see what I've been getting up to. The response on this has been amazing, and the amount of views I've had has been incredible. So thank you to you readers!
I'd also like to thank everyone I've worked with, and all the Arsenal in the Community guys back home. I can say as a guarantee that I wouldn't be where I am today without you guys, so thank you so much to all of you for helping me, and just being welcoming and friendly to me. It means a great deal.
Finally, I'd like to send out a huge thank you to all of my family, and my girlfriend too, for supporting me while I've been away. This year has seen me be away from home for longer than I've ever been, so to know that I've still got support back home and that everyone's proud of what I'm doing has made everything so much easier, so thank you guys so much.
Hope these blogs have been a half decent read for you guys. I'm off to wake Dan up and tell him goodbye, for now. That's a wrap folks, I'm outta here!
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