Boot camp

The weather is being described as "changeable" at the moment, which is one way of looking at it. In fact, it is entirely predictable. One day it is hot and sunny, the next it rains endlessly. Over the long term, it isn't variable at all - you can seemingly set your clock by it.

Tuesday, therefore equalled heavy rain. Having had a dearth of coaches at the last session, Ottawacker Jr. was faced with two at this. And because of the heavy rain, he was the only kid there. So he had his hour of goalkeeper training, in the rain, faced with two coaches who were putting him through his paces. He did really well, learning quickly, following instructions, and enjoying the session.

At one stage, one of the coaches came over to ask if they could test him with harder shots. "Absolutely," I said. "I've been hammering the ball at him since he was four. He loves it."

And he did.

If only it had been on grass. I'm not a fan of artificial pitches - and for goalies, there is little better than diving in the mud. It's one of the only things I remember with any fondness about my formative goalkeeping years.