End of Season...Rest time (Yeh right)

Well, Its that time of year again where everyone says how bad they have had it or they post there best 12 images of the year, Well I`m going against the grain and saying last year was pretty good and sad to see it go and this blog is by no means my best images of the year, More a blog on what I`ve been upto. I normally get asked "What do you do when the season finishes?", It is never ending. As Pro rugby finishes the kids rugby still going. Same with the football, When the handsomely paid gymnasts stopped playing the kids continue into a Summer league off the back of a winter league. I started 2011 with a major final in the sport of Basketball at the NIA Birmingham between the Mersey Tigers and the Sheffield Sharks. I had been covering Mersey Tigers officially for their treble winning season and the 1st final they played in they had actually lost, Well beaten by Sheffield but the Tigers continued to win the 3 remaining cups available. I was new to Basketball and even now havent a clue whats happening or the rules but what a great sport it is. Very skilled, very athletic and with Tony Garbeletto in charge very emotional. The Tigers coach is a photographers dream, So much to photograph during a game with him in full flow..........

During the BBL Cup Final at Birmingham, The crowd were treated to a Basketball skills troupe called the All Star Dunkers from France, These guys are amazing!

Summer time comes and another event I`ve covered the last few years is the Liverpool International Tennis Tournament at Calderstones Park, Liverpool. This is another great event and is attracting some big names in the world of Tennis, Caroline Wozniacki (World female No1) is a recent winner at Liverpool. I didnt think they would top last years event with John McEnroe playing but this year they did, In style. They had 5 former stars of the game with 12 Wimbledon titles between them. Greg Rusedski, Richard Krajieck, Martina Hingis, Virgina Wade and with 9 of them 12 Wimbledons titles on her own....Martina Navratilova

So onto Football, Be it kids Winter and Summer league or Professional football up to Premier League level these are both so much enjoyable yet so different its untrue. Shooting a  top flight game at the Etihad or Goodison etc must be the best workplace you could be at. Being so close to the action and seeing the nations favorite game unfold through your lens is sometimes spine tingling. To "hopefully" have images published in the National papers and be paid for doing it is a fantastic feeling. Now covering football is so frustrating at top level as there are so many freelancers/agencies covering the games it seems every angle and every moment is captured. To break into that and get images published is totally out of your hands if you have done all you can, You get the action be it a goal, sending off, crunch tackle etc and get it "wired" to the papers, If it is used on the Sunday is yet to be seen until the usual jaunt to the local supermarket to check all the papers coverage of that game. Its easy to think that it will be easier covering a lower league team such as Bury, Tranmere etc but bear in mind that the coverage in the papers of the lower league is no where near the extent it is for Premiership coverage. It really is catch 22

Now as I say the differences in the make up of the professional game and the kids game is so opposite it makes grown men scratch their head in amazement. How highly paid professionals can act the way they do during a football game is beyond believe sometimes. To roll around wounded because someone touched your (padded) shin or heaven forbid, elbowed your arm is unforgivable when you see as much kids football as I do. The image below shows 2 juniors playing a hard fought game of football, for the love of it, for the hope in being the next Rooney. This wasn't even given as a foul (Clearly wrong), the player never went down, Never cried, never moaned and even carried on chasing the ball. I can only imagine the carnage if this happened at Stamford Bridge!

Onto Rugby League, The sport I prefer to watch and cover be it a Sunday morning junior game officially for the NW Counties Junior league or at professional level. As many know I cover Widnes Vikings in official capacity but also do cover other games at club and international level for other media outlets. To get to cover the touring teams over here in 2011 was a real honor, Now I don't get starstruck normally but when met with Thurston, Slater, Inglis and King Lockyer I found it hard to keep my head and do the job I was there to do.It was such an privilege to talk about how cold it was with Thurston and Thaiday at training. It was equally exciting to cover the Kiwi Haka, being stood just 10m away from the fearsome players performing there routine was frightening to say the least. After seeing the emotion and passion in there eyes during it I wouldn't take that 1st drive in for all the money in the world !!  (Well, Maybe)

Oh well, There you go. Another blog done. Purposely no Widnes Vikings as there will be plenty of WV based blogs from me coming up with the forthcoming Super League season. Hopefully by end of January I will have full behind the scenes blog of the Vikings on a matchday, Stay tuned (and leave comments)