The Match v2

The Match v2

As I sat in my soft leather chair on the Fleetwood Town team bus on the way to the last leg of the 2 game promotion match to The Football League Championship. I stared out of the window looking at all of the Wolverhampton Wanderers fans walking to the stadium. Every time I saw a Fleetwood Town fan go by, I couldn’t help thinkin to myself that I was the one responsible for letting a shot from Bakary Sakho that was so easy to catch, in. It was the winning goal for them, and it got them that vital away goal.

Time flied on our way to the Molineux Stadium, the home of Wolverhampton Wanderers. When we got there, I saw 1000’s of supporters entering the stadium. The bus then stopped and I walked out of the bus with my new Nike sports bag, while listening to some dubstep on my $10,000 Beats by Dre headphones. Behind me on the way through to the two teams’ dressing rooms, Jordon Ibe and Zakaria Bakkali were talking about the new PS4. I said something over and over in my head. If we win this we will be the youngest team ever to go up to the Football Championship, because all of us were only 17.

I opened the heavy oak door into the away team dressing room. The manager was already there because he drove to the stadium in his car. When the whole team got into the dressing room, he gave us all a pep talk. After the pep talk we all changed. I grabbed my Adidas Fingersave gloves and slipped them on my hands. I took my sports jacket and my sports track pants off. Under both pairing of the clothes, I had a Fleetwood Town goalkeeper shirt and Fleetwood Town shorts. The rest of my team was already practicing on the pitch.

I ran out of the tunnel to go practice with my teammates. Anthony Martial came over and asked me if I could help him practice some shots, I said sure.

After ten minutes of practicing, the manager called us back into the dressing room just before the match. He told us our positions and the formation, then he said “Break a leg”.

Then both teams came out of their dressing rooms and lined up in the tunnel ready for the match. The manager had appointed me captain for this match, and I took it with pride. Then the referee started walking out of the tunnel, and so did we.

The crowd screamed for both teams. We lined up for the crowd to see and then shook hands. Then we ran into our positions. The ref blew the whistle, Wolves kicked off. Kevin Doyle passed it right to Bakary Sako, who rouletted Jonathan Tah and Tin Jedvaj before taking a venomous shot at me, which I saved with a beautiful top corner save. That ball then bounced out for a corner. Jamie O’Hara crossed it in from the corner spot and right to George Elokobi who headed a very powerful header to the bottom corner, forcing me to make a courageous dive, and I saved it, before Fabrice Olinga cleared the ball, and surprisingly Jordon Ibe was free and controlled the ball before...

Danny Batth tried to tackle Ibe, but failed in that task because Ibe did a Inverted Scoop Turn right past him before passing it right to Ryan Gauld how took an outside of the foot shoot, which rocketed right past goalkeeper Aaron McCarey, 1-0 to Fleetwood Town, tying us up 1-1 on aggregate. 15 minutes after that goal by Ryan, we smashed another on past McCarey, 2-0. A beautiful cross led to that one, before the head of Valentin Lazaro met it.

20 minutes had passed, nothing much really happened, a few yellow cards, most of the possession back and forth. Then a quick breakaway by Bakary Sako, that left Jonathan Tah and Tin Jedvaj stranded, that led to another whopper of a shot, which this time I couldn’t stop, therefore, it went right into the far top corner of the net, 1-2, 2-2 aggregate, not good.

Straight after the goal, the ref blew the whistle for half time. All of the team walked down the tunnel with sad looks on their faces. The manager was not angry, but a little bit fed up with our ‘childish play’. Hayden White told the manager that we are all only 17. The manager didn’t care. Half time was over, both teams walked that treacherous pathway to the main pitch.

We swapped halves. Jordon and Anthony kicked off for us. Straight from kick off, Zakaria Bakkali showed why he was the next big thing by rouletting 5 players then Ronaldo chopping another 2 before shooting from the weirdest angle, but still scoring, giving us the lead 1-3, 2-3 aggregate.

43 more minutes of the half had gone, nothing had happened, but then, Jamie O’Hara broke through the middle, but then, Hayden White fouled him in the penalty box, of all places to foul him, the penalty box was his only choice, just brilliant.

The ref gave a penalty. Bakary Sako put the ball on the spot. The crowd went silent. I looked at an eagle ready to strike it’s prey. The ref blew the whistle to shoot. He shot low and fast, but I dived fast too and saved it. The crowd went WILD. Then, as I kicked the ball outfield, the ref blew the whistle, WE ARE IN THE FOOTBALL CHAMPIONSHIP!

All of us players ran into each other, then the manager and subs ran on, followed by the Fleetwood Town supporters. Everyone was hugging me because I saved that penalty. I saw behind me 3 Wolverhampton players lying on the ground.

We grabbed some fancy champagne and poured it over us each. Then we saw the trophy and ran over to it. The manager told me to lift up the trophy. I grabbed it and lifted it up with pride. YEAHHHHHH. The crowd shouted. Fireworks went off too! Then when all the celebration died down a little bit, the referee gave me the match ball.

Down in the dressing room we had a very big party. After that finished, we got on the bus and drove back to the training ground with the trophy. At the training ground, we had another party. After that, I went back to my mansion in my Bugatti and with the match ball, before playing some FIFA 14 Next Generation on my PS4 in my big TV room.

Then End

By Elliot  

Why goalkeepers are the most important player on a football pitch

Why goalkeepers are the most important player on a football pitch

Goalkeepers are the most important player on a football pitch. Even though I play goalkeeper, I have played in different positions and I still think goalkeeper is the most important player on the pitch. But if you don’t know what I am talking about here is a little bit about what I am talking about. Goalkeepers are a player at the end of both halves of the pitch. The goalkeeper(s) job is to stop the strikers from scoring. Lots of the time goalkeepers save certain goals, but sometimes, they don’t. Goalkeepers wear a different coloured shirts to the outfield players. They wear different coloured shirts so the ref can determine who can handball it. They also wear gloves to stop the ball hurting their fingers and also to grip the ball better. Defenders are the players that stop other players from the opposition team. Defenders are normally very good at headering. Headering is when you hit the ball with your forehead. Defenders normally put their body on the line to stop shots, without using their hands. Midfielders are the players that do the whole lot. They get back and help defend and they even run up and help the attackers to score, or even score themselves. Strikers, the second most important player on a football pitch. The aim of a striker is to score goals for the team by getting into good positions. They have to shoot or h

ead the ball into the net past the line for it to be a goal.

“Is the goalkeeper the most important player on a football pitch?”. Yes, Goalkeepers are the most important player on
a football pitch. “But why?”. Here is a reason. Goalkeepers are the very last line of defence. They are the only player left between the goal and the attacker in front of him (If you still aren’t convinced , I have a little bit of evidence for you evidence.  As the last line of defence you need to always be ready. If you’re not, you’re in a perilous situation in one v one situations. Also they need certain physical attributes.

Another reason is that they are very acrobatic. Goalkeepers need to be acrobatic to save shots that are in high places of the goal or lower places of the goal. A goalkeeper that is acrobatic is more likely to save shots further away from him/her than a goalkeeper that is non aerobatic. (If you still think that goalkeepers are not important, I got a little bit of evidence for you) Acrobatics is a very important part of being a goalkeeper, but they also have something to do with their hand and eyes

Thirdly, hand eye co-ordination. This is one of the most vital parts of being a goalkeeper. Hand-eye co-ordination is the thing that can determine catches. Hand-eye is no machine, it’s just the connection you have to your hands through your eyes. It is really hard to explain in my own words, therefore I have a video for you of someone practicing their hand-eye coordination. With good hand-eye coordination, you have a better chance of catching a ball. Hand-eye applies to all sports with balls in it, Rugby, Cricket, Hockey and so much more. There is another thing that involves making certain goalkeepers save things easier.

Another thing is being tall. Being tall is one of the most important things in goalkeeping. If you're tall, you are one million times more likely to save shots that are higher than a smaller goalkeeper. Here is a video of a monster of a goalkeeper, Juan Obelar. If you saw in that video, Juan Obelar save certain shots easily because of his height. But not all of the time it is because of the height

One more reason is being light. As a light keeper you’re like a feather, gliding through the air to save a goal. Another reason is that they are very swift when making saves. One of the worlds lightest keepers, can make beautiful saves because he is light. Sadly I couldn’t find any of his saves on the internet, but people who I know who watch those matches, say that he make absolutely brilliant save because he can jump to high places because of his weight.

Some people say that goalkeepers are not the most important on the pitch, but really who would. “Hey, I would, because I think that strikers are the most important”. “Why do you say that”.”Because strikers are the ones that win the games for the team by scoring the goals”, “But we are the one’s that can save the goals that the opposing team shoots at us and that is how we can save the game and here is my evidence”.

People say goalkeepers are bad, but they are not, they only have bad days. People say if they made it to playing professional football they are the best of the best, and I even have evidence to support that they are not bad. I say that everyone one has their own opinion, but in this case people who think they are bad, they are absolutely  wrong.

Lot’s of people underestimate goalkeepers. They think that they are wimps because the use hands to stop the ball, unlike other positions on the pitch. But that is no where near true. Certain people always talking about that they can’t even save a shot, but they can and here is the evidence. If you see in that video the goalkeeper was the hero, and that goalkeeper actually won the game. That is why people shouldn’t underestimate goalkeepers, cause they can make those people eat their own words.

This is why I think goalkeepers are the most important players on a football pitch. They have the most on their shoulders, people always criticize them, but they always come out on top. They will always be the best on the pitch, and it will stay that way for the rest of history.

By Elliot

Elliot's Writing

I wake up from my sleep by a loud bang. I looked outside my window. Fires were raging across the street. Police sirens were in the distance. I ran outside to see the commotion first hand. When I got outside a Police officer told me to go back inside. I ran back inside and grabbed a gas mask and instead of staying inside, I ran out the back door. When I got outside I ran to the nearest roadblock the police had set up. I was very lucky tout that I didn’t stay outside because just as I got to the roadblock, someone threw a match into my house, and it caught on fire. 5 blocks down the road, I could see more police coming. When they got to me they told me to hop in the back car. The policeman in the back car said to me why are you out here. I replied “A protester threw a match in my house and I had to escape, I ran out the back door and ran to the roadblock, and here I am”. The policeman said to me, “you can stay the night in the police station”. I accepted the offer. The policeman started driving away with me in his car. I was happy to get out of that mess, but I can’t wait to return to my own house.

Elliot's Camp Recount

On the 21st of May 2013, Hub 3 year 7 and 8’s travelled to Motutapu for this years camp. Firstly we arrived at Pier Z in Westhaven, then we all hopped on the boat to Motutapu. It took about 1 and a half hours. When we arrived, we made a chain to load all of our luggage onto the truck. After everything was loaded onto the truck, we walked to the camp. It was a walk with alot of hills. I estimated the walk was about 7 kilometres.

We finally arrived at the camp after a 1 and ½ hour walk. We went over and sat under the shade of the deck. All of us were tired. The camp instructor gave us a briefing about the camp. He told us that we’d be sharing the camp with some girls that were staying in the lodge down by the beach, but only for 1 day. Our first activity was the Motutapu Challenge.The first thing we did was dig a hole under a kayak to get all of our team under. Secondly we had to fill the kayak with water and go under it. Thirdly we had to run to the other side of the field and put the lightest person on a disc and carry them back, then we ran to barrels and one person had to jump on and roll to a certain point. Then when we did that we had to grab a rope and hold onto it for the rest of the challenge. We had to walk through a swamp and then through a pond. We ran into the ocean waist deep. Our group won from coming last. After a shower we got into our groups and started our next activity. My group’s starting activity was Abseiling. It looked really awesome, it was way taller than my other camp that I went to which had a really small Abseiling wall. Sadly I couldn’t do it that day because when my turn came around, a thunderstorm was coming in. Because of the thunderstorm, every group had to stop what they were doing and go inside. I went inside the dorm. My bed was at the back of the dorm with other people. We started leap frogging onto each others beds, it was really funny. Then we went into the kitchen for afternoon tea. After afternoon tea I went back into the dorm.

Where I was sleeping it was havoc. People were jumping on beds again, and it wasn’t even night. It was raining really hard outside, but you couldn’t hear it because we were so loud. Then it was dinner time. All of the year 7 and 8’s were put in groups to make a certain dish, for example, one group was making Pizza and another was making Butter Chicken. All of the dishes were really nice. The one that I enjoyed most was the Pizza. My group made a Self-saucing pudding. I thought it was okay, but it was a bit too rich.

After dinner we all went into the dorms to get changed for bed. For some reason while I was changing, Matthew was runnin up and down the boys dorm wearing only underpants!

Lights out was at 9:30 p.m. Then we had to go to bed. I woke up at 6:30 a.m and so did my friends, we acted really silly early in the morning. The the lights came back on at 7:00 a.m. We had to get dressed for breakfast. There was Milo with no milk in it. It tasted really yucky.

Then we started our first activity. My group’s activity was Archery. Archery was really fun because you had to hit the target which was really hard. Jackson Twiss hit a bullseye.

We did a competition of who could get the most points. My team got 3rd place, but I can’t remember how many points we got. Then we went in for lunch. While I was washing my dishes, I heard screams of joy and it wasn’t coming from the canteen, then I heard a bunch of sighs of people in the canteen. I knew then that the year 5 and 6’s were here. My friends and I ran to the dorm and launched a security wall so that no year 5 and 6 for some reason that they couldn’t get in. I don’t know why we did it. Somehow it worked until Leo got angry and kicked a hole in the wall. Therefore, people involved in it had to sleep in the parents’ dorm. That meant some year 5’s and 6’s had to move in, but we only let the cool ones in. Then we had to get dressed for raft building. It was really cold outside. When we finished building the raft. Matthew and Kush hopped on. Matthew jumped about 3 times and always failed. Kush hopped on easily, but a few minutes later while riding it his legs started slipping through the hole in it, before we knew it , he had been eaten by Rafty, the man eating raft. After dinner we had a quiz. In the middle of the quiz we were winning.

In the morning it was time for breakfast. I had cereal with fruit salad, it was yummy. Mr Baker announced the winner of the quiz, and it was us. Then we went back to our dorms to get dressed for our first activity. My group’s name was The Dark Knights and our first activity was Archery. Like the day before, we did a points challenge. Our part of the group won the challenge. Then it was morning tea time. After morning tea time we had our next activity. It was supposed to be sailing but because of the choppy waters, we couldn’t do it, instead we did rock climbing. Rockclimbing was really awesome. At the end Bodhi, Jackson Twiss, Alasdair and I did the Ninja Death Grip. When we left the activity, Bodhi had the high score of 46.9 seconds, but then we found out that Alex P beat it and got a time of 1 minute and 5 seconds. After lunch we did High Ropes. It was really awesome. The hardest would’ve have to of been the cargo net and the Posties Walk. Then we went and did the survivor challenge. It was really hard especially the Tyre Tunnel. Our team came first by a far margin. After that it was dinner time. Then we had spotlight prison break. I went up to the drying room and got my black shoes to camouflage in. When we started we had glow bracelets to identify us. After all the prison breaking happened, we went back into the canteen to count up crosses. Our group got 7. As an individual I got none.

It was our last morning at camp. We all woke up and ate breakfast. It was pancakes and leftover apple crumble. I love apple crumble meaning I had apple crumble for breakfast, and man was it delicious. After breakfast we got into our groups for our last activity which was the Confidence Course. It was so fun. I especially liked the spider web. After the confidence course we started packing. After I finished packing each group was assigned to a certain job. My groups job was the toilets. It wasn’t the nicest job in the world. When I finished my job, there was a sausage sizzle for lunch, mmmm. The sausages were delicious.

After that we had to load our stuff onto the truck. Then we all grabbed our day packs and started walking to the dock. I was gonna miss this place as it was really cool. We arrived at the dock after an hour and a half. We loaded everything on and hopped on the boat. In the middle of the boat ride another boat made a wave and just about tipped us

over. After 1 hour we arrived back at Pier Z. I can’t wait to go back in a years time because I had the best time.

Elliot's Leadershp Report

LEADERSHIP REPORT

Nelson Mandela, Bill Clinton and Barack Obama, all leaders in a way, but what’s inside them that makes them the leaders that they are. There’s only one thing, Leadership. But what is leadership?

Leadership is made up of alot of things, sportsmanship, dedication and the list goes on, therefore, why don’t we just focus on the main qualities which makes leadership. Firstly, dedication. As a leader you have to dedicate lots of things, an example of dedication is Bill Gates. Gates dedicated alot of his time to Microsoft and other companies that he either owned. Secondly, Sportsmanship, as a leader you will lose and win, therefore if you lose you should lead by example and be gracious in defeat. Lastly, they focus, a leader does not put too much on his plate, he focusses on one thing at a time and tries to fix that one thing that he is focusing on, for example Bill Gates focused only on Microsoft and not his opponents and what they were doing.

There are 7 billion people in the world, but only a handful can be a leader. If you wanted to become a leader, who would you idolize. But to idolize a leader you have to know how you can see a leader. Firstly, a leader outshines others, take a sports team captain, he/she would be chosen by the coach because he/she outshined the others, by showing leadership. Secondly, they can take anything bad and somehow turn it into a positive comment. Just say you are running for prime minister, as there are 2 parties running for prime minister, the opposition will criticize you, therefore you will have to take their criticism and turn it into a positive comment. Lastly, leaders power through any obstacle that is in their way. Take Martin Luther King for example. He had experience lots of obstacles in his life as he was a black, but he overcame all of those obstacles and gave a speech on civil rights.

Now that we know what qualities a leader has and how can we tell a leader, but we have one more question, what is a leader? If we put all the facts together, a leader is a person who is gracious in defeat and focusses.

Finally we know what a leader is and all the qualities of a leader and how they run through obstacles like a boss, but with all the leader talk, what would a world be without leaders, riots, broken cities and the list goes on. That shows that we are very lucky to have leaders.

By Elliot

Elliot's Apartheid Presentation