Hello again everyone!

I hope you are all doing well! The last two weeks have been fun and eventful for me. Things are really starting to heat up now (even the weather) as the end of the semester gets closer. I’m really looking forward to finishing up with school so I can start playing with AFC Cleveland for the Summer.

As this is my third piece already, I feel that I should talk a little about my housemates since I spend so much time with them and have become so close with them.

I live with four boys, Jacob Sheppard (Canadian), Jan Skorupinski (German), Phil Cutler and Elliot Kelly (both English). Some of the banter that flies around the house can be ridiculous at times. But it’s always fun living with these boys. That’s them up the top!

As you all know, the Easter weekend arrived a few weeks ago. Over here we were given Thursday, Friday, and Monday off school, pretty standard as I’m sure you all know! Because we were on break we weren’t allowed to train with our coaches and most of the team went home to their families.

Apart from Phil, who went on a trip to Pittsburgh with his girlfriend, we all stayed at the house and spent Easter together. It was a good break all round because we got to have some time off from school and just relax. We went on a few runs to keep our fitness up and some of the boys went to the gym a couple of times but apart from that it was all about chilling out.

This past weekend we traveled to Indiana to play against a local school (IPFW) and Findlay College. It was always going to be interesting because IPFW is a Division One school and there has always been that theory/myth that Division One is the best.

As we are now moving into Division Two, and Findlay also being in Division Two, they were probably expecting to beat us both.

We played Findlay first and won the game 2-1. Our coach decided to split the squad virtually in half. One half was basically the players who started most games during the season and the other half were players who were vying for a starting position.

The normal starting 11 were on the bench and the other half were given the start and played pretty well. It is good to have a squad where the coach is able to use any combination of players and still put on a good performance and get a result. This keeps every player on his toes because everyone wants to play.

The games would be 35 minute halves and at around the 50 minute mark the coach subbed all 10 outfield players and the second group (which I was in) came on. We came on with a 2-1 lead and ended the match with the same scoreline. Overall, we didn’t play at our best but we were solid defensively and carved out quite a few goalscoring opportunities but couldn’t find the back of the net.

For the second game against IPFW we started with the 11 players that finished the game against Findlay. We put on a much improved performance in this game and managed to win 3-1. Overall, the result was deserved and we maybe should have had more goals. We were exposed to a few, let’s just say, strange calls from the referee but our coaches explained to us that these things can happen and they were pleased with how we dealt with the situations thrown at us.

Overall, it was a decent day at the office for me personally.

My performances were much improved from our last trip. I am feeling much fitter now than I was on our previous outing and I was able to put in a fairly positive performance.

As a winger, it is important that I take on the defender and get crosses into the box. I feel overall I did pretty well at that and my crossing was good apart from one pretty bad one that may have killed a few squirrels in the forest behind the pitch.

I am pleased with how it went and I am already looking forward to our next game coming up this weekend.

I hope you guys are enjoying reading about what I’m up to and like I’ve said previously, if you have any suggestions for anything you’d like me to include in my upcoming articles, don’t be shy to make a suggestion!

Thanks once again for reading. I’ll be back to update you all again in a few weeks’ time so keep an eye out for my next piece!

Take care and enjoy!

Cricket – Australia v Sri Lanka washed out; Mike Hussey to replace injured Bollinger.
Football – Central Coast to play Brisbane Roar in A-League Grand Final after 1-0 win over Gold Coast.
Rugby – QLD Reds only Australian Super 14 team to record win as NSW, Brumbies, Rebels and Force all lose.

The Pub

Cricket – England take 4 wickets for 3 runs to shock South Africa in a 6 run World Cup victory.
Football – Dirk Kuyt scores a hattrick as Liverpool deal Man. Untied their second straight loss.
Basketball – Mersey Tigers claim BBL title for first time after 84-66 win over Guilford Heat.
Boxing – Mathew Hatton hammered by Mexican Saul Alavrez in WBC light-middleweight title bout.

The Fridge

Golf –Rory Sabbatani holds nerve in tense finish to win  Honda Classic.
Football – AC Milan and Barcelona increase respective leads in Serie A and La Liga with 1-0 wins.
Tennis – Spain and Sweden have advanced to the quarter finals of the Davis Cup after wins over Belgium and Russia respectively.

The Chevy

Basketball – Heat lose again, suffering humiliating 30-point loss to Spurs.
NASCAR – Danica Patrick claims a 4^th and highest finish at by a female in NASCAR history. Brad Keselowski won the Las Vegas race.
Football – David Beckham finally returns to LA Galaxy, but his side go down on penalties in friendly against Mexicans Caliente.

The Wok

Tennis – Uzbekistan advance to second round of the Davis Cup Asia/Oceania Group 1 after defeating NZ.
Football – Powerhouses Al Ittihad, FC Seoul, Gamba Osaka, Jeonbuk and Osaka all start Asian Champions League with first game wins.
Football – EXCLUSIVE: If you’re in Singapore, keep an eye out for icons Pele and Eric Cantona. They’re promoting the NY Cosmos side in the MLS.

No panel this week, we just take a quick look at the sporting news of this week.

Show Outline

NRL

• Willie Mason signs with Cowboys for 2010
• Tuqiri signs with West Tigers
• NRL All Stars Shuffle
  • Sam Burgess called into NRL All-Stars game
  • Inglis out of Indigenous All-Stars
  • Greg Bird In

Football

• A-League
  • Melbourne 2 – 0 Fury – Carlos Hernandez Show
  • A-League Round 26 Preview
• EPL Preview
  • John Terry Debacle – VOTE ON OUR ONLINE POLL!
  • Chelsea ban lifted
  • Chelsea vs Arsenal
    • Diaby could be back, Eduardo out
  • Weekend Fixtures Preview

Golf

• Tiger looking to return to the golf course after scandal in fortnight – US PGA to decide.

Cricket

• Australia’s T20 International victory over Pakistan
• NZ wins 1st ODI against Bangladesh
• India vs South Africa Preview