What's she rabbiting on about?

I have just vicariously lived through the excitement of the National Schools Futsal Titles, where several local youth players, including Mr Y, competed. Even though that competition is over and the prodigal son returned, only slightly damaged, to the nest, the football excitement doesn't look like stopping any time soon. Around this joint Mr O (O for oldest) is looking forward to the Twilight Cup; and all three lads are gearing up to play their first futsal game of the summer roster.

So even though our local club has handed the clubrooms back to the Cricket Club, football is not really over. There's plenty of action awaiting those who don't want to stop playing. The aforementioned Twilight Cup and futsal games will take us all the way through to December – a break for Christmas, and then before you know it there's all the exhilaration of the Summer Cup which ends smack-bang before the 2011 football season starts.

Even those football fans who are having a well-earned break from playing have plenty to keep them occupied. There's the A-League, the W-League, the National Youth League, the Socceroos, the Matildas and the Fusalroos and that's just in Australia! In Europe the major competitions are under-way: English Premier League, Bundesliga, La Liga, Serie A and the Champions League just to name a few of the more prominent ones.

For organisers of the sport there's analysis, planning and preparation; off-season is the ideal time for the new committee to look back to see what worked and what went wrong during the 2010 season. They'll be making decisions and trying to make sure that they are well prepared for the season ahead.

Anyway, back to the point, my personal mission with this blog is to provide football related, and possibly even interesting, content during the off-season – aimed at, but not exclusive to, WSC members. I also plan to share some of my experiences with the various web tools that I have been trialling throughout the 2010 season. Beyond the World Game itself, I'm hoping to include some sources of useful information for those volunteers who may find themselves in unfamiliar territory and in need of a road map.

If it all sounds like a rather confusing excuse to inflict my self-indulgent ramblings on an unsuspecting cyberspace, well there is that too..........

Boudica's Paperclips

Until my sons started playing for our local soccer club, I had not spent much time thinking about the World Game. Even as I happily told myself that the boys would learn vital teamwork skills and develop self-control whilst expending some of their boundless energy, something stirred in the depths of my psyche. Deep down in my ancestral past great, great, great (recurring) Auntie Boudica placed a not-so-dainty blue foot on a severed Roman head and declared 'game on'.

Soccer Mom? Try Soccer Mother!

This was something I obviously needed to put a lid on, and not being a player myself I lacked the benefit of the rules of the game, which teach players how to control themselves. I needed something to keep my mind off the battlefields of yore; so I turned to many-a-girl's first love: stationery. Oh, how we love our colour coordinated staplers and sticky-tape dispensers; not to mention those ingenious devices designed to hold our paperclips.

Anyway, one thing led to another, which is a convenient way for things to happen; my pen and spiral-bound notebook were traded-in for a computer (great swap hey?) I kept the paperclips though, because you never know when you'll need something to count. Suddenly I was geared up to do something useful...

At this point I discovered yet another great love: mucking about with words and pictures on a computer, and just as I was in danger of getting rather side-tracked I was approached and asked to help the local soccer club with some secretarial details. The rest, as they say, is history – a statement that could have landed us back at the whole Boudica scenario, had I not finally learned some self-control - paperclip counting therapy works a treat!

So anyway, while billions of people around the globe play and/or follow football with a singular passion, I have found myself behind the scenes playing with my computer, messing about with words and pictures; helping those dedicated individuals who make football possible for our local youngsters.

In Tasmania the season proper may be over, but in Cyberspace (and elsewhere) the football never stops. Somewhere out there, an entertaining battle for mastery is taking place; which reminds me of the old adage “the pen is mightier than the sword”. How awesome then, to be armed with a whole computer!

Boudica would be jealous.