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Sunday morning Callum was going to do a 2k park run to try keep him moving instead of playing on the Xbox and then at the last minute we got an invitation to go and play an 11 a-side football match.

Callum moves to an 11 a-side next summer, so the chances of playing an 11 a-side is appealing in his development of being a football player.

The problem was that the invitation was to play for a team who he doesn’t normally play for, whom we had one of the worst games of football against as the Mustangs 2 years ago.

We have a connection to this team for one reason or another but both Callum and one of his best friends were invited to play.

What do you do with that?

This team is hard, they’re fast, they’re good but they play a different type of football to us and one of their coaches at times has a different attitude to how I think the game should be coached.

Do I protect my son from this and keep him in a bubble, do I keep him away? Or do I introduce him to this group and let him find his way through and start to make decisions for himself.

It was never my intention to keep my children safe from the world, because that is the best way to make them unprepared for what is to come.

So, Callum (and his best friend) went to play for a team who were playing a year above their age group against boys a year older who were equivalent to the first division of that age group.

The team that they were playing against won one of their games this season by 22-0.

I decided to turn up (despite my previous experiences) with an open mind and a smile on my face and gratitude for my son having a game of football.

We had the best day.

Both Callum and his best friend played the full game.

Callum’s friend scored a hattrick and Callum was fantastic.

Neither of them looked out of place, in fact Callum’s friend was one of the best players on the pitch.

In the end they lost 5-3 to a team a year older and a year more experienced and the parents on the side lines were fantastic and great fun.

2 out of the 3 coaches were brilliant and the third coach (the one that I had a previous altercation with was good enough – fine).

Callum was scared going into that game and didn’t want to go (in truth, both of us were), but we went and we did it and we seen the world from a different angle and a different view and both of them were better for that.

Blog Post Number - 2222