I have always had an ability to perform reasonably well at most sports which I try, probably because of my main sporting activity when I was young, which was gymnastics.

From a very young age, maybe 3, 4 or 5, my grandfather would help me to stand on my head and I guess that 'the damage' was started there. The next most vivid memory I can remember was when I was perhaps 9 or 10 when I was away with my junior school camping.  For whatever reason I decided to try to do a handspring (we probably called it a forward tiply tail at the time) on the field and to my delight and surprise I could do it.  It wouldn't have been all that good but nevertheless I remember landing back on my feet again and that was all that mattered.

At the time there wasn't any formal gymnastics lessons at my junior school, in fact there wasn't even a gymnasium, so it wasn't until I was at Grammar school that I really started to discover my ability at gymnastics.  Here at least we had a gym, some reasonable equipment and a teacher who was to have a very influential part to play on the direction which not only my gymnastic skills would develop, but was central to nurturing the academic skills which I had and helped me to become a teacher.

At school though, there was only a limited capability to develop what talent I had so I would go to the local further education college in the evening to practice more formal gymnastics.  Here we really did concentrate on Olympic Gymnastics, practicing the four men's disciplines, but even at the tender age of 14 I was probably a number of years too late for me to compete competitively and by the time I was 17 I started to coach women's gymnastics at a club which I helped form.  So whilst I would still 'play' at gymnastics for my own personal satisfaction, my interest and skills lay in coaching women's gymnastics.  My technical thinking helped me to analyse the mechanical physiological requirements for more and more complex moves and my club became quite successful, producing many national and international level gymnasts over the 10 years or so which I was involved with it.

Of course gymnastics didn't occupy all of my interests, even though at it's height I was probably coaching Saturday's and Sundays and at least one evening per week.

Clearly, living in England I couldn't ski more than a couple of times per year but it was, and remains as much of a passion.  The fact that I am quite competent at it adds to my enjoyment and the very deep sense of contentment I get by being in the mountains on those days when the sky is blue, the sun is strong and the snow a perfect fresh white powdery dry consistency.

I get so much pleasure from the whole experience of skiing.  The activity itself gives me a fine and acceptable balance between danger and exhilaration.  I can ski as fast and as steep as I like (actually I prefer steep to fast, as this takes more technical ability) but the element of danger is acceptable to me when weighed against the exhilaration which it gives me.  I did try to join a ski club where I grew up in Blackpool, but it was a little futile as most of the activities took place on dry ski slopes and it seemed to be something of an old friends club, so I didn't stay with it for too long.  I've always wondered how I would have done in competition as I've usually been one of the better skiers whenever I've been away.  I did spend a very enjoyable week in France when I was probably 40 (it sounds ancient to me when I talk about it like this !!) and I met up with some guys who were about 10 years my junior who had skied for England - not much of a recommendation I know.  Nevertheless they were very complimentary about me and I certainly wasn't any worse a skier than any of them. So it has always intrigued me as to how good I am (was) and what level I might have been able to ski to competitively, but I guess I'll just have to be content with my ignorance of any competitive ability I may or may not have had.

 A sport which I play often and am surprised by the pleasure which I get from it, is golf.  It has no element of danger and can hardly be described as dynamic (in the gymnastic or skiing sense) but I really do enjoy going out with my friends and playing a round.

I must confess to not taking my own medicine as far as being coached or having lessons is concerned.  I'm sure I'd be so much better if I had regular lessons, but somehow I've never committed to having any serious lessons.  I know it doesn't make any sense as I've had and given gymnastics and skiing lessons for so long that I know I need to have some golf lessons, but I continue to hack around in a respectable but average style.  I know from my understanding of the mechanics of movement some things which I need to work on, but I really must employ the help of a professional if I am to rise above the ranks of the also rans.  Regardless it has and continues to serve as a very enjoyable pastime and I regularly go away with my friends to France, Portugal or Spain for golfing holidays.  In this respect it fulfils a number of functions as an interest as the social and travel opportunities which arise as a result of the activity itself provide numerous opportunities throughout the year.

I guess I should also mention my love of flying in this section.  I suppose the damage was done on the first flight I ever took, which was a flight from Blackpool to the Channel Island of Jersey when I was about 8 or 9.  We flew in a Dakota and every time the door opened to the Flight Deck I was leaning over to peer in and see what was going on.  I went up to see the captain and couldn't quite understand how he could see where he was going when in cloud, but was pacified by him pointing to some clumsy contraption which had a map on a cylinder and a pointer on it.  Then when I went to America with the Scouts we took many long flights and I guess I just love the whole experience.  I did get a little airsick on the way out, but as I never got sick on the way back we out it down to just being away from home.

Since those times I've always loved flying and everything which accompanies it.  Airports are such exiting places to me, with planes leaving for every corner of the globe and opening up opportunities for those travelling on them.

Well whilst I lived in Manchester I decided that I would go enquire over the cost of flying lessons.  It turned out to be within my budget and before too long I was having my first lesson.  I really did enjoy every moment of it and the theory side of it came reasonably easily to me a well.  There was an added excitement to it as well.  Learning to fly out of Manchester International Airport, which at the time was the 17th busiest airport in the world, meant that you had to do everything absolutely right, from approach procedures to speaking over the radio, so as not to interfere too much with the large commercial aeroplanes which were the primary focus of air traffic control.  It was almost like being a real pilot for heavens sake !

Well I did take to flying very well and whilst it wasn't cheap it was well within my budget and would go flying as often as I could.  After I got my basic flying licence I bought a share in an aeroplane. It was a Piper Arrow which is a complex small aeroplane.  I wanted to have a plane which was more than the basic trainer and made me think about what I was flying.  So it had retractable undercarriage and what's called a variable pitch propeller.  That just means that it operates in a similar fashion to large propeller driven aircraft, so this was my dream of really flying a proper little aeroplane. 

I went on to get my night rating and instrument rating, which not only qualified me to fly at night and on instruments, but more importantly gave me a confidence that if the weather did change quickly, as it can do in the UK and especially around the North West of England, I would be reasonably well prepared to get out of it in one piece.  There was one occasion where I was VERY grateful of that knowledge whilst flying from Manchester to Newcastle in what were very difficult conditions and I must admit to staying overnight at my destination after I had eventually landed safely.  I like to think that I never took any unnecessary risks whilst flying and always tried to err on the side of caution.  I was very aware that flying could be a life threatening activity and was extremely cautious whenever I was planning a flight.

I remember one Boxing day taking my mum out for a flight over Wales.  The snow was on the tops of the hills and we had a lovely flight.  I was a little nervous of taking my mum with me, simply because I was aware of the risks involved, and so was mum, but she simply said to me that if she was going to die, she would rather die with her son !!  Now that may seem a strange thing to say, but it just but in perspective the love which a parent has for her son and the faith which she had in me, as she had complete confidence that we would come to no harm....and we didn't !!!

What other sports do I like ?  Well I take a healthy interest in football and follow Manchester United, not particularly passionately or with any kind of blind faith, but most of my friends in London follow Arsenal, so I feel duty bound to defend my Northern England roots and support a team from there.  So it seems logical to pick one which I lived close to when in Manchester and one which was reasonably successful - no point in making problems for yourself hey ?  But in reality I'm more of an impartial onlooker who wants to see a good game than anything else.

I really enjoy motor sports, like Formula One, Rallying and Motor Cycling and in truth  have more than a passing interest in most sports and will watch quite a variety of events.  I can and will actively participate in most events if pressed and probably do it reasonably well, but in all honesty haven't stretched myself to participation level for a while, except socially.

I do seem to remain reasonably fit though, to the complete chagrin of my friends, and will often (maybe once or twice per week) stand on my hands in my lounge and do the odd flick flac (just to prove to myself that I can still do it !!

I'll get caught out one of these days, but until then I'll continue to make no concessions to my age.