Sports
I'm not going to pretend that I was a standout player. "Honest endeavour" just about sums it up. I was seldom first pick. In fact, I soon found out that the best chance of getting picked at all was to run the team, and so with my organisational abilities to the ready, I ran regular five-a-side football in Foster Wheeler's Teesside and Reading offices, even cobbling together eleven-a-side teams for challenge matches - and not without some success.
Football
Clearly, this was a transferable skill, as I went on to run the five-a-side football at Chicago Bridge and Iron in Paddington, as well as forming and managing an 11-a-side team that competed in the London Football League and various cup competitions. The seventh place finish in the 2004/05 Midweek Division 1, (7 wins, 4 draws and 9 losses) doesn't fully represent the journey the team was on. Or maybe it does . . .
In this section, I look at some of my sporting exploits over the years. We're not talking elite athlete, but I like to think these are a testament to my attributes as a team player and a reflection of my organisational and leadership skills.
Chess
Chess is a sport, right?
As a six year old in 1972, my attention, like the attention of many across the globe, was grabbed by the high drama of the Fischer - Spassky World Chess Championship. But it wasn't just a one summer wonder for me. I kept it up, playing in school competitions and even at Strathclyde University, where I served a term as president of the chess club.
I guess I was more interested than most when Garry Kasparov was tussling against Deep Blue in 1996/97, but my interest was largely passive. All the same, when AMEC moved to Canary Wharf along with their Environmental group, and they dug out some old chess sets and chess clocks, I was right in there. I played about a dozen matches against all comers and won them all.
Fun fact: the first decisive game in the 2021 World Chess Championship match between Magnus Carlsen and Ian Nepomniachtchi lasted longer than the running time of the entire first and second seasons of the Netflix TV series The Queen's Gambit.
Touch rugby
More honest endeavour . . .
A few loose words at a Christmas night out led to my being roped into the Wednesday lunchtime touch rugby squad at Air Products in Hersham. Despite starting off as a complete novice, I learnt quickly, and I like to think I was more than just making up the numbers. No session was complete without one of my trademark diving touch downs.
If you're ever at Air Products and you get the chance, roll up and give it a go!
Howzat!?
When working on the Shell Mogas project at the Stanlow Refinery, the project team put together a team to play in a summer cup. We played the first round match and won (despite rather than because of my two overs). There was a change of captain for the second round match, and I didn't get a bat or a bowl, so, to be honest I was secretly pleased. Schadefreude.
Cricket
Roll forward 22 years, and on the back of my touch rugby exploits I tricked my way onto the Air Products Cricket Club XI.
For 22 years, the world of cricket had had to do without my own brand of gentle medium pace. But it was worth the wait. The batsman could have finished his stroke twice over by the time the ball hit the wickets and knocked off the bails. The batter trudged back to the clubhouse in disbelief. I called it "mystery spin". he called it "pure filth". Either way . . .