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Youth worker on a roll!<br />
I<br />
was very pleased when I was<br />
asked to write this article about<br />
sports and in particular a bit<br />
about the sport I love.<br />
For those who don’t know, I’m a<br />
keen roller hockey enthusiast and<br />
enjoy playing as often as I can.<br />
Although being a youth worker and<br />
father of two, time seems to be<br />
difficult to find these days. So what<br />
is roller hockey? The easiest way<br />
to describe it is ice hockey on inline<br />
skates. We play at what used to<br />
be the old Silver Blades ice rink on<br />
Queens Road. This rink now has a<br />
rubber tile floor rather than ice and<br />
suits inline skates. I also have been<br />
known to play a bit of recreational ice<br />
hockey now and again.<br />
I started playing roller hockey<br />
around the age of 11. A group of<br />
Abbey Lane School friends from<br />
the local area used to play out on<br />
Mitchell Road every night throughout<br />
the summer. We started with just<br />
skates, sticks and a tennis ball and<br />
progressed to wearing more kit and<br />
playing in a sports hall. I still play with<br />
a few of those same school friends<br />
from Woodseats nearly 20 years<br />
later and that’s part of the legacy that<br />
playing a sport leaves.<br />
Sport is a massively important<br />
area of youth work and youth<br />
development. It teaches our children<br />
and young people some very<br />
important life lessons such as: - you<br />
can’t win all the time, and sometimes<br />
situations will go against us and how<br />
we deal with it is more important than<br />
succeeding. Sport teaches patience,<br />
tolerance and discipline. I can’t help<br />
but feel that if we had more of these<br />
attributes on show in society, the<br />
world we know would be a more<br />
loving place.<br />
It’s not just roller hockey that<br />
I really enjoy, in fact I think<br />
it’s fair to say that there’s very<br />
little in the way of sport that I<br />
don’t enjoy. From cricket to rugby,<br />
golf, darts, tennis, pretty much all<br />
Motorsport, in fact I’m struggling<br />
to think of any sports I don’t enjoy.<br />
Now I know it’s not like that for all<br />
people, but I believe there is at least<br />
one sport out there that each person<br />
might enjoy watching if not playing.<br />
Being a player of an unusual sport,<br />
I encourage you to explore what’s<br />
out there. Even if you’re not a sports<br />
fan, you can still encourage others<br />
to enjoy it. Sport is very beneficial for<br />
us, it’s good for our bodies, it’s good<br />
for our minds and it’s especially good<br />
for growing community and bringing<br />
people together.<br />
For me, following Jesus is like<br />
being on a sports team. There will<br />
be times when you’re elated with<br />
many joining around you to celebrate.<br />
There will also be times when you<br />
feel like you’re alone (maybe taking<br />
a penalty in a shoot out), but actually<br />
God is always with you and playing<br />
in team sports over the years has<br />
helped me to understand that.<br />
Nick Seaman<br />
Follow us on Twitter<br />
@stchadsimpact<br />
St Chad’s Church, Linden Avenue, Woodseats<br />
Church Office: 9 Linden Avenue, Sheffield S8 0GA<br />
Tel: (0114) 274 5086<br />
Page 20<br />
email: office@stchads.org<br />
website: www.stchads.org
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