Max's Blog
My big walk
14 miles of fun, eight miles of pain...
Last updated: 25th February 2009
I'm not sure if the performance of the first team should dictate the future for youngsters trying to become professional footballers.
Max Rushden
Quotes of the week
This is a serious column about football.
On Monday I walked from Torquay to Exeter and now my legs hurt, but I enjoyed it. Well I enjoyed the first 14 miles. The final eight weren't as fun.
I didn't just do it for a laugh, but to help the youth set up at Cambridge United. It was the first day of 12 for the guys who run things at the Abbey. They're walking from Torquay to Cambridge.
If you want to know why then just click here click here, but in a nutshell, some teams who fall out of the league have lost funding for their youth academies, some haven't. Cambridge has, which doesn't seem fair to me. And it also means their young players aren't protected - so if Cambridge have a great prospect, a bigger club could just nick them.
I'm obviously biased about it - cos it's my club. But I'm really passionate about our youth system, because I've seen so many great players begin their careers at Cambridge and go onto to bigger and better things, while at the same time the club gets the cash that's vital to our survival.
Guys like Jack Collison, who's doing so well at West Ham, and Sylvan Ebanks-Blake at Wolves, began their careers with Cambridge United.
I'm not sure if the performance of the first team should dictate the future for youngsters trying to become professional footballers. Our youth guys are dealing with players as young as eight and nine years old.
By the time they reach the age of a professional footballer, we might be in a completely different division. Their hopes of making it shouldn't be hampered if we're not doing so well on the pitch on a Saturday afternoon.
So that's why I supported the walk. It all kicked off pretty well. A pint with Rocket the night before. A Skill Skool between Torquay and Cambridge scholars in the morning (you can see that on Saturday), and then we started walking.
However, I hadn't really thought about how far 22 miles is. While Jez and youth team coach Mat were in tracksuit and running shoes, with a thousand changes of socks, I was in jeans and an old pair of trainers.
I noticed a couple of things. 1. Walking somewhere takes a long time. 2. I've always taken pavements for granted.
Try walking up an A road for six and a half hours dodging cars, buses, lorries carrying manure, and combine harvesters. But I managed it - and collapsed when we got to St James' Park in Exeter.
There was a bit of chafing. Jez and Matt convinced me to have an ice bath. I've got to say this was one of the most painful experiences of my life, but it seems to have done the trick. And I can walk again, which is a relief.
And now I can look forward to Mr T on the show on Saturday. Should be quality.
Have a good week...
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Comments
Warren Grant (West Bromwich Albion fan) says...
In November to raise money to help towards a disability minibus for a local school. A fellow WBA colleague of mine and 2 deputy head teachers embarked on a "STROLL" from the WBA training ground in Walsall to The Brittania Stadium Stoke. To watch the match which we (West bromwich albion) lost. 42 miles we covered over 2 days so i understand the pain and ache you must of felt Max Well done anyway Here is the link about our walk on the WBA website http://www.wba.premiumtv.co.uk/page/CommunityLatest/0,,10366~1461351,00.html
Posted 15:58 26th February 2009
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