In the late 80's my parents would be greeted daily by a scruffy skinny little kid running towards their car carrying a Mitre football in one hand and his bag in the other. That young bundle of joy was non other than myself of course. 

My shirt would be half tucked in, occasionally missing a button or two and caked in a layer of dirt. The grey shorts I wore revealed my puny legs and displayed the old battle scars as well as the fresh grazes from the latest epic football confrontation.

The game would take place in the roasting heat twice a day during “breaktime” in a barren field with two black and white steel goal posts bolted into each end. To me it was my very own Anfield. I was eight at the time and that was my first taste of competitive sports. I liked it. I wanted more. A lot more.

I then spent the next decade devoting myself to sports and in particular basketball where the gruelling training schedule of then Keravnos’ Coach Gary White, a second father to me, taught me as much about life as the game itself.

However, following my one year stint in the Army, my subsequent move to London with my family and starting my first full time paying job as a Bank Clerk, I was no longer able to hone my skills or channel all the energy I still had bottled into playing sports.

In a way gaming, in particular online virtual sports, came to the rescue as it stepped up and took the place of the real thing. It filled the void by providing me with a way to compete.

I started off with football games, then basketball joined the fray and after a few “seasons” I was into Moto GP too. The list is long and the memories bountiful, but it was only in the last few years that I crowned my king of all online sports titles.

It shone like a bright beacon from the abyss of the bargain bin in my local GAME shop and after a week of constant defeats and some coaching from my new online Finish (Ozz) and Swiss (Lars) friends there was no looking back. I am referring to the amazing world of online ice hockey.

I will be sharing my highs and lows from both sporting realms and I look forward to hearing yours too.