Keepy Uppies

Football consumed a lot of our time when we were kids. We didn't have iPads or computers and a good football seemed to fill that hole. Anyone who had a 'casey' would be considered quite privileged, but as a young boy they would also be quite feared, particularly if it was your turn to go in nets. There was rarely enough people to play a match, even 5 a-side but there was always '3 and in', 'headers and volleys' or even 'Cuppies' (to be honest I can't remember if that was a posh kids term for '3 and in'! If it was it was the same kids who called horse chestnuts 'conkers' when we all called them 'cheggies') if there was only a few of you.

But even if there was no one else to play football with you could always practice keepy uppies, and I still often do, even in my wellies! And I'm not too bad for an old bloke. I remember practising in my mums garden when I was 15. I was doing quite well and was keen to do over a 100 keepy uppies (just looked at the world record and they measure it in time rather than amount of uppies! The world record is 26 hours!!!) but as I was reaching the late 90's (after a couple of minutes) I started to become a bit shaky and desperation kicked in. This resulted in my 100th kick of the ball being kicked very hard through my mothers kitchen window. Fortunately I was old enough and confident enough to go out and buy a replacement pane of glass and fit my first window!

I'm attempting to train Darwin in the ways of the keepy uppy, very unsuccessfully.