Tag Archives: teacher

Steven Gerrard delighted school kids when he posed for 100 caps picture

Posted on by

The pupils were starry-eyed! Gerrard's return thrilled kids from his old school

|

UPDATED:

17:34 GMT, 13 November 2012

Steven Gerrard caused a stir when he returned to his old school for a picture to celebrate his 100th cap and the feel-good factor has continued following the release of the image.

Huyton-With-Roby Church of England Primary School has been abuzz all day and deputy head teacher Kath Whitehouse and spoken about the excitement and impact Gerrard’s visit has had on starry-eyed pupils.

Impact: The deputy head explained how excited everyone got when Steven Gerrard visited his old primary school, Huyton-and-Roby, Church of England

Impact: The deputy head explained how excited everyone got when Steven Gerrard visited his old primary school, Huyton-and-Roby, Church of England

‘It has been the talk of the school,’
she said. ‘The kids were bringing in copies of the picture all morning
and everyone thinks it is wonderful. It was lovely to be involved in.

‘We had done a lucky dip to see which children would be involved, so there was a lot of excitement but when Steven actually turned up on the morning, it reached fever pitch.

‘The whole experience has just created a lovely atmosphere around the school, it has brought people together and Steven could not have been any more helpful. He was so lovely with the children. He might be a superstar but he is so down to earth.’

The Liverpool and England captain was genuinely overwhelmed by the response he received and he took time to sign autographs, pose for pictures and chat with as many children as possible after the formalities of the photoshoot had been concluded. Mrs Whitehouse described him as an inspiration.

‘We have got a football team that is doing quite well at the minute,’ she said. ‘Steven had a quick picture taken with them before he left and as he had got the kit for them. He is a role model for them, as he is for everyone here.

‘Our school is in a deprived area and there are low aspirations and expectations for our children, so to see Steven back in amongst everyone, was really inspirational. He knows the community, he knows the children and they know him.'

'Role Model': Gerrard, with England manager Roy Hodgson (left), was described as such by the deputy head

'Role Model': Gerrard, with England manager Roy Hodgson (left), was described as such by the deputy head

Mazza still the man for San Marino: 14 years and counting for Europe"s longest-serving international boss

Posted on by

Mazza still the man for San Marino: 14 years and counting for Europe's longest-serving international boss

|

UPDATED:

20:58 GMT, 10 October 2012

It was October 10, 1998 and jeers were ringing in Glenn Hoddle’s ears after his England team had failed to beat Bulgaria at Wembley Stadium.

The game was goalless, the Euro 2000 qualifying campaign had begun with one point from a possible six and four months later Hoddle would quit amid his views on the afterlife.

In The Most Serene Republic of San Marino near Italy’s Adriatic coast, Giampaolo Mazza was enjoying his first game in charge of his team. A 5-0 defeat at home by Israel did not dampen the spirits of Mazza but life as a PE teacher and San Marino manager has different demands. Among them, making sure he and his players get time off work. If they avoid a hammering, even better.

Half a world away: Glenn Hoddle looks dejected during the goalless draw with Bulgaria

Half a world away: Glenn Hoddle looks dejected during the goalless draw with Bulgaria

Mazza is Europe’s longest-serving international manager and arrives in London today with bookmakers offering odds on England scoring double figures at Wembley. Luckily, his goalkeeper is an accountant.

San Marino, with a population of 33,000 — 2,000 of whom are expected at Wembley — are officially the worst team in the world, ranked 207th by FIFA along with Bhutan and the Turks & Caicos Islands. They have won once since affiliation to FIFA in 1988 and never in a competitive game. This does not dent the pride of their 56-year-old manager, a Sammarinese born in the Italian city of Genoa.

Long-serving: Giampaolo Mazza has been at the helm since 1998

Long-serving: Giampaolo Mazza has been at the helm since 1998

‘I never had the honour of playing for San Marino in competition but that makes me even more passionate about the coaching job,’ said Mazza, who played four times for his country before FIFA admitted them 18 years ago.

‘I know 14 years is a long time. Many managers, particularly in Italy, do not even last 14 months,’ he added.

Mazza names Fabio Capello among his role models. Captain, striker and professional Andy Selva, 36, and defender and hospital worker Simone Bacciocchi, 35, featured in his first game. Defender Mirko Palazzi is the squad’s other professional. He plays for Rimini in the Italian fourth tier.

Selva scored the only goal in San Marino’s only victory, in a friendly against Liechtenstein in 2004, but the manager considers a 1-1 draw in Latvia in a 2001 World Cup qualifier to be his finest achievement.

‘We partied into the early hours,’ he said, although it wasn’t such fun for Latvia boss Gary Johnson.

Europe's veteran international bosses

1 Giampaolo Mazza (San Marino)
(Age 56. Appointed October 1998)

2 Morten Olsen (Denmark)
(Age 63. Appointed July 2000)

3 Hans-Peter Zaugg (Liechtenstein)
(Age 59. Appointed January 2006)

4 Joachim Low (Germany)
(Age 52. Appointed July 2006)

5 Tarmo Ruutli (Estonia)
(Age 58. Appointed December 2007)

‘We didn’t even play that badly,’ said
Johnson, who parted company with Latvia after the game, with his
contract running out, and is now in charge at Yeovil. ‘Pahars scored
early but we couldn’t find a second. We hit the post or the bar five
times and had about 50 chances. It was ridiculous. They equalised with a
good free-kick.

‘They did celebrate afterwards.’

Mazza met England boss Roy Hodgson in Warsaw last week at a UEFA conference and is looking forward to Wembley. ‘It is fantastic for my players to run out in Europe’s finest stadiums against world-renowned opponents,’ he said.

The team met in the qualifiers for USA 94. England won 6-0 at home and 7-1 in Bologna. Davide Gualtieri seized on a poor backpass by Stuart Pearce and poked the ball past David Seaman after 8.3 seconds for the fastest ever World Cup goal.

It was an ultimately unsuccessful campaign for England. Graham Taylor resigned as manager six days later.

A hiding to nothing: Graham Taylor watches England beat San Marino 7-1 in Bologna

A hiding to nothing: Graham Taylor watches England beat San Marino 7-1 in Bologna

San Marino: Guide to players and jobs ahead of England match

Posted on by

Students, bank clerks and barmen… meet the everyday San Marino players ready to take on England

|

UPDATED:

11:37 GMT, 10 October 2012

If it were possible to transport them all, every man,
woman and child from the tiny enclave of San Marino could be seated quite
comfortably in the upper tier at Wembley Stadium on Friday night.

But even though they can’t be there in person, the vast
majority will be glued to television screens as their national football team
goes toe-to-toe with another world superpower in England.

As has become familiar, the state’s 33,000 inhabitants
will watch their side of students, teachers and bank clerks take on eleven
professionals of towering global status.

Best foot forward: San Marino's Alex Gasperoni (right) gets stuck in against Germany

Best foot forward: San Marino's Alex Gasperoni (right) gets stuck in against Germany

While Wayne Rooney, Steven Gerrard and company became
accustomed to the shiny new 100m St George’s Park training complex this week
and rubbed shoulders with royalty, the Sammarinese players have managed to squeeze
in a couple of hours’ practice late in the evening.

Before that, they have been required to turn up for work
as usual. While Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain spoke to Prince William from the plush
jacuzzi at St George’s, his opposite number on Friday Enrico Cibelli was busy
pulling pints and brewing coffee in his local bar.

While England’s captain Steven Gerrard was trying out the
state-of-the-art equipment in the various gyms at Burton, his counterpart
Damiano Vannucci at least had the satisfaction of knowing he owned his own.

National skipper: Damiano Vannucci will lead San Marino against England on Friday

National skipper: Damiano Vannucci will lead San Marino against England on Friday

And as Roy Hodgson arranged his tactics board and marker
pens to deliver a lecture on how to overcome San Marino’s resistance, the man
plotting to beat him, Giampaolo Mazza, was overseeing a lesson of a different
kind in his job as a school PE teacher.

Five of the squad are students – imagine combining
playing for your country at Wembley with the weekly routine of study, essays
and seminars.

A world away from the lifestyles of the England team, the
San Marino players have had to seek time off from their employers to travel
over to London.

They will fly out from Rimini on Thursday on a chartered flight
shared with one hundred fans having completed their last day at work on
Wednesday.

The Gaffer: San Marino have been managed by Giampaolo Mazza for 14 years

The Gaffer: San Marino have been managed by Giampaolo Mazza for 14 years

Coach Mazza told The Sun: ‘We all have jobs and that is a
big difference compared to all the other nations we play against.

‘In this next week, I must work on Monday, Tuesday and
Wednesday. We will have training each evening.

‘Whenever we play an international match, my students
always ask for the football shirts of the opposing players.’

There will be one almighty scramble in the classroom on
Monday morning when Mazza returns with the shirts of Rooney, Gerrard and Frank
Lampard.

Mazza added: ‘Maybe 100 supporters will be on the plane
with us but we hope there will be up to 2,000 at Wembley. We also know Scottish
and Welsh fans will all be cheering for us!

‘It is a tremendous achievement for San Marino to be
playing football. The population is just 33,000 meaning every single person
from San Marino could go to Wembley and two thirds of the stadium would still
be empty.

‘To play at Wembley will be amazing. I remember the match
in 1993 when we scored after 8.3 seconds.’

Ah, yes. The moment that carved San Marino in the memory
of many English football fans. Stuart Pearce’s underhit back pass that allowed
winger Davide Gualtieri to score the fastest goal in World Cup history.

A HISTORY OF HEAVY BEATINGS
San Marino played their first international match in November 1990, losing 4-0 at home to Switzerland in a qualifier for Euro 1992.Since then, they have won just one match – a friendly against Liechtenstein in April 2004 when Andy Selva scored the only goal. San Marino have scored 18 goals in their international history, with Selva scoring eight of them.There have been some very heavy defeats along the way – including 13-0 against Germany in September 2006 and 11-0 to Holland in September 2011.

England went on to win the game, played in Bologna, 7-1
but failed to qualify for the World Cup finals in 1994 through a combination of
results elsewhere and their own inadequacies in the qualifying matches up to
that point. It meant the end for Graham Taylor as manager.

That moment ranks among the greatest in the nation’s
footballing – if not the nation’s – history if only because the rest of it has
been a succession of heavy beatings.

They have won one match – by a single goal in a friendly against
Liechtenstein in 2004 – and have picked up just two points in their history of
qualification matches. There have been just 18 goals to celebrate in the team’s
20 year existence.

San Marino have been as ‘high’ as 118 in the FIFA World
Rankings, but are now rock bottom – joint 207th with Bhutan and the Turks &
Caicos Islands. What could possibly go wrong for England

A dark night for England in November 1993 as they fall behind to San Marino after 8 secs

Front man: Manuel Marani in action against Finland during the qualification campaign for Euro 2012

Front man: Manuel Marani in action against Finland during the qualification campaign for Euro 2012

But Mazza is right, it is remarkable that such a small
nation, tucked away high in the Apennine Mountains and totally surrounded by
Italy, should be able to field not only a national side but also stage a
15-team national championship.

There is also a team, San Marino Calcio, who play in the
third tier of Italian football, Serie C1.

And while many England players have been accused in the
past of putting club before country, the San Marino stars consider it a
pleasure.

Midfielder Alex Gasperoni, who has 27 caps, told The Sun:
‘It is an honour to play for my country but mentally, it is very tough to lose
so many matches.

‘But our team will go to England and give 100 per cent. I
can assure you of that.’

No respecter of reputation: Alex Gasperoni tackles Swedish star Zlatan Ibrahimovic

No respecter of reputation: Alex Gasperoni tackles Swedish star Zlatan Ibrahimovic

Cibelli, 25, said: ‘It will be an honour to play against
England. The big difference is that they are all top professionals and among
the best in the world.

‘We all have to have normal jobs. I have been a barman
for three years. I serve coffee, drinks, sandwiches and anti-pasti.

‘I normally finish work at 8pm and then I go to training
after that. It is very tiring.’

England will have to make sure this group of bar workers, electricians and accountants don't return to work on Monday as national heroes.

THE SAN MARINO SQUAD IN FULL AND WHAT THEY DO ALL DAY

(name, age, club – occupation)

GOALKEEPERS

Mattia Manzaroli, 21, San Giovanni – Office worker

Aldo Simoncini, 26, A.C. Libertas – Accountant

Federico Valentini, 30, S.P. Tre Penne – Bank clerk

Familiar feeling: Aldo Simoncini is beaten by Wesley Sneijder in an 11-0 defeat to Holland in the Euro 2012 qualification campaign

Familiar feeling: Aldo Simoncini is beaten by Wesley Sneijder in an 11-0 defeat to Holland in the Euro 2012 qualification campaign

DEFENDERS

Simone Bacciocchi, 35, Sporting Novafeltria – Hospital office worker

Gianluca Bollini, 32, Sporting NovaValmarecchia – Owns a removal company with his brother Fabio, who plays in midfield

Cristian Brolli, 20 – Student

Alessandro Della Valle, 30, Scot Due Emme – Bank clerk

Marco Muraccini, 21 – Student

Mirko Palazzi, 25 – Professional footballer with Rimini Calcio

Davide Simoncini, 26, Santa Giustina – Accountant

Damiano Vannucci, 35, La Fiorita – Gym owner

Fabio Vitaioli, 28, S.S. Murata – Owns a bar with his brother Matteo, who plays in midfield

MIDFIELDERS

Fabio Bollini, 29, S.S. Murata – Runs a removal firm with his brother Gianluca

Lorenzo Buscarini, 21, Cailungo – Student

Michele Cervellini, 24, Juvenes Dogana – Student

Enrico Cibelli, 25 – Barman

Matteo Coppini, 23, Atletico Montecchio – Works for an olive oil company

Alex Gasperoni, 28, S.P. Tre Penne – Owns a company which fits lighting in farm buildings

Pier Filippo Mazza, 24, Sant'Ermete Calcio – Student

Marco Rosti, 23, S.P. Tre Penne – Student

Matteo Vitaioli, 22, San Marino Calcio – Owns a bar with his brother Fabio

FORWARDS

Alessandro Bianchi, 23, Folgore/Falciano – Shop worker

Manuel Marani, 28, U.S. Russi – Works for a soft drinks company

Danilo Rinaldi, 26 – Works for a furniture company

London 2012 Olympics: Rowing team going for gold

Posted on by

In Grob we trust! Legend coach back with rowing team to take on the world

|

UPDATED:

01:56 GMT, 28 July 2012

Olympics 2012

They have long since put on hold careers such as soldier, Treasury official, PE teacher or prison officer to come together as what has been proclaimed ‘the best team British rowing has brought to the Games’.

That was the description applied this week by performance director David Tanner to the group of 47 athletes who will row down the 2,000-metre lanes at Eton Dorney in pursuit of their place in history.

At the top end of the course, sheep grazing in nearby fields will be visible. Then, as the muscles start to burn, the rowers will soon enough hit a wall of sound when approaching the corridor of huge metal stands housing 20,000 spectators. It will be a sporting theatre of very British contrasts.

Going for gold: The men's coxless fours look set to be among the medals

Going for gold: The men's coxless fours look set to be among the medals

If Tanner is right, this man-made lake will contain a rich seam of medals for GB. Rowing is the only sport that has delivered at least one gold to Britain in every Olympics since 1984 and the last three Games have seen the tally of medals go from three to four to a haul of six in Beijing four years ago.

GB rowing fans use the phrase ‘In Grob we trust’, putting their faith in the famed ability of head coach Jurgen Grobler to bring his crews to peak at the right time.

The current crop of rowers do not enjoy the same profile as the country’s cyclists, but if things go well they could come close to making a similarly weighty contribution to Great Britain’s aggregate total of medals.

‘We are never going to have the fantastic year-on-year things like the Tour de France, and none of us are going to be buying mansions off the back of this, but we accept our lot,’ says Andy Triggs Hodge, stroke of the coxless four and, with his shock of blond hair, one of the more recognisable figures.

Main man: Coach Jurgen Grobler

Main man: Coach Jurgen Grobler

‘But in terms of high performance and commitment we are up there with anybody. This is what we’ve been working for and there is a great feeling in the squad.’

The four has been the symbol of British excellence since Sydney 2000, seeing off all-comers at each Olympics and three of them — Triggs Hodge, Pete Reed and Tom James — are back to defend their title. (Incongruously, the other from 2008, Steve Williams, was last seen winning the final of Dancing On Ice Goes Gold).

They won by dramatically rowing down the Australians in the last 250 metres, although those same rivals believe they can reverse that result this year, with some Ashes-style sledging from veteran Drew Ginn spicing things up.

Ginn maintains that the GB four were ‘scared as hell’ by losing the most recent World Cup in Munich six weeks ago, when the Australians beat them in the semis and final.

A mixed bag of British performances in Germany slightly dampened original expectations that the home Games will bring a bumper haul, with the cognoscenti believing the count is likely to end up being between six and eight medals of different colours.

None of Grobler’s gold medal-winning crews have ever won the main regatta preceding the Olympics, so Munich may not be an accurate form guide. Since then there have been training camps in Austria and Portugal, designed to bring out the best when it matters most.

If anyone is most favoured for gold, possibly in any sport involving GB, it is the women’s double scull of Anna Watkins and Katherine Grainger, who have proved unbeatable in the past three years.

There will not be a dry eye in the house next Friday if the immensely popular Grainger ends up with something better than the silver medals she has taken home from the last three Olympics.

Less conspicuously in the pairs, Helen Glover and Heather Stanning have emerged from opposite ends of the kingdom — they were born in Cornwall and Scotland respectively — as genuine chances for a gold after an excellent build-up and they are first off in Saturday morning’s heats.

The latter, an all-round sportswoman who enjoys sailing and surfboarding, is a Sandhurst-trained Royal Artillery officer who could find herself in Afghanistan before the end of the year.

Golden girls: Heather Stanning (right) and Helen Glover have enjoyed an impressive build-up

Golden girls: Heather Stanning (right) and Helen Glover have enjoyed an impressive build-up

There are longer shots for gold, such as defending champions in the men’s lightweight double Zac Purchase and Mark Hunter, whose form has been ropier than expected, or their underrated fellow lightweights in the four.

British rowing is trying to shake off its fairly staid and middle class image and the poster boy for its growing diversity is Mohamed Sbihi, one of the powerhouses in the unpredictable and eclectic men’s eight, who on a given day might trouble the German favourites.

With a Moroccan heritage but brought up in Surbiton, Sbihi is GB’s first rower who is a practising Muslim, and has elected to postpone his fasting during the current Ramadan after discussions with his family and religious figures.

Instead, he has made a sizeable donation to a charity that gives food to deprived children in Morocco and he will visit there later in the year.

The challenges for GB will come from far and wide, with small nations like New Zealand especially strong in rowing.

The Olympics is the summit in this sport and while there is no name as celebrated as Pinsent or Redgrave among the GB 47, there is no greater chance to forge one than at a home Games.

The rowing coverage will be unlike ever before on TV, with the use of a 250,000 camera developed by the US military that follows the boats down the course. The camera is suspended on three wires stretched between two 92 metre towers at either end of the lake. The camera can rotate 360 degrees and drops to just eight metres above the boats.
BRITS TO WATCH

Women’s Coxless Pair — Heather Stanning and Helen Glover

The West Country-based duo have impressed in the three World Cups this year and won silver at the 2011 World Championships. Feared by their rivals, but they need to watch out for New Zealand in particular.

Men’s Eight

Injuries have meant reshuffling but they gave Germany a scare at the World Cup in Belgrade and are more settled after the return of stroke Constantine Louloudis. The eight includes Greg Searle MBE, who competed in his first Games in 1992 and came out of retirement three years ago.

Men’s lightweight coxless four

Chris Bartley, Rob Williams and brothers Pete and Richard Chambers have improved greatly this year and could upset Australia and Denmark.

Rowing London 2012 Olympics