Sporting hero

by 3 Comments  

Ever since I heard the message on my answer machine back in 2003 telling me that the baby I was carrying was a boy, I have had day dreams of Leo becoming a sporting hero. At times when I can’t sleep I imagine myself at Wimbledon on a sunny day watching him lead the final set, about to become the first Englishman to take the title in decades.

I do not limit myself to tennis. Now that he plays football three times a week I have also imagined him signing a multi-million pound contract with Chelsea and being the only man to help us beat Germany in a penalty shoot-out.
Despite the fact that it is an undeniably rough game I have also seen him as the next Jonny Wilkinson, helping England to glory in the rugby world cup. In this scene I am standing beside the original Jonny Wilkinson singing ‘Swing Low Sweet Chariot” and swapping tips on basic skills.
Little did I imagine though that Leo would show an incredible and quite startling aptitude for the one sport I can’t really get excited about……golf.  Can you believe it? Rupert gave him a putter and a golf ball and he holed a twelve-foot putt. Could have been luck, thought Rupert. So he handed him another golf ball. Yep, he holed it again. Then he had a lesson and even Craig the young Scottish coach was impressed. He told Leo he could be better than Tiger Woods one day.

tiger_woods_swing.jpg

So now I have two golfers to deal with at weekends. Actually four, as the girls have taken it up as well, and very elegant they look too. Pics to follow. But for now you’ll have to make do with the Tiger. The best golfer the world has ever known…..until Leo hits the course.

Copyright: Helena Frith Powell 2009


3 thoughts on Sporting hero

  • Spoken like a proud mother!

    I suppose all mothers have great faith in their children’s abilities and I’m quite sure that in the majority of cases, the faith is far from misplaced. I still cringe when I hear my Mum proudly tell anyone who cares to hear that I managed to teach myself how to read at the age of one-and-a-half.

    Hopefully, Leo won’t cringe at this one 🙂

    UT

  • Hi Helena,

    Is Leo right handed or left handed? My 5 year old son picked up a golf club a year ago and started hitting the balls like there’s no tomorrow. My husband was very excited! A future golfing partner.

    I guess Leo is in for some competition! Who knows, I might see you on the golf circuit!

    Take care,
    Val
    (Australia)

  • Sounds like a very expensive hobby. I hope Leo will support you in your old age when he becomes the next
    Tiger Woods!

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Helena Frith Powell was born in Sweden to a Swedish mother and Italian father, but grew up mainly in England. She is the author of eleven books, translated into several languages including Chinese and Russian. She wrote the French Mistress column The Sunday Times about life in France for several years. She is a regular contributor to the Daily Mail, Mail on Sunday, The Times, Daily Telegraph, Tatler Magazine and Harper’s Bazaar.

Helena has been the editor of four magazines, including M Magazine, a supplement for the Abu Dhabi-based National Newspaper and FIVE, a high-end fashion glossy, also published in Abu Dhabi. Helena was also editor-in-chief of 360 Life, a quarterly glossy magazine published with the Sports 360 Newspaper in Dubai, part of the Chalhoub Group.

Helena contributes regularly to UK-based newspapers and magazines and holds a Masters in Creative Writing from the University of Cambridge. She is working on a thriller set in Sweden as well as a novel about the relationship between Virginia Woolf and Katherine Mansfield called Sense of an Echo.

In 2022 her short story The Japanese Gardener came second in the Fish Publishing Short Story Prize. One of her stories was also shortlisted for the Bridport Short Story Prize. When she’s not writing, she works as a headhunter for the media and entertainment industry for the Sucherman Group. 

Helena, who was educated at Durham University, lives in the Languedoc region of France with her husband Rupert and their three children.

Bibliography

More France Please, we’re British; Gibson Square 2004

Two Lipsticks and a Lover 2005; Gibson Square (hardback)

All You Need to be Impossibly French; (US version of above) Penguin 2006

Two Lipsticks and a Lover; Arrow Books (paperback) 2007

Ciao Bella Gibson Square; (hardback) 2006

Ciao Bella Gibson Square; (paperback) 2007

So Chic! (French version of Two Lipsticks) Leduc Editions 2008 (also translated into Chinese, Russian and Thai)

More, More France; Gibson Square 2009

To Hell in High Heels; Arrow Books 2009 (also translated into Polish)

The Viva Mayr Diet; Harper Collins 2009

Love in a Warm Climate; Gibson Square 2011

The Ex-Factor; Gibson Square 2013

Smart Women Don’t Get Wrinkles; Gibson Square 2016

The Arnolfini Marriage; Amazon Kindle December 2016

Smart Women Don’t Get Wrinkles (paperback); Gibson Square spring 2018

The Longest Night; Gibson Square spring 2019

 

 

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