Sometime in the second half of last year, after joining the 12in12 fundraising team I had this crazy idea for one of my 12 challenges in 2012 – I would arrange and play a squash game for 12 hours to raise as much money as possible as part of this year long project with the Hope HIV. This is one of those ideas you throw out there, commit to and then realise exactly what it is you committed to. Then you stand back and think ‘What the heck have I done?’ But it’s too late – You’re committed! So I started the training and the organisation of the event, managing to get Kirkstall leisure centre and Leeds City council on board by giving me free access to the court for the whole day on Saturday the 25th Feb. The training was tricky – you have to slowly get yourself used to being on the court for longer and longer periods, but squash is a high impact game, so you have to manage the damage you can do to your body and that can be a tricky balance to find. I pulled in pretty much most of the people I knew locally, whether they had played squash before or not.

The team at Network Marketing were completely in support of this crazy project with Jonathan, Jeanette, Louis, Julie, Roger, Charlie, Emma, Miles and Tom all turning up on the day to offer support and in most cases, taking a turn on the court. Here's some real action! http://youtu.be/cHpbGudemDQ With the support of some incredible friends and family, I managed to keep pretty upbeat and energetic throughout the day and even managed to keep a video diary through the day. On reflection, it was the biggest physical challenge I have ever faced and while I am not yet ready to say that I actually enjoyed it, I am left humbled by the way people rallied around me in support of the cause. http://youtu.be/FpOUk7rImHM I did this as part of my 12in12 challenge – 12 big events in 12 months in 2012 to raise as much money as possible for Hope HIV, a charity that works with children in Africa who’s lives are affected by AIDS. We managed to raise over £500 on the day with money still coming in. We are getting ever closer to our first team target of the year. Have a look at what we are doing and get in touch if you’d like some more information about the project! www.the12in12.com Here’s the video blog I kept during the day...You’d think that after all that I’d never want to play squash again, but actually my next match will be at the end of this week...sucker for punishment (my opponent not me of course!) TeeJay (www.justgiving.com/teejays12in12)