As you know, I returned home from the UK in 2005 and during my time there, I played amateur football.

I played my last season of amateur football in England. I was determined to finish the season on a high after an injury plagued season the year before.

My rehabilitation hadn't been an easy and not thorough because I wanted to play. I had joined Church Lane FC in the 1st Division of the Thames Valley Sunday Football League during the close season. In my first preseason game, I scored for my new team and this gave me a boost of confidence.

I however took preseason for granted because scoring had become quite regular for me and paid dearly for it. After four games in the new season, I had scored five goals but I had been subbed at the half time interval four times. My head coach called me up one day and explained to me that while he appreciated that I was getting him goals, I was also costing him substitutions options especially at a time when we were winning by an average margin of 3 goals.

I spent 5 weeks on the bench and in that time, started working on my fitness at the team facility.

One day after a game, I got talking with the Head Coach and his wife at the bar and I spoke words that redefined our season. I said "Terry, I know I have let you down by hiding my fitness level and injuries, but I am ready now. I have learnt my lesson and I am ready to make amends. The call however is yours."

My coach's wife said, "Don't worry my son, I will work something out for you". Two weeks later, I was back in the starting eleven.

Early in the game, we went a man down from a penalty and then a goal down. Playing alone upfront is not an easy feat, more so doing it with a man down. It was a real test of the fitness I had claimed was at the levels that was needed.  I got lucky when a through pass was slipped through the high defense line, leaving me with room to run onto it and race towards goal to score the equalizer.

I recall what a great feeling it was and how the entire team received my return and contribution. I was so buoyed by the events of the day that I drove to the sports store and invested in a stationary bike, some free weights and a treadmill and I went to work hard. This was going to be my last season and there was no way I was losing my starting place on the team.

I went on to score some vital goals for the team as we went on to win the league. But the highlight of the season was the League Cup Semi Final game against an opponent in the Premier Division - The Slough Irish Society FC; a team that had won the premier division for years and were reported to have gone unbeaten for three seasons.

My coach called me aside and said "We won't win this game so why not let the second striker start today and let him have a run around and I can bring you on later".

With 15 minutes to the end of regulation time, we were tied at 0-0. Coach Terry asked me to warm up and I prepared to go onto the pitch with so much verve a colleague described me as a "Man Possessed".

In extra time, the inevitable happened, The Slough Irish scored a goal and our resilience was finally broken or so it seemed. We continued playing and in the second half of extra time, I chased a lost cause of a long clearance into the opposition's half. A poor back pass to the keeper presented us with a chance and I was there to put it away for an equalizer. I volunteered to take the first penalty which I converted and we won the League Cup Semi Final and went on to win the Thames Valley League Challenge cup.

Looking back, I learnt some real important lessons.

1.            You can't lose what you didn't have

2.            You don't win until you play like you have nothing to lose

3.            Every day presents an opportunity to show greatness

4.            Your destiny is in your hands

5.            A seeming lost cause may hold your breakthrough

Examine where you are now and determine to affect your destiny positively.

Go Forward. Make Rain.

I am Nhyira Addo, The Rainmaker.