Euro 2012: England's Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain shows he has comes of age after impressive tournament debut Unsurprisingly, Oxlade-Chamberlain shone at every school sport, despite a relative lack of size until a growth spurt at around the age of 16. "Football was obviously his passion but he would be there at the games and training sessions for every sport," said Brown. At cricket, I remember he scored at least 50 in every match we played one summer and was turning heads. In rugby, we had scouts of London Irish to watch him. He was a full-back and smaller than the other pupils in his year-group - a little tiddler - but his sporting talent more than made up for that. He remains closely associated with the school and even spoke to Brown on Sunday, the day before the France match. I just asked how it was all going. He said 'not bad at all. He didn't know if he was going to start then. He still keeps in touch with all his friends here. Mark Chamberlain, Alex's father and a former England international himself, was another excited viewer on Monday. Having suffered a delayed return from a family holiday in Portugal, he watched Monday's match at the Hilton Hotel at Gatwick Airport and spoke to his son immediately after the game. "I'm always critical but I congratulated him," he said. I thought he did well along with the rest of the team. I think he was more critical of his performance than I was. He's probably a bit laid back, like myself in that respect. Nothing fazes him and he seems to take everything in his stride. He had a couple of opportunities to be a bit more positive but I think it was more about the team and keeping the shape and making sure they were very solid in midfield rather than him enjoying himself out on the wing. Oxlade-Chamberlain later spoke of how he was relishing this tournament experience but, in admitting that he could be the victim of squad rotation, there was also a candid assessment of his performance. "I'm only 18, any chance I get I will try and take," he said. I showed in small glimpses what I can do. Personally I would have liked to have done a bit better, got on the ball a bit more in different positions where I like to attack players. It was a typically realistic but somewhat harsh self-assessment. Yet it is that willingness to dwell on the negatives which remains the surest guarantee that Oxlade-Chamberlain will continue to deliver so many positives.