My son Joshua (15)
Josh started to play football at the age of 4. He joined a local club and trained twice a week + back garden training with dad. He was obsessed.
Now I am not a soccer fan or have I ever played it to any level.
By age 5 he was playing in a junior league and only getting 5-10 minutes on the pitch as he was not deemed good enough. To small, lacks aggression, not fast enough.
Josh spent every waking moment kicking a ball and continued to train despite not getting much match time.
This carried on up until he was 9, with subsequent managers not having faith in him. I would stay awake after a night shift to take him to matches and tournaments. Knowing full well that our journey to the match would be longer than the time he spent on the pitch.
He just loved playing.
When Josh was 13 the club he had played for since the age of 4 imploded amongst parental politics.
Josh moved to another club of his choice and carried on. By this time he had two great feet. Excellent balance and pretty good tactical awareness. At last he found a manager that saw something in his ability.
During this time he really came on and his skill and confidence increased.
3 months ago Josh attended a training workshop to look at other avenues within the game. By chance he was asked to attend a training session at Reading FC.
Josh got accepted into the Academy trial programme to compete for a place at their full time training academy.
Over the three months Josh underwent assessments and matches.
Today I got a phone call to tell me. "Dad guess what"?
I got in Reading | Team | Academy | Academy Squad | Academy Of Football Studies
I am the proudest dad ever, He has achieved this through his own self determination and perseverance.
Nelly
PS sorry for the long blurb, I'm sure you all understand.
Josh started to play football at the age of 4. He joined a local club and trained twice a week + back garden training with dad. He was obsessed.
Now I am not a soccer fan or have I ever played it to any level.
By age 5 he was playing in a junior league and only getting 5-10 minutes on the pitch as he was not deemed good enough. To small, lacks aggression, not fast enough.
Josh spent every waking moment kicking a ball and continued to train despite not getting much match time.
This carried on up until he was 9, with subsequent managers not having faith in him. I would stay awake after a night shift to take him to matches and tournaments. Knowing full well that our journey to the match would be longer than the time he spent on the pitch.
He just loved playing.
When Josh was 13 the club he had played for since the age of 4 imploded amongst parental politics.
Josh moved to another club of his choice and carried on. By this time he had two great feet. Excellent balance and pretty good tactical awareness. At last he found a manager that saw something in his ability.
During this time he really came on and his skill and confidence increased.
3 months ago Josh attended a training workshop to look at other avenues within the game. By chance he was asked to attend a training session at Reading FC.
Josh got accepted into the Academy trial programme to compete for a place at their full time training academy.
Over the three months Josh underwent assessments and matches.
Today I got a phone call to tell me. "Dad guess what"?
I got in Reading | Team | Academy | Academy Squad | Academy Of Football Studies
I am the proudest dad ever, He has achieved this through his own self determination and perseverance.
Nelly
PS sorry for the long blurb, I'm sure you all understand.
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