Brendan Wiredu,
A Natural Talent
Brendan found strength through our programmes
Brendan was always a very skilful football player. From a young age, he dreamed of playing football professionally. After a promising start, Brendan found that his dreams were well and truly insight, but it was his behaviour that would inevitably be his biggest hurdle. After some turbulent moments at secondary school, Brendan knew that he had to change, that in order to become the star he dreamed of being, he would need help tackling his biggest challenge – his anger. Strengthening Minds helped to make sure that his future, his hopes, his potential would become a reality.
"...I would of struggled to cope."
Brendan's Story - in his words
I became a part of the Positive Behaviour and Emotional Wellbeing Programme due to my poor behaviour at my previous school and also my behaviour when I first started at Harris Academy Greenwich. I started at Harris on a managed move and was on the verge of permanent exclusion, at risk of being taken out of football and my home life was also suffering. The programme benefitted me not only at school, but also at home and in football. My relationship with my Mum greatly improved and in terms of football, I have developed extremely well. I was offered my scholarship at CAFC a year early and I believe a large part of this was due to my improved attitude and behaviour. I went on to leave school with the GCSE grades I worked hard for. If I am 100% honest, without this programme, I would have struggled to cope as the way I was acting would have meant I potentially would not have finished school and not received my scholarship.
I would recommend the Strengthening Minds' Programmes to any young person; it will give them an opportunity to explore their feelings and it helps them to stay out of trouble and most importantly, think about the consequences of their actions. It is a really fun programme and something to look forward to every week.
I have since gone onto sign my first professional contract with CAFC and I look forward to continuing to apply all that I have learnt to help me continue to grow both on and off the pitch.
