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'I've got a goal in life'

Chris Jones
4/ 9/2008

A LANGLEY teen says kicking a football has changed the direction of his life ‘forever’.

Two years ago, 18-year-old Curtis Beadley was one of dozens of dejected and unemployed teens on the estate, feeling increasingly frustrated and bored at a lack of opportunities.

He was then offered the chance to take part in a one-week development course called Get Started With Football – and he hasn’t looked back since.

Curtis said: "My self esteem was at an all time low at the time and I couldn’t think of anything that I would be good enough at for people to take me on.

"I would have probably been out of work for a few more months before getting a job in a factory, which I don’t think I would have enjoyed."

But attending the course proved to be the catalyst he needed, as he netted a job with Rochdale AFC working on their Football in the Community projects programme after excelling on the one-week course.

Prior to striking out on the course, Curtis had spent four despondent months on the sofa after being laid off as an apprentice brick layer and leaving a job as a shopworker.

But he excelled on the confidence-boosting football course, learning key skills such as taking responsibility, discipline, commitment and leadership, culminating in leading a group of local children in a coaching session.

It was then that the Dale came knocking, offering him a second chance that has allowed him to turn his life around and make his family proud.

His story is one of dozens from young people who have successfully turned their life around, whose positive actions are being highlighted by the Prince's Trust Change the Record programme to try and banish negative perceptions about young people.

Curtis is now encouraging other young people not in work or education to seek help to get them back on track.

"I would say get yourself onto one of the trust’s programmes because three in four young people who do, go back into work, education or training afterwards.

"You probably won’t be doing anything else at the time so why not get involved and see if it can help you? Someone believed in me and it has changed the direction of my life forever.

"I have seen that young people can turn things around with a bit of support and make positive differences to their communities and at work. The Trust helped me to get on the course which gave me more confidence and motivation to get back into work."

The Trust’s Get Started with Football programme is part of a £2m Prince’s Trust partnership with the Premier League, Professional Footballers’ Association and the Football Foundation. It aims to help more than 7,000 young people across England over the next three years, with more than 1,000 from offending backgrounds.