Exehausted
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- Joined
- Jun 4, 2008
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I was at an event put on by Paignton College yesterday for 12-14 year old pupils from the Torbay area. Chris Todd, who is the College's Football Academy Manager, gave a short talk at the end. He said how he left school at 15 with no exams but all he wanted to do was play football and he joined Swansea. He played for other clubs and he played at Wembley 3 times, once for City and twice for Torquay and he was successful and was well known as a local celebrity which he enjoyed. Then smack, he's diagnosed with Lukemia. He said he was told that he might not survive and if he did he was very unlikely to be strong enough to play professional football again. He said that he was so determined to prove people wrong but that he took his coaching badges just in case. He said that he fought back and played again and then went into management and again, smack, he got the sack. That's when he joined the Academy and since then he has passed exams in Maths and English and he hopes to become a qualified teacher soon. He told the kids (none of whom had heard of him I'm sure) that life will take many different turns but to never give in and to accept the ups and downs. He got a huge round of applause at the end. What an inspiration he was and so honest.