Striker offers advice to promising young footballers
Wanderers' leading goal scorer Jermaine Beckford visited students from the Club’s education arm after training on Monday to take part in a question and answer session as well as talking to them about the importance of hard work and dedication.
Jermaine met with the 50 strong group to pass on his advice about the importance of self-belief and always working hard to achieve your full potential before taking part in a light-hearted Q&A session where he revealed all about the best players he has played with and against, his hopes for the season and the best FIFA player in the Bolton squad.
After the session, Jermaine spent time signing autographs and posing for photographs with the group before sharing his sentiments.
"I really enjoyed meeting this group today," he said. "As a professional footballer, hopefully I can do my bit to inspire and educate these young adults and show them that there is a lot more to being a professional footballer than just turning up on a Saturday.
"A lot of people think it happens overnight and it’s not like that at all – it’s a result of hard-work, determination and dedication.
"As long as you are enjoying your life and being the best person that you can be then nobody can take that away from you.
“I’ve got younger brothers who are similar ages to the boys here and I’ll often chat to them and try and pass on advice and it was the same today."
He added: "From just speaking to a few of the group one-on-one afterwards, I can tell that some of them have really taken in what I said and hopefully I have been able to have an impact on their futures in a positive way.”
The group of young adults, aged between 16-18 years old, are all part of Bolton Wanderers' Institute of Sport education programme which focuses on personal and academic progression as well as elite football coaching and helps to prepare students for a range of progression routes into university or employment.