Our

Story

Charlie

&

Taylor

Taylor (Young Coach): I loved everything about this training. My confidence has built up and I learned to speak out more.

Charlie (Tandem Partner): My highlight has been working with Taylor. My proudest moment was probably seeing him progress from Monday to Friday and just through the week constantly building to where he can take a session. From the start where he was just doing bits and pieces, to now where he is taking a full session and putting loads of good coaching points across, nice and loud, full of confidence.

Taylor: It feels good to be a coach. Today’s session was quite hard because you have to keep an eye on all the kids and some of the kids were naughty and some were well behaved.

Charlie: Yes, and I would say the biggest challenge is that you are going into some sessions blind, so you don’t know what’s going to be around the corner. You could arrive and there will be people in wheelchairs and powerchairs, blind, frames, and you have just got to try and adapt on your feet.

Taylor: Yes, but Charlie and I both help each other out.

Charlie: Taylor has got a really, really good rapport with the kids. The way he interacts with other deaf children or kids with disabilities is really, really good, and it makes you happy to work with him. It was good to see the trust and bond that we have developed over the week come out in the session. Also, Taylor has been teaching me some sign language and I would like to use that back home as I work with six deaf children on a team.

Taylor: And I will be coaching at the Newcastle United Foundation with the Deaf Football team and the Down Syndrome team every Tuesday now. This programme has helped me getting to know where my levels are and moving my level up.