18 year old Tom only arrived in February, but he has soon caught up. He had already been in contact with his course tutors whilst waiting for his student visa application to be processed and so started to work on his BTEC Level 3 Sub Diploma in Sport Performance before his arrival. Tom is keen and you pick up that he is so positive about joining us and is just relishing every session.
Tom is from Mpumalanga (Zulu name for “the place where the sun rises”) in South Africa. Mpumalanga is a province in eastern South Africa, bordering the nations of Swaziland and Mozambique. It’s an incredibly beautiful destination and embraces the southern half of Kruger National Park, a huge nature reserve with lots of wildlife, including big game. So, I was keen to hear just how Tom was settling into his new home in Manchester. But it sounds like Manchester has made a good first impression on Tom. He is already able to find his way around the city is making some new friends fast:
“Oh it is very nice. It’s awesome. Everyone is so friendly.”
Tom was equally enthusiastic about his experience training with the IHM Football Academy squad so far:
“All good yeah, it’s new, it’s exciting. I’m very keen”.
It is always interesting for us to try understand exactly why players decide to join us in Manchester. Everyone has their own subjective motivation. Tom seemed to believe that IHM could help him take his game further than he could manage by playing back home:
“And the level here, compared to back home, it’s the next level! So, yeah, that’s why I chose to come here.”
Tom is now working hard to prepare himself for the IHM Showcase event at our training ground in Manchester on Wednesday 17 April.
There scouts currently confirmed for; Blackburn Rovers FC, Nice, Monaco and PSV Eindhoven, with more confirming every day. Why not join Tom and come and show us what level of football you are at now?
