Inspiring
MAKING A DIFFERENCE
Jade Tregale - Devon young coach of the year
Jade Tregale, who coaches and motivates youngsters, believes sport has been
her inspiration and quite possibly her saviour.
“I started watching football when I was three and my Dad was playing, but when I went to primary school I didn’t do any sport. I had real problems with reading and writing so I had to stay in and do extra English lessons when everyone was out having fun.
When I left primary school I felt that I couldn’t do anything right. I would spell words backwards. I couldn’t read properly. Then at secondary school I was diagnosed with dyslexia, and it felt as if there was nothing for me. But I found I was really good at sport and that was a big breakthrough.
My family encouraged me to play all the sports I wanted and to get all the sports qualifications I could. I did 266 hours of sports volunteer work in the community in nine months to get my Community Sport Leaders Gold Award and I attended two FA Young Leadership Camps where I met other people who had experienced the same difficulties as me. I went on to do my Level 1 Football Certificate coaching course at sixteen when I was playing football at quite a high level with Plymouth Argyle Ladies.
It was all going really well and then I damaged my knee and had to have three knee operations. Four days after my last operation I had my final assessment for my Level 2 Coaching Certificate. There I was on crutches trying to teach a bunch of grown men how to play football the way I wanted them to.
I coach at different levels now –even girls at elite level who have got into the England football squad. But it’s just as motivating, maybe more so, to coach kids at the most junior level.
I know that if I had not found sport I’d probably still be sitting in that extra English lesson right now. Anybody can change someone else’s life if they just put the time and effort into it. That’s how I see it anyway.”