On Wednesday night Deutsche Bank and Sported had the pleasure of hosting an evening with sporteducate’s Football Beyond Border (FBB) and its Patron, Sky Sport’s La Liga pundit and author Guillem Balagué, as he treated over 130 young people to a special viewing of his documentary ‘The Making of Cristiano Ronaldo’.
One of the cornerstones of sporteducate and the work of our 33 clubs is that in life, as in sport, personal success comes down more to mindset, hard work and discipline, as it does to any natural gifts or abilities. What better way to demonstrate this and to capture the imagination of a young audience, than profiling the rise of Cristiano Ronaldo – one of the world’s biggest sport stars and someone who exemplifies the virtues of hard-work, ambition and determination to succeed. In his documentary, Guillem travels to Portugal, the birthplace of Ronaldo, to speak to those who know him and who knew him in his youth, about why he has gone on to be one of the best footballers on the planet.
The scene for the evening was set by Deutsche Bank employees Richard Moffat and Samanthi Dharmadasa who delivered a compelling presentation on developing a ‘Growth Mindset’. Using modern celebrities as examples, Richard and Samanthi explored themes such as ‘What makes people successful?’ and ‘Is artistic ability a gift?’
Following the screening of ‘The Making of Cristiano Ronaldo’, Guillem joined a guest panel chaired by FBB’s Jasper Kain and including Sported’s Chief Executive, Chris Grant, and Chelsea Ladies and England footballer and Deutsche Bank employee, Claire Rafferty, to discuss the key factors involved in succeeding in sport and in life.
In the following snippet taken from the event’s panel discussion, Chris Grant talks about how young people can apply the lessons they learn playing sport to their everyday lives.
Amongst the audience at Deutsche Bank, were nine young people from St. Mirren Football Club’s Street Stuff programme, who travelled all the way down from Scotland as part of a football exchange programme. Last summer, FBB took a group of their year 7 boys (11-12 year olds) on a football tour to Scotland to build upon the weekly homework and mentoring sessions that have been running as part of the sporteducate. Having played Street Stuff on their home turf, this week saw the return home-leg, with FBB playing a re-match in their Youth Football Beyond Borders Tournament held at Colney Heath. Demonstrating the growing collaboration amongst sporteducate members, FBB even arranged a special warm-up game for Street Stuff against fellow sporteducate member, St Matthews Project, with the Brixton-based team walking away proud winners 7-2!
A massive thank you to Deutsche Bank for hosting the event, Guillem and Clare for their insight into the professional world of football, and finally all the young people, club leaders and DB staff who joined us for a fantastic evening!