Hi, my name is Connor Staple I am 15 years old, I play for Thimbermill Vipers in the top division and my position in right back.

How I got into football
I got into football because of my dad. He wanted me to play a sport at an early age, so he decided to start a football team and called it the Quinton Eagles. After the club was set up properly, he started to put posters everywhere to get kids to join and at the first training session we had a full team for seven a side. The club expanded and more people started to come along, resulting in different aged members in the club. It became well known, and having the different aged players allowed us to get better equipment. Our team got promoted every season and when we were in the top division, for about two years, my dad let another manager train us. After my dad left, the team fell apart, so I stopped playing football for a couple of years then got myself into a new team which is called Thimbermill Vipers.

Training
I train twice a week once on a Thursday, from 7-8, and once on a Saturday, from 10: 30-12. The training session on Thursday is ball work and ball control and the training sessions on Saturdays are mainly fitness for about 45 minutes straight and for the last 15 minutes we have a match to get used to playing football again. We also have to see who is the fittest on that day and who is the fastest, because this will help our manager see whether you can play a full match or play most of the match, helping him plan his tactics.

Kick off
I play matches once a week every Sunday for 90 minutes, 45 minutes each way at the GKN. I am in the first team so I have to get there a bit earlier to get ready for the match ahead. I have to get warmed up and talk through the tactics with the manager and the rest of the squad. After the end of every match we all have to group up and see who gets managers player.

My achievements
Ever since I started playing football I have had lots of trophies and medals, for example,  Parents Player of the season, Player’s Player of the season, Mangers player of the season and Referees Player of the season.  My team also won the five a-side tournament which involved football teams from all over Birmingham. This got us into the newspaper and we all received a massive trophy for the club and our own single trophies.

My ambitions
I would like to get spotted by a scout and play football professionally, or for a team in the premiership or a local team like West Bromwich Albion. My dream is to continue to improve, and have the chance to play for one of the big teams like Manchester United.