A paralympian footballer visited Ashfield Park Primary School on Wednesday, May 2nd, to lead a fitness circuit and give an inspirational talk to the pupils about challenges he has overcome.

Jack Rutter, who is the former Captain of the England and Great Britain Cerebral Palsy (CP) football teams, told the children how he was interested in football from the age of four, when he was inspired by watching Manchester United playing on the TV.

He encouraged Ashfield pupils to think of their own passions, whether that is sport or music or writing, and told them to stick at it.

Jack said:?“I asked Father Christmas for a football, and practised everyday. Eventually I was rewarded for that hard work, when I was signed with Birmingham City at age 10, working up through the ranks until I was 18.”

Jack showed the pupils a video of his story, to explain how he was hit in the back of the head in 2009; an attack which left him with brain damage and permanently deaf in his right ear. He was in intensive care for two weeks, and managed to rest and return to football - only to find severe problems with his balance and his coordination, migraines and ringing in his ear. Jack said he had to retire, and was dealing with depression because of his injury.

But then he said he got a call which changed his life, when he was asked to trial at England in 2012 - which introduced him to cerebral palsy football.

He said:?“The last five years have been unbelievable. I’ve been so lucky to have Captain’ed Great Britain, and I set the record for the quickest goal in Paralympic history, at 21 seconds.”

Jack showed a video of these highlights vs Ireland in the 2016 Paralympic Games, and the pupils responded with much excitement and cheering.

He told the pupils:?“I’m so happy I can share my story in a positive way. I feel like I’ve achieved so much more being part of the CP team.”

“We all go through challenges in our lives and you guys have already overcome so many.”

He gave the pupils advice to “stay active” to “be resilient” and “to compete against yourself - not others, to become a better YOU”.

He also said that “the only disability in life, is a bad attitude.”

At the end of the assembly, Jack took two volunteers, teaching pupil Jack to ‘scoop the ball’ and teaching pupil Sophie, to header the football - without closing her eyes. He gave them wristbands for participating.

He then took questions from each year group, and was asked to show them some tricks!

A Year 6 pupil said: “He was really funny and made us laugh. He showed us how to do different exercises and made us work hard. We liked watching the video of his life story as it showed the inspirational journey he has gone through and how he has never given up on his passion.”

Siobhan Fitzpatrick, PE Coordinator at Ashfield Park Primary School, said: “We were very fortunate to have Jack Rutter visit our school and lead a workout to all children from Reception to Year 6.

“In the morning each child took part in a mini circuit, which included exercises like; spotty dogs, mountain climbers, push-ups and star jumps. The children thoroughly enjoyed the day and raising money to provide a wide range of resources for school.”

The children collected sponsorship money over the past three months for the four minute circuit, which will be used to buy new playground equipment and new resources for P.E. lessons.