Professional Footballer Sanchez Watt visits the ReachOut Academy London

This week the ReachOut Academy London mentees were lucky enough to meet Colchester United winger Sanchez Watt who came and spoke to the mentees about his career as a professional footballer.

Sanchez spoke passionately about how our young people can achieve whatever they desire with a lot of hard work and determination. He attributed surrounding himself with good friends and staying away from negative influences to realising his potential.

Growing up in Hackney he is only too aware of the obstacles many of our young people face and his message was - don’t let the area you grow up in hold you back!

One piece of advice Sanchez had for our young people was ‘always listen to your manager as they always have your best interest at heart’. This was particularly important to Sanchez as he suffered a serious hamstring injury after not warming up properly before a training session.

Both the mentors and mentees at ReachOut had lots of questions to ask including what techniques Sanchez uses to psyche himself up before big games, such as his premier league debut at Emirates Stadium, and what advice he would give to young people who are hoping for a career in professional football.

After the classroom session the mentees took part in a football tournament with Sanchez captaining the girls’ team who managed to hold their own against the boys’ teams. A huge thanks to Sanchez for giving up his time to visit ReachOut and for inspiring our mentees!