Former Woodham student and current Chelsea goalkeeper, Ross Turnbull, took time out of his busy schedule to drop into the Academy this week to talk to PE students.
As one of the Academy’s ambassadors for Woodham Ross keeps in contact with the school and took the opportunity to visit the school after Chelsea away fixture at Newcastle United last weekend.
Ross spent the morning talking with students from both the highly successful GCSE Physical Education course and also the key stage 3 Physical Education curriculum. Topics included diet and nutrition regimes professional footballers have to follow, different training methods under the different Chelsea managers that he has played for and dealing with the pressure of playing in the best league in the world.
Students got to ask their own questions and the hot topic on everyone’s lips was ‘What was it like to win the European Cup with Chelsea last year’?
Assistant head teacher Jon Tait said “Having Ross as an ambassador for our Sports Academy is fantastic.He is living proof that local children can make it to the very top if they are prepared to put in the hard work and dedication required”.
Jon also went on to comment on Ross’s involvement in Chelsea’s Champions League win last May “Ross spoke to our students about the fact that he can remember watching Liverpool’s amazing Champions League Final comeback against AC Milan in the Oak Leaf Sports Complex with his friends . . . 8 years later he was holding up the cup himself! Quite incredible”.
