Footballer wants young people to have self-belief

A professional footballer wants to help young people believe in their own potential through a foundation offering mentoring and access to sport.

Brendan Wiredu, a midfielder for Plymouth Argyle, has launched a legacy to support young people in England and Ghana, inspired by his own experiences as a young person.

The 26-year-old said he wanted to help youngsters "grow, learn and believe in their potential" while navigating through the many challenges they faced.

"Sometimes you go through downs and I think I could be a prime example for some people and help, through my experience, to teach them how to navigate and deal with certain situations."

He said the idea for the foundation came from his personal challenges.

"I've been through loads of life situations, I've been through many different things and not everything is on the up," he said.

Wiredu who played for Charlton Athletic, Bromley, Colchester United and Fleetwood Town before joining Plymouth Argyle, said he had a challenging youth.

"Obviously, being from East London, it's not the glitz and the glam.

"You see certain things, you're around certain things - in school, I was not the best behaved child at all, I liked to break the rules quite a bit."

Wiredu deactivated his social media accounts in the wake of Argyle's 3-1 loss to Barnsley at the start of the season, after suffering what the club said was "a torrent of abuse from Argyle fans both publicly and privately".

He said the struggle through that period of time, along with his own journey growing up, encouraged him to set up the Brendan Wiredu Foundation.

"It's a foundation where I want to provide opportunities for young people in England and in Ghana to have role models they can look up to and hopefully steer some people in the right direction.

"Something I love doing is to get involved in the community, so it's just something that holds very dearly to me.

"Wherever I go I want to make an impact and I feel like this foundation is something I can do where I can make a lasting impact and it can keep going for a long time."

Wiredu said despite growing up in London, he had "so much love" for Ghana and his Ghanaian heritage, with his aunt living in the country.

On his own struggles, he added: "My brother passed away when I was young, 10 years ago it would be next year", he said.

"So going through that and having to deal with that trauma, I think that's kind of built me into the man I am now.

"Having the mentors to push me through into the right direction, that's what is very key in terms of why I built the foundation."

Touching on his work abroad, he continued: "Obviously in Ghana there's less opportunities than there is in the UK.

"We will be providing kits to grassroots teams, eventually hopefully having a little tournament out there to showcase their ability and for them to know that there's other people not just in Ghana thinking about them and wanting them to thrive as well.

"I think it's important for everyone to thrive - right now the world is a bit of a scary place, so to bring a bit of positivity into certain areas and provide them with things they don't probably see on a regular basis would be would be key.

"The end result will be helping and putting smiles on people's faces and making young people realise there's more to life.

"The reason why I've built this foundation is so that it goes for the long run."

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