Former Luton Town footballer inspires the next generation - 19th Nov 2009
A former England Schoolboy and Luton Town apprentice is again set to make sport his business in a bid to inspire today's children with a passion for fitness.
Steve Goodridge, who signed schoolboy and apprenticeship forms at Luton Town when they were in the top division under David Pleat, has set up his own business under the wing of the UK's biggest kids coaching company Premier Sport.
Steve, who's team mates included Phil Neville and Danny Murphy while representing England U15's, is already working in five schools in the Mid-Beds area, delivering breakfast, lunch & after school clubs.
Premier Sport is dedicated to developing innovative sports coaching which will help children to live a healthy, fit life, and successfully delivers coaching to more than 125,000 children every week.
The company is backed by big-named sporting ambassadors including rugby legend Lawrence Dallaglio, Olympic gold medallist Duncan Goodhew and former rugby league champion Paul Sculthorpe.
For Steve the move to Premier represents a big career change – he spent the last decade working as a printer before being made redundant last year.
But the father-of-two already had football coaching qualifications under his belt and travelled to America coaching youngsters after his own professional football career came to an end.
Now player/manager at Ampthill Town, Steve is already coaching lunch and after school clubs at Ridgmont Lower, Russell Lower, Totternhoe Lower, Harlington lower & Westoning Lower and ran a Chewits holiday camp at Russell Lower during October half term.
He recently ran a hugely successful fundraising event for Harlington Lower School which raised over £1000 for the school, and will offer PE coaching both in and out of school hours as well as holiday camps with his team of coaches under the Premier Sport umbrella.
"I decided to join Premier as it is the largest growing sports organisation in the country and a great opportunity for me to further my coaching career, while at the same time helping local children become more sports minded and further develop their skills," said the 32-year-old.
"My aim is to build a successful business which coaches thousands of children over the Bedfordshire area, while developing their knowledge and skills of various sports. I want to help children become fitter as a nation, and I believe I can use all my qualifications and the experience I have gained from some of the country's top managers to inspire them to success."
During his football career, Steve played at some of the country's top grounds including Highbury, White Hart Lane, Upton Park and Wembley – where he scored against Italy in front of a crowd of more than 44,000 while marking the now Italian captain Francesco Totti.
At the end of his Luton contract, Steve was loaned out to Wycombe Wanderers, playing under Martin O Neil as captain of the youth team and a regular in the reserves.