John Henry Newman's Number 1!

Rebecca caught up with Year 11 Tom Smith to chat about his burgeoning career at Arsenal and for England Under 16s

At the end of November 2017, Tom Smith (Year 11) travelled to Florida with England’s Under 16s

football team for a tournament against Brazil, Holland and the USA. Although he sadly fractured his

wrist on the second day, and as a consequence could not play, he described it as a “really good

experience”, and his team went on to come third.

Tom, who was scouted by Arsenal Football Club eight years ago, trains four times a week, which

includes a match and a full day of training. On the subject of balancing school with his social life and

training, he stated that it involves “a lot of sacrifices”: he has limited free time and school work comes

above his social life but he asserts that “it is all worth it”. He is grateful for the school’s support and

understanding, especially the PE department and his Head of Year Mrs Ince, who expresses a lot of

interest in his future. Tom intends to pursue a professional footballing career and encourages all others

with similar sporting interests, saying that “if you really enjoy and love it, you just have to keep at it,

nothing in life is going to be easy, but if you keep working hard then you’ll get where you want to be.”