Harvey Waldron, a CITC community coach has been deaf since birth. He has always loved football, but he found it difficult as a youngster to play in a mainstream setting.
Harvey sat down with Erling Haaland, Nathan Ake and Cole Palmer sharing his story and journey with them before teaching the trio several phrases in sign language, including some important football phrases.
In 2015, Harvey joined a hearing-impaired football programme in Manchester, ran by CITC, that has transformed his life and helped him to change the lives of others in the area.
Within two years of joining the programme, Harvey had become a volunteer of the charity, helping to deliver soccer schools as well as disability and girls’ sessions in the city.
“I was determined to become a coach to make sure the deaf participants that come to the sessions see that I’m the coach to impact their lives, so they think they can do anything they want to,” Harvey said.
Harvey gained his FA Level 2 coaching qualification and helped to develop City’s deaf teams.
And since 2018, he has been working as a Premier League Kicks coach, inspiring young people who are in the same position as him and showing them that they too can overcome barriers to achieve their potential.
Thank you to Cadbury who gifted contracted player time to City in the Community.
To find out more, visit www.mancity.com/CITC or follow the charity on social media @CITCmancity.
City in the Community empowers healthier lives with city youth through football.
