Case studies
Sean Rhoden
I was outside my house playing football with kids and friend of mine asked me if I would like to play for his team. The first thing I asked him was “Are they good?” He laughed and replied, “Just come and see for yourself”, so we headed for Clapham Common. I must admit the training was good and the guys seemed OK so I said I would play for them. I will never forget my first game for YourStory. The manager didn’t know a lot of the players and he didn’t know who to play. He started me anyway. I had a good game and gained the respect of the players. At half time Andy McKinney, the captain, came off and handed me the captaincy and from there I never looked back.
Me and Andy Mac, AKA Andrew McKinney, got on like a house on fire. He liked me for who I was. I used to find it hard to talk to people who were not in my circle. As time went on I found everyone at YourStory had a story to tell. I’m not the easiest guy to talk to sometimes but the way Adrian talks to me he always gets me thinking. Adrian Jones the Director, AKA Yoda, found me hard to get on with. I don’t know what it was, we just never got on. As time went on our relationship grew and now we both respect each other’s ways. Adrian is a great person and I wish I had met him when I was younger - I now know what good advice is.
Growing up in the street there is a lot of negativity but you don’t see it because that is all you see and even when you know you’re doing wrong it’s hard to stop.
Now I do voluntary work for YourStory doing Relationships and Community Development in Primary Schools. The relationship side involves going into schools and helping kids understanding different bonds with each other and their families, and also how to communicate with different social peers. I find it gives me a little insight into their lives.
Community development is all about helping people in undeveloped areas. My team works with schools and youth clubs to set up after school projects such as football, boxing, basketball, uni-hoc, Kwik-cricket, tennis and fitness. YourStory finds sport a good way to break barriers and interact with people.
I work with all ages and I feel good about what I do - at the end of the day I am helping people to get on in their lives.