In a regular blog I am going to publish a series of interviews I have done with people I come across day to day in my role as a 1to1 Football Coach. These include players, coaches, managers at all levels and of course parents!

My first interviewee is Dan Cousens aged 14 who is at Ipswich Town Academy and a player I work with on a fortnightly basis.

Position: Centre Back

Training programme: Tuesdays 2 hours, all day school release on a Wednesday, Thursday: 2 hours, fortnightly:1 hour 1 to1 , Sunday: games.

Teams you play against: Arsenal, Spurs, West Ham, Chelsea, Colchester Utd, Charlton, Cambridge Utd, Norwich City, Millwall, Peterbrough, Fulham, Birmingham City and QPR. Touring sides and occasionally EJA sides.

Favourite Player: Sergio Ramos ( good choice!!)

Aspirations in football: to play in the Premier League or La Liga but to play at the highest level I can.

My football journey so far: I started playing football when I was 5 at a local club called Torquespeed FC. At the age of 9 I also attended a weekly technical session run by a local football company. At 12 I moved to play for Springfield FC in Chelmsford and at the same time started at Ipswich Town PDC. Whilst playing with Springfield I was scouted by Norwich, Colchester Utd and Crystal Palace. After 5 months at the Ipswich PDC I was invited to join the Elite Training Squad. I left Springfield to concentrate on the Elite Squad and joined AFC Sudbury. I played there for half a season and got asked to train with Ipswich Town Academy. I trained there for 10 weeks and the got offered an official 6 week trial. I impressed enough to be offered an Academy contract for Ipswich in December 2017 and I am still there now.

Boots you wear: Nike Tiempo Legend Seven Elite FG

Most memorable playing moment: in a game against Chelsea when we drew 4-4 it was one of my best performances. I made lots of critical challenges. The game was end to end and both teams were outstanding. We were 4-3 up with a couple of minutes to go but they equalised! The feeling was awful but at the end of the game was such a high because we had played so well having previously losing 5-1 to them!