A female footballer who received a personalised letter from former Manchester United manager Sir Alex Ferguson that ‘inspired’ her to continue with her sporting career has been recognised for her efforts.
Twenty-five-year-old Alice Clason joined an all-boys team at the age of six, before going on to play for clubs including Derby County, Birmingham City and Stoke City. Wearing the number seven shirt – the same number worn by family members and her hero, David Beckham – Alice also attended England training camps.
A bad injury at the age of 19 curtailed her blossoming football career but a letter from Sir Alex, who encouraged Alice to stay involved in sport, motivated her and, eventually, led her to a career as a sports coach with Derbyshire-based Progressive Sports in the East Midlands.
She said: “The injury blow was hard to take, and I went through a rough patch with my mental health. Receiving the letter from Sir Alex Ferguson – a real inspiration to me – spurred me on to continue with a career in sport.
“Sport is an outlet of so many situations that you could be dealing with. I absolutely love working for Progressive Sports as it means that I can pass on my love of sport and hopefully inspire others.”
Alice was named Coach of the Year at the Progressive Sports awards, which took place in Lichfield.
More than 250 people attended the ceremony including members from Progressive Sports franchises in Bristol, London and Manchester.
The coaching company supports schools with sport and PE and hosts holiday and after school camps, with sessions including Glow in the Dark Dodgeball, Zorb Football and gymnastics.
Adam Holland, Managing Director of Progressive Sports in the East Midlands, said: “Alice was given the award of Coach of the Year for always going above and beyond. She’s an absolute joy to be around and, when we had Ukraine refugees join us on holiday camps over the summer, Alice spent hours translating the lesson plans using Google Translate.
“She bought individual awards to hand out to children in the schools we work with and I’m looking forward to seeing how she progresses with us.”
In a hugely successful night for the East Midlands franchise, which Adam purchased in 2015, fellow coach Ellie Topliss was named Coach’s coach of the Year and Adam was presented with an award for Contributor of the Year for ‘always being on the end of the phone’.
Adam said: “It has been a great couple of years for Progressive Sports in the East Midlands as we enter a new academic year in schools.
“Our business has more than doubled in size since I first bought the franchise and, this year alone, we’ve taken on eight new full-time employees and welcomed four new apprentices.
“We had an extremely busy summer with holiday camps, particularly on the back of the Commonwealth Games in Birmingham and the success of the Lionesses in the European Championships, and it’s great to see children getting active.”
