Harry Kane and Dwight Gayle both attended Chingford Foundation School the same school that produced former England captain David Beckham
With one of David Beckham’s pristine white Real Madrid shirts and a pair of his boots proudly on display in the reception area, it does not take long for visitors to Chingford Foundation School to realise this is a place of rare sporting significance.
Keep going, around to the PE department and there are more, including a framed England Under 21 shirt of Harry Kane. ‘To CFS, best wishes,’ Kane has signed across the red No 17.
Kane appears destined to follow the golden Beckham path from the same corridors and classrooms to the full international team. The pair met when Kane was 11 at Beckham's academy.
Kane, left, dribbles with ball at the launch of Beckham's academy in east London
Kane's PE teacher Mark Leadon poses in front of Kane and Gayle's shirts, which hang on the school walls
‘Harry was always dedicated and driven to succeed,’ said Mark Leadon, assistant head at the school and a former head of PE. ‘When he played for the school, he gave it everything.
He scored a lot of goals and we had a very successful team and he was outstanding.
‘He was always technically gifted and a real team player. He didn’t expect to be treated differently. He wasn’t one to keep the ball if a pass was on. He was never like that. Going through school, he was never egotistic. He was a normal pupil. He was also a very good cricketer, who opened the bowling for the school and batted at No 4.’
Crystal Palace’s Dwight Gayle also went to CFS and when his team beat Spurs 2-1 at Selhurst Park last month, the school flushed with pride to see both he and Kane on the scoresheet in the same Barclays Premier League game.
‘Dwight was a fantastic all-round sportsman,’ said Leadon. ‘His big asset was always his pace. He was a good sprinter and a cross-country runner. He was a good trampolinist and played point guard in the basketball team and was a fantastic cover point fielder.
‘His career path was not quite as smooth as Harry’s. He was released by Arsenal and went into non-league, joined Dagenham and Redbridge, before he moved to Peterborough and then Palace. I read that Harry was once at Arsenal but he was always at Tottenham from the age when he joined us.
‘They’ve both been back to talk to the school in assemblies about aspirations. The students here are split between Spurs and Arsenal but they talk about Harry a lot. You’ll hear them in the playground at lunchtime or break saying: “I’m Harry Kane” or “Harry Kane does this”. It used to be Beckham.’
0 comments:
Post a Comment