TEACHERS AND PUPILS OF LOCAL SCHOOL CHEER ON ENGLAND HERO
The teaching staff and pupils of Grey Court School in Ham will be glued to their TV screens tonight (sunday) cheering on their former pupil Declan Rice.
The Arsenal midfielder, who was born in Kingston, will be lining up for Gareth Southgate’s England in tonight’s big Euros Final against Spain in Berlin.
Speaking of his time at the school, Rice, now 25, who was born in Kingston, has said: “I used to love football at Grey Court, we had one of the best school teams in the country at the time.
“I used to love it so much, I’d try and get the teacher, Mr Willmore, to change the times of the kick off so that I could play for Grey Court before going on to my training session at Chelsea.
“I still speak to Mr Willmore to this day and we’re really good friends. He loved it and always tried to get the best out of his teams so I loved school football too.
“I’ll always be thankful to everyone who has helped me along the way over the years to help me achieve my dreams now.”
His former PE teacher at Grey Court, Steven Willmore, has said: “You saw something special straight away with Declan. He had two great feet, an amazing work rate and he was a superb talker back then as well.
“He was so confident and led the team so you saw someone in these five-a-side sessions that stood out for many different reasons. We knew we had a talent but when we first saw him in a game, we knew he was special.
“And he was superb and played every game for the school. He wanted to play for the school team as well which was huge for us.”
He added: “To have seen this young man grow up and go to the top knowing he started his journey at Grey Court just inspires so many of the kids. It shows them if you work hard you can potentially realise your dreams.”
One of Declan’s team mates, Luke Shaw, also has local links. The 29 year old Manchester United left back is recovering from injury and has been on the bench for much of the tournament so far.
He was also born in Kingston, brought up in Molesey and attended Chandlers Fields Primary School.
