Brentwood Prep Incipe 2019

Brentwood School Preparatory 27 Old Brentwoods We have read that you weren’t particularly sporty at school, have you got any tips for the children who like sport but aren’t in the teams? I’d say that was me! I didn’t start playing football for school until I was fifteen, I loved it but didn’t really have the opportunity to play in the teams. I liked playing for the House football teams. Just keep working at it, the time I spent on my hobbies at a younger age stood me in good stead for later life and I’ve even made a career out of my hobby. What was your most memorable moment at the Prep? My generation was quite interesting. When I was in Year Five it was the first year that girls came into the school so that was interesting! In 1999, the whole school went on the field and made the shape of 1999, a helicopter came over and took our photo. Then our form all had a photo with the helicopter so that was quite good!. What advice would you give to children who might be thinking about posting videos on YouTube? I was about sixteen before I made my first video and that was still relatively immature. It can be quite dangerous, I was under the impression that you would only get online abuse if you’ve done something wrong, but I don’t know anyone in the industry who hasn’t had to deal with it at some point. Some people are just mean, particularly if you’re successful and they’re jealous. But that’s what I’d say to older children. For younger, primary children, I would advise against it, don’t do it. Try to hone the skills you need to help you in later life, do drama and get confident in talking in front of your peers. Join the debating society, it’s all great practise. As a parent, I wouldn’t want a child of mine posting things on the internet, you never know how the things people say can affect the mental health of a child. You could practise, make videos but don’t post them on the internet. The internet is just a tool, grow up wanting to be an actor or a film director or writer rather than an Internet star; YouTube is just a platform to do these things from. What is your opinion of Fortnite? I don’t play it a lot, I really only like playing football games. I know it is really popular at the moment, especially with children of the Prep age, and it’s easy to get hooked on it. I preach a balanced lifestyle, I don’t believe in people going home and playing four hours of computer games every night and nothing else. People need to keep themselves healthy, physically and mentally, and do a variety of things. We have people who play FIFA professionally for us, but they are all well rounded individuals who play sport in real life too. So I don’t think there is anything wrong with playing it, especially as it is so culturally relevant right now, but limit how much you play it, you don’t need to play it all night. The Prep’s a good school, if you’re a good student and following the rules, coming home from school, doing clubs and a bit of homework, a bit of gaming isn’t going to hurt you. It’s all about balance. Do you have any secret tips on playing FIFA? Well, I used to play with my older brother who was always better than me. We had to play on the computer and he had the keyboard and I always had to use the mouse - there was never enough room on the desk for it so I always used to lose! But that was a good lesson for me and for life in general, I never got put off. Every time I lost I learnt something until I got to the point where I would beat my brother. So, play against people who are better than you, understand why they are better and learn from them. And some questions from the children… How many goals have you scored in your career? I’m not a big goal scorer. For Hashtag United, I’ve scored six, I don’t play for them any more, they are too good for me! I still play on a Sunday, so probably in my career, if you include young football, school and university, I’d say I’ve scored about thirty goals. Which position do you play? I play defence, full back or wing back, left or right. I try to set up goals for other people and stop them from scoring. When did you start playing football? I always played in the garden with my brothers, but I probably started playing for a team when I was about thirteen. They were called Brentwood Boys in King George’s park. I played for a few different teams after that and I’m still going strong in King George’s Park on Sundays now! And lastly, have you had any injuries? I’ve pulled a few hamstrings that kept me out for a couple of months but nothing serious. My worst one, and there is You Tube evidence of this, was a massive black eye. At a football match the day before, I went to head the ball quite low and got a knee in the face and got the biggest black eye which is now on one of my most watched videos on YouTube! Thank you Spencer for your wise, inspirational and amusing words.