Jude Bellingham returns to Stourbridge as McDonald’s Fun Football Ambassador, wowing young fans with his skills??
Jude Bellingham says he didn’t like football as a kid, but he wants to get the next generation of football players interested in the sport.
Our 19-year-old player is one of the best in the world and was named Bundesliga player of the season this week. It was so close for him to win the title with Borussia Dortmund.
He took England to the quarterfinals of the World Cup in Qatar in the winter. He is now a key player for both his club and his country.
But things might have been very different if I hadn’t had a kid “light bulb” moment.
At first, Bellingham wasn’t interested in football, even though he liked seeing his father, Mark, score a lot of goals for non-league teams in the Midlands.
“I just wasn’t having it,” the English player told the PA news agency.
“It kind of clicked after a while because my dad took me to his minor league games,”
“I think it driven him crazy for a while, but I was hooked, and I’m still hooked, thank goodness.”
For sure, Bellingham doesn’t know when he “fell in love with” football, but he says it was at his home club Birmingham.
A lot of people remember how “wide-eyed happy” he was when he went to Blues practice. He wants to make other people happy too.
McDonald’s Fun Football is a program that gives kids ages 5 to 11 free, open-level football classes in more than 1,500 locations across the UK. Bellingham has become an ambassador for the program.
It was fun to play Fun Football with the kids for the first time. “It was great to come here, kick around with them, and see what it’s all about,” he said.
I’ve never seen McDonald’s do anything like this before to make sure that everyone can enjoy football.
“It’s very important to me because more people can play the game.”
“Well, England’s win at the Euros last year pretty much made women’s football famous, and there were so many great boys and girls from all walks of life here today.”
“They all just come to play and have fun.” “I love seeing them laugh and have fun; that’s what it’s all about.”
“I am very proud” of the fact that I can “make a difference in the next generation.” He stayed long after the show was over to sign autographs and take pictures.
