This week Bill Carne was really pleased to meet up with Kai Sheehan, a talented young footballer and general sports lover who is doing a great job as a Bronze Young Ambassador at St Marks VA School in Merlins Bridge, Haverfordwest . . .

At 11 years of age Kai Sheehan is a proven goal scorer with Prendergast Villa that saw him score over 300 goals in two seasons, an amazing record of consistency and what is popularly known as a ‘nose for goals’.

But it is great to report that as well as enjoying a wide variety of sports himself that he fits in alongside his school work and other interests he is already involved in encouraging other young people who are not comfortable in sport or leisure activities to try and get them to give them a try in the hope it will help their general fitness and give them a chance to savour what such enjoyment offers.

Because Kai was chosen to be a Bronze Young Ambassador at St Marks Junior School in Haverfordwest and at such a young age it is terrific that he approaches his role in a very serious manner under the watchful eye of his teacher, Mr Richard Owen, and is joined by Jack Farr, Edwin Griffiths, Shannon Brown and Lexi Haynes as other Bronze Ambassadors there.

The scheme starts out at Bronze Level in primary schools, continues through to Silver and Gold Levels in secondary education before the Platinum Level is devised for those helping from colleges or out in the work place or leisure centres.

Organised by Ben Field and Matthew Freeman at Sport Pembrokeshire in County Hall, it really stimulates people even as young as Kai, to get stuck in.

“When Mr Owen asked me I thought it was great and we had to go to a meeting in the Records Office to found out what we had to do in our school – and then go back to help the teachers get things going.”

So far there has been terrific interest in the activities organised at St Marks which include rugby, cricket, tennis, athletics, football and dodge ball – with more in the pipeline once the better weather comes around.

“One of the best things we also did so far was to aim to encourage 30 pupils to walk or run a mile for 30 days and we had 46 taking part,” said Kai, “which was brilliant.”

Kai has been involved with the total support of his family. His mum Joanne enjoyed sport until the children came along and dad Carl used to play football until he had a hip operation, but still plays pool at county level. Then there are sisters Chloe (17) and Kelsea (14) who also played football for Johnston at one time.

Amongst Kai’s other sports are cricket, where he bats and bowls for the school’s team, rugby and tennis, where he won the St Mark’s competition and has been told by Mr Owen that he will be entered against other schools in the county, not only in the singles but also in the doubles with Jack Farr as his likely partner.

“I also went to boxing at Merlins Bridge ABC with Graham Brockway and it was great to learn about training hard there and sparring against other boys – and although I had to stop for a while because of doing other things I am planning to back there when I’m not quite so busy.”

Not content with that little lot, Kai also competed in the cross country at Oakwood last season, despite having a chest infection that made it hard for him to run at his best – but he still came a creditable 35th out of 120 with his never-give-in spirit!

It was a similar story in athletics because Kai won the high jump in the schools athletics day and in general he just loves taking part in anything sporty!

But it is always football that has always been his favourite after starting out with Haverfordwest Cricket Club under the guidance of Robert Harries and then switching to Prendergast Villa two years later in a team coached by Matthew Fox.

The family is hugely impressed with the care that ‘Foxy’ has shown to Kai and the rest of his team but it seems the respect is mutual because coach Matthew told us: “Kai comes from a hugely supportive family and he is a pleasure to have in the team because he is modest and has a terrific sense of humour, listens to all we tell him – and he has this huge capacity to spot goal-scoring chances that have helped produce big scores in our favour.”

Just how big can be gauged from the fact that in those two prolific seasons he never failed to score in any game, had hat tricks, fours and fives galore – and 13 goals in a 32-1 win over Clarbeston Road; and an amazing 16 goals in a 24-0 win at Hundleton!

Kai was invited to join the Swansea City development squad and stayed with them for four seasons and it is small wonder then that Kai was invited to represent the County Schools’ team coached by Angie Nicholls and really enjoyed being coached by Angie for two seasons against strong teams from all over South Wales and beyond.

Ask Kai who is favourite team is and it comes as no surprise that his answer is Liverpool and his favourite player is currently Mo Salah, who like Kai is a proven goal scorer.

“I went to Liverpool to watch them play at Anfield and I managed to get an autograph of Louis Suarez on a poster – but the best thing was that my family organised for me to have a VIP tour for my eighth birthday and it was even better than I could have hoped for.

“We went all over the ground and met some great people and it was so good I would love the chance to go again sometime.”

But at the moment Kai is focusing on his own football and work as a Bronze Ambassador.

“One of the best things was when a girl in school who is very good at gymnastics came up to me to say that she would like to try playing football and is going to join a club after playing with us in school.”

That shows the merits of the scheme, even in junior schools, as long as there are smashing youngsters like Kai Sheehan involved, and we wish him every success as a Young Ambassador and footballer in future years!