14 July 2024
Can you tell us your name and one interesting fact about yourself?
My name is Cole Fleming, and I am a professional football player for Cardiff City FC Under 21s and Wales U21’s.
What year did you graduate from Llanishen High School?
I completed my GCSE’S at Llanishen High school in the summer of 2022.
What subjects did you study or were you particularly interested in while you were with us?
I studied English Literature, History, Spanish and PE. My favourite subject throughout my school life was PE, for obvious reasons I liked to be sporty and doing practicals but I also liked the physiology side of things and really enjoyed learning about the body. On the other hand I liked English Literature as it made me more engaged with poems/books. I especially loved Spanish.
What are you doing now, and can you tell us how you got to this point?
Currently I am a first year pro in football with Cardiff City FC. This contract was offered to me early as a reward for my efforts and performances. I received this offer at just age 16 but couldn’t sign until 17. Right now at 18 I’m still trying to achieve my personal goals; it took a lot of hard sacrifice to get to this point I must admit, as some of my friends would be going out and doing things I guess a normal kid would, but I knew where I wanted to be and what I wanted to become and it took sacrifice and hard work.
Did you always know this career was something you wanted to pursue? If not, what other career options were you considering?
Since I was 4 years old, I can remember wearing an England shirt and just loved kicking the ball. I think when you find something you admire as much as I did, it just stays with you. Football was big with my family having my father play for Cardiff too. But I guess when I was aged 7 all I had on my mind was football, football, football, everything to do with football. And even in school all I wanted to do was play football, I just fell in love with the game.
Knowing what you know now, what advice would you give to your 16-year-old self?
I would tell my 16-year old self to keep believing, keep dreaming as anything is possible when you work hard. Even to this day I’m still believing. I would also tell myself not to worry too much on exams ahead and to prepare yourself with the best mindset knowing you are going to smash your exams.
What advice would you give to students today thinking about their future?
My advice is simple and effective, don’t rush your future until you’re certain.
What I mean by this is don’t put all your eggs in one basket; if you do this and the outcome isn’t what was expected you’ve got to give yourself the best of both worlds and keep yourself occupied with options. As it can be very easy to commit but always have a plan and goals; maybe if your plan doesn’t work you can always go to plan B. To finalise things off – take every day as it comes and make goals and objectives inside school or outside i.e education, sports, but always make little steps to your goals that you want to achieve.