Danar Strzelec interview

Danar Strzelec, football goalkeeper

Transcript

00:00So my name is Damien Strelitz. I'm from Inverness and I'm 17 years old.

00:04So my football career is quite a funny story. I started off in St Joseph's Primary School.

00:08I was a striker. One day the goalkeeper didn't turn up so I got put into the goal because I was the tallest one.

00:12I went to Ballon. I played in Ballon for around two years. From there I got scouted to Clach by Rob McLeod.

00:18I was there for two years and I suffered an injury. When I was suffering with my hip, I didn't know at the time what it was.

00:23So I attended A&E in Inverness. They took me into a room and said I've got bone cancer and I wouldn't live another week.

00:29They told my mum to start planning my funeral. I was young at the time so I didn't really believe it.

00:33It didn't really sink into me. So I said to my mum, don't worry mum, I'll be a footballer one day.

00:38The doctor said to me, Dana, you've got no hope of living longer, never mind a footballer.

00:43So that was really hard for us as a family. In the end it didn't become bone cancer, it was osteochondroma.

00:50So then the doctor Michael Reedy came along from Aberdeen.

00:53But with six months of my life I lived with thinking I had bone cancer.

00:57It was quite hard but if it wasn't for that I wouldn't be this strong like I am today.

01:02I just want to thank all the Aberdeen people for looking after me.

01:05I got scouted by Cali actually, straight after my surgery six months later.

01:09I played there for two years, they released me.

01:11I sat down with my mum and we came across an advert about UK Football Trials.

01:15It's a scouting course camp in London. I attended that for five days around July.

01:18I got scouted by Manchester United, Chelsea, Tottenham and Portsmouth.

01:22That's how my football career started.

01:25He contacted me, phoned me. I was 15 at the time so it was quite difficult for me to move.

01:29Because my mum would have to move with me as well.

01:31I went there for six months for the summer. I went to Coopham.

01:34It was a training ground where Chelsea's training ground is.

01:36On that day I passed all my tests, MRI scans, everything.

01:39But then they found that I've got my hip injury again.

01:43So they sat me down and said they don't want to invest in a player that's not 100%.

01:47So it was quite a kick in the teeth but it's the way of football so I got released from then.

01:53I am looking forward. As I say, it's a new country, new place, new people, new faces.

01:59But I'm always up for a challenge.

02:00Thank you very much to Mark Holmes and Pavelin for getting me up to shape for Aberdeen Town FC.

02:05What I've learned from my experience is to never give up.

02:08As my doctor, Dr Michael Reedy said in Aberdeen, he said you will come across a lot of things in life.

02:15Ups and downs, injuries, non-injuries, people giving you hate.

02:20But one thing you can do is just take it on your chin and move on.