the love
of conversation

This is an exciting time to play football. Since the Euros 2021, when England was in the final, there has never been so much passion for the 'beautiful game.' Aston Villa Ability Counts team were no different, entering the Sandwell Inclusive Championship play-offs with great enthusiasm and self-belief. However, the long season was drawing close, and they were tired. Nevertheless, the play-offs turned out to be a welcomed challenge, and after easily reaching the semi-finals, they embraced the final itself with enthusiasm and confidence. They came very close on several occasions, but unfortunately, they lost 2:0. The experience and enjoyment of being In the final never waned. They did us proud. Well done lads!

Small Talk Podcats caught up with Callum and Connor (Captain) after their recent match at Moseley Rugby Club (1/5/22) to see how they feel about this season and how they can improve for their coming season. The team are 3rd in the Birmingham Ability Counts League. You can hear the full interview on our podcast page. (Aston Villa Foundation website) - Ability Counts is the name of Aston Villa’s disability football provision, and it provides inclusive, accessible football for disabled people from the age of six right through to adulthood. No matter what disability you have, Aston Villa Foundation coaches have the skills and experience to ensure we offer the opportunity for everybody to enjoy football. The Foundation has teams competing in the Birmingham and Sandwell Ability Counts League. In addition, it provides competitive football for boys and girls in 8-12, 12-16 and 16+ age groups. We put the emphasis on having fun, making new friends and building confidence while also highlighting the importance of regular physical activity.

In conversation with Lord Sebastian Coe, giving advice to young athletes at the beginning of their careers. The event was organised by Coventry and Warwickshire Chamber of Commerce at IXL Events Centre in Birmingham. Lord Coe points out the huge importance of the school environment. He says that in sports one can get everything one wants from it and at every level. It's something one can derive great pleasure from. He says: "Over the course of 10 or 12 days, we [David Morecroft and myself] have just done some research on that. There are billions of people on the planet who describe themselves as recreational runners. That's a huge asset. Look at the London marathon. You have 20-30 athletes at the top in the world vying for positions for world records - local records and championship records alike. But then watch a woman running the marathon for the first time, celebrating as though she has won the Olympic title as she's just broken five laps, and that, for me, has every bit as much merit for our sport. The big challenge now is with all the rubbish on TV and so much stuff on reality TV, everybody wants everything very quickly. So trying to say to a 12-year-old coming to me, coming down to the running track, I will say nothing much is going to happen in the first 5 to 6 years. And they want it to happen in the next 6 mins. It's a big challenge, a massive challenge for schools in particular. I joined the athletics club in 1968 and didn't compete in Olympic Games until 1980. That's a 12-year apprenticeship, so it's encouraging youngsters to enjoy the journey. Advice to young people, take from it what you want - you don't have to be training five times a week to get great pleasure from it - you can make great friendships that last a lifetime, and it takes time."

Talk is cheap, easy even…. and we can all take it for granted. Those conversations that we begin, and we believe in, are essential to paving to way to new connections and essential networking. Putting in the extra effort to be a part of good conversations today, prepares us for exciting possibilities tomorrow. So, giving each other the tools we need to be clearer, stronger and at our mental best, whatever that means for each person, it’s what we promote for you, our business connections, communities, and our team. Small Talk PODCAST is based in Henley-in-Arden in Warwickshire. It is the brainchild of Nathalie Luckett, a media director who has been working for over 20 years with young people and broadcast executives, producing stories for radio and TV. She believes that in order to make the important 'first step connections' with others, new business's or existing business we need to get the first step right! Small Talk Podcast can bring those new connections together by producing a finely tuned podcast for internal or external purposes leading to a deeper conversation essential for successful networking. It can also be used for company new starters, new sales pitches and even as a retention tool for existing customers. Studies show that small talk is responsible for nearly one-third of our speech even if some cultures participate in it more than others. It’s hard to believe that these initial preambles can have such an impact on a judge of character or even on how we categorize relationships as friendships, work colleagues, or acquaintances. However, being custodians of our own conversations by using small talk allows us to tap into relationship dimensions of power, solidarity, formality, and function using what linguists call topic management to lead conversations toward intended outcomes, like business or networking pitches. (Fast Company.com) ••

Why football? Where did your love of the game come from? In all honesty, I'm not entirely sure. Growing up, my grandad and Uncle were die-hard Liverpool fans. My grandad is related to The Great Bill Shankly, so I suppose I grew up around it. Although when I started to get older, especially over the last few years, love became an interest of mine rather than just family love. Liverpool V Chelsea in the Carabao Cup Final. It went to penalties and Tuchel brought on a substitute goalie who missed his penalty! Liverpool won 11 - 10. What was your earliest match memory, and where was it? My first match memory was a Birmingham City game. My friends' parents had season tickets, and it was in the days when they were so desperate to fill the seats they did £1 kids' tickets to Sunday games. We went along, and I just loved the matchday atmosphere; I guess this ties in with where my love came from. Once I'd had that actual match day pitch side experience, I suddenly became much more interested when my grandad had it on the TV! Did you ever play? Do you have anyone in your family who plays professionally? Nope, personally, I've never played. I did all I could to get out of PE at school. Not anymore no, and no one I've ever met in my family has played, other than a kick around in the park. I love when games go to penalties, even if it does mean I have to watch peeping from behind my fingers! Your life-changing match? My favourite recent match has to be the Man U v Villareal Europa league final, which is crazy because I'm absolutely not a fan of either team. But the penalty shootout going so far that the goalies had to take penalties, was the first time I'd ever really seen that happen. David De Gea missing his was the icing on the cake!

This team meets up every week at Villa Park and is part of the National Ability League. They are run by Nigel Macrow and their captain Connor Sherry has a podcast on our site. We are proud to say, he will be a regular contributor to Small Talk Sport. My mum wanted him to 'give it a go...' in 2007/8 he made his debut playing Sunday matches at Villa park for the Ability Counts team. 'I used to be a striker, the coach said try right back, basically, I'm right-footed ..not so good on my left! I had a good go at it and it suited me more...I remember when I scored a goal once in a very important match I couldn't help myself feeling all kinds of different emotions. “ I have been playing disability football since the age of 5 and now I'm 21 so that's about 16 years and it's really helped me a lot." It's really helped me a lot...football...mentally to try and learn new things.... growing up I have autism and other needs and it was very hard to try and socialise with new people or get involved a lot, it was a bit of a struggle at first but I had loads of support from the staff, in particular Nigel, a Villa disability coach, runs disability sessions for younger groups to adults. He does a fantastic job and has worked at the Villa for over 30 years. To hear Connors' full interview click on the podcast section of our website.