Charlotte Proud

My sister suffers from Osteogenesis Imperfecta or brittle bones disease in simple terms. This has had a huge impact on her life because of her bones being fragile she has not be able to fully join in all the things children would normally do, such as playtime at school, where she would have to remain inside so she wouldn't break anything. As she grew older, she developed her love of football but always knew deep down she would not be able to play due to it being a contact sport. However, this didn't stop her and she began helping out at disability football in Telford, Shropshire. From here she undertook her coaching and refereeing qualifications to enable her to coach football at grassroots level and was actively involved in coaching for Madeley Sports FC and disability football in Telford. From here she moved to Newcastle to undertake a Sports Development Degree at Northumbria University. Since then she has helped coach/referee for the University and has also developed a new disability football team in conjunction with Northumberland FA to help encourage young people with disabilities to be able to join in and play football. She is using her own problems to help encourage people who cannot normally play football to do so in a fantastic environment and give you children a great start to life.