Life Blogger Series: Rugby star journey

When I was born, I had no clue what was going on in my life with problems with the family. One day when I was about 4 years old all I remember being taken away from my family, but I had no idea what was going on. I don’t know how I felt.

When I moved to a new home with a foster family I was scared. I lived in my new home for three years, then I moved again and again and again. I was really fed up of all the moving but I didn’t like telling people how I felt. One day I thought I found the right home, but I didn’t. The foster carer who I lived with was struggling a lot to help with my mental/emotional health/wellbeing so she decided to tell social services to move me as quick as possible. I didn’t even know about her doing it. One morning I was awake in my school clothes all happy to go school. Then I got told that I wouldn’t be going to school.

My social worker came to the house and told me what was going on so I had to go upstairs and pack my stuff. After a few hours of packing, I said my goodbyes and left to go to a residential home which is when my life started to turn around.

My worst and only regret that I still feel now is I never said bye to my old mates in school. I never let that stop me though. When I felt more settled in my new home, I started looking for a new school and that’s where I started to know myself better. I made new friends who supported me throughout the rest of primary.

When it came to year six, I told people that I lived in care, and it felt so much of a relief. At the end of the year one of the staff from my care home left to become a social worker. She is now a social worker of the family that I live with now. She was the person who found me a new home and I started to get to know the family better. Unluckily I caught Covid which meant caught I couldn’t do all the transition visits with my new carers.

Finally though, I moved for the last time. I’m really glad I moved to this home though because I found a new sport. I used to play football but that changed a couple years ago when I started playing rugby.

Rugby has taken over so much of my life, which is a good thing because playing rugby is really enjoyable, I have met new people and they are like a family to me. WE GO DOWN TOGETHER AND WE STAY STANDING TOGETHER.

That’s why I love rugby. Even though you have a completely different life from the others, you still have a lot in common. Nobody cares about your background, as it makes us who we are today. When I joined rugby, I had no clue how to play, and I was really nervous, but I got invited in, and I enjoyed it.

After a few weeks of playing, the captain came over to me and told me that the team was talking about me behind my back. I felt so upset when I heard about it. I still went to rugby, but I decided to not join in with the other girls. I stayed out their way as I didn’t know what to do. After a few weeks the head coach had a chat with everyone about being a team and so from that day on, I started to play with the girls again. It was such a relief because if I stopped playing rugby then I don’t know what my life would be like today.

I kept on pushing through those times in rugby. The first-ever season of rugby came to an end, and I felt more like part of the team. After the summer, I went back for the next season, and more people my age joined. More and more people came, and I started making really good mates at rugby.

I had a lot of resilience at the time, wanting to be as good as everyone else. I tried so hard and became more respected. We had a fun sevens tournament together as an under-14s group, and we felt more connected.

At the end of the second season, we had a celebration, and I got the coaches’ player of the season out of all the girls’ age groups. We had a team photo at the end of that night. Then it came back to the summer holidays where there was no rugby, which is really sad.

I am in my third season of rugby, and I am really enjoying it. I am in year 9 now, and I have started doing DofE. For my DofE volunteering, I coach the under-9s rugby team. I’ve been doing that for a few months now, and because I love it, in September I am being put on a rugby coaching course, so I will hopefully have a qualification.

I’ve had a few matches this season, which my team has enjoyed, hopefully as much as I have. Even though the season isn’t over yet, I know that I will carry on playing rugby. I don’t know when I will stop, but what I do know is that I am going to keep pushing through the hard challenges I have faced throughout my 14 years.

My advice to everyone that reads this is that if you have been through lots of tricky times, they will come to an end once you finish pushing through.

Everyone, stay resilient and keep pushing through because you will reach your dreams if you just believe!

Blog by Cruise Star

 

This blog has been created as part of a series of ‘Life Blogs’ by care-experienced young people, following the 2024 London sessions with The Royal Literary Fund and VoiceBox.