On Tuesday (05/05/26) was the first FC Padel tournament at Club De Padel in Sheffield to raise money for Weston Park Charity.
There were 6 teams of 4, all Yorkshire football clubs, the teams contained both current and ex footballers who’d play for those teams.
Some of the players involved were Billy Sharp, Liam Cooper, David McGoldrick, Owen Bailey, David Cotterill and more!!
There supporting the event was also Liam Palmer, Luke Molyneux and more current and ex footballers.
They even had Sky Sports, ITV, Football Heaven, The Star and more reporting on it.
To say it was the first event FC Padel had put together, it was extremely well run, and it had a very good vibe and atmosphere.
There were around 200 public visitors watching throughout the evening, and everyone mixed very well together, the public, the players and the media.
The players were very approachable and happy to take any photos or sign shirts for people.
And of course being competitive footballers, there were some competitive and high level games of padel.
I absolutely love the photo I had with the Rovers lads, I’ve met a few of them a few times and they’re all top lads and a credit to the club, Luke in particular has been fantastic with me and MHFC.
I gave out my wristbands to several players and the media, and it was surreal to see not only Cooper and McGoldrick wanting to wear them while they were playing padel, but also the lovely Sky Sports journalist wearing the wristband while interviewing Cooper and Palmer!! I’m trying to find the Sky Sports interviews (you can see the photo’s with McGoldrick and the Sky Sports journalist below).
(You can see all the photos I took below, some aren’t the best unfortunately, and there’s some I wish I’d have got, but I was quite anxious.)
MY MENTAL HEALTH FOR THE EVENT….
I’d started talking to the organisers a couple of weeks before the event, I expressed my interest in attending, but the complications with my anxiety and travelling, new people, new venues and evening events.
The FC Padel and Tom specifically couldn’t have been more supportive of me.
I’d mentioned what Mental Health FC is and what it does, and he was very keen to have me/MHFC at the event.
I knew it would be a challenge due to the below reasons.
– It was a 45minute drive through Sheffield during a busy time, and it’s something I try to avoid at all costs, I hate driving through big, busy city centres. The other option was to drive the long way around to avoid the city centre, but it was an extra 20mins.
– The other option was for someone to drive me so I don’t have to worry about the drive, but I had to be fully comfortable with them because I know how I get in a car if I feel anxious, I also needed to know they would be completely fine if I wanted to go home quite soon after getting there, even if it was after 5 mins
– It was at a new venue I’d never been to before
– It was completely new people I’d never met
– It was likely to be busy
– It was in the evening, so I had a lot of time to stress and talk myself out of it.
In terms of getting there, my Dad was happy to take me, he was also interested in padel and football, so I was happy about this, it was the first time he’d driven me to an event, but at some point, I had to give it a go in the hope it went well, and we can possibly do it in the future.
I could also let my Dad know only around 15mins before we set off if I was ok to go, which helped a lot, it also helped that he was happy to drive me home even if we’d been there only 5 mins.
On Friday, I broke my tooth, and this is a major anxiety trigger for me, not the best lead up to the event on Tuesday, especially when it was the bank holiday weekend, and I couldn’t ring up the dentist until Tuesday.
On Tuesday, I had several stressful things building, and my anxiety was getting bad, on top of this, I rang the dentist and booked an appointment for 2pm that day!!
It was the perfect cocktail of stress and anxiety to not attend the event, and what makes it worse is that the events can’t be moved, I either go, or I miss it.
I went to the dentist at 2pm and got a short term fix (X-ray and hospital visit pending).
My anxiety was still bad, and I put a post on socials about this, but at the time of deciding about the event, my anxiety calmed a little, I knew I wanted to go to the event, and it couldn’t be moved, and also that my Dad was happy to drive home if I wanted to, I decided to push and go.
In the car, 10-15 mins from the venue, I started getting quite anxious, breathing was changing, starting to get slightly dizzy and feeling sick, I did my best to control it, and thankfully, we reached the venue before it got worse.
Another thing that massively helped my decision to go was the fact that the organisers were continue of my anxiety and were more than happy for me to go into the venue 15mins before it properly opened, so I could get used to the venue and settle before it got busy.
Once I was in the venue, talking to people, looking around and getting familiar with things, my anxiety calmed a lot because I was focusing on other things.
I must have felt ok as I ordered pizza, and if I’m too anxious, I don’t want to eat.
As I mentioned above, the atmosphere, vibe and mix of everyone was fantastic, the hosts were great, and the event went very well, credit to how it was planned and managed.
I do have to apologise to anyone I spoke to on the night, when I’m very anxious, sometimes I struggle talking, getting my point across or explaining anything very well, I especially don’t like this with new people I meet, as they can potentially get the wrong impression of me from meeting me for the first time quickly when I’m anxious.
The standout moment for me, though, was at the beginning of the event, when there weren’t as many people in, and players were walking around more before the tournament kicked off, Billy Sharp walked past me and recognised me and the MHFC shirt I was wearing from the last home game of the season when I first met him.
He stopped walking, turned round, walked back to me and dapped me and said hello…. To remember me after only seeing him once for 5 minutes and to come and say hello was unreal, and I can’t thank him enough, something that will stay with me forever.
I was very thankful to get some brilliant photos, one with the Donny Rovers lads, Sky Sports and some of the other players, as well as a number of them to sign the shirt I have in my office.
I also gave out a lot of wristbands, it was surreal to see players wearing the wristbands while playing padel and even the Sky Sports interviewer wearing a wristband while interviewing players on Sky Sports.
Unfortunately, I couldn’t stay for the full event, and we left at around 7:15, so we were there for around 2 and a half hours, I send my goodbyes and thanks to everyone.
I felt ok before I went to bed, but unfortunately, I woke up with a slight headache and still drained from the event, which didn’t help my anxiety, and on Wednesday, my anxiety was extremely bad, in the morning, I couldn’t stop the panic, the thoughts, it was awful, and I hate when it’s like that.
Thankfully, as the afternoon and evening went on, it got better, hopefully the stresses sort themselves out and go in time, as it’s a really difficult period when they’re ongoing.
I’m very happy I went to the event though.
Even though I was still struggling with anxiety and stress through the event, I felt very guilty for forcing myself to go after I’d posted about struggling that morning, I’ve been really bad on Wednesday and Thursday also.
It’s the whole looking happy on the outside cliche, I guess.
I just don’t want people to think I’m doing fine and not telling the truth or playing on it when I’m looking happy and laughing when underneath I’m really struggling, I went to try and help myself and keep attending as much as I can and that’s what the post was relating to.
Thank you again to my Dad for the support and understanding, and also to the FC Padel team and Tom in particular.
(I’m sorry if the grammar of this and my other posts isn’t great, I’d rather it be slightly wrong but me, than better or perfect but AI)
Tom Jenkins, Pete Shuttleworth, Richard Poxon, Maddy Cameron, Sarah Jenkins…. Well done!! 👏🙌
Click here to read my previous anxiety posts.
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IMPROVING MENTAL HEALTH THROUGH FOOTBALL ⚽️💚
EVERYONE WELCOMED & SUPPORTED
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