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It is true when people say it is not the size of the dog, but the size of the fight in the dog. I was watching the Jamie Vardy documentary on Netflix last night and his life story how he made it as a professional footballer is quite remarkable. Untold UK Jamie Vardy
For those that don't know about Vardy he was a professional footballer who made it to the very top of the game when he eventually played for England. His route to the top is what makes his story remarkable and almost impossible to repeat itself ever again.
Hard to think a factory worker earning 30 GBP per week playing non league football training in the evenings for the fun of it ends up earning 140K GBP per week playing for Leicester in the Premier League.
He was a good footballer being with the Sheffield Wednesday football academy but at 16 was told he was to small to compete with other strikers. He was 5ft 9 but had a very small build, but made up for it in speed and aggression. How wrong the academy were and they missed out on a player who broke English Premiership goal scoring records. Size is not everything and it is the heart and character of the player along with natural ability that counts the most.
Starting out in non league football playing for laughs with his mates he was a scoring machine. He eventually looked outside his club to see what he could do and signed for 8th division Halifax Town who he helped get promoted. An agent who had no players on his books was told about Vardy and went to watch him and signed him up as quickly as he could. The agent tried to get contracts for him with only 5th division Fleetwood Town taking a chance offering him 1200 GBP per week. Again he scored goals for fun and they were promoted which finally had the agents phone ringing. Leicester were one of 3 clubs interested and Vardy signed for Leicester. They were in the Championship at the time and helped them get promoted into the Premiership and in his 3rd season with the club was instrumental in them winning the EPL title whilst breaking goal scoring records.
What is remarkable about this achievement is the drive within the person to over come the odds as they were heavily stacked against him. Becoming a professional player at the age of 24 not coming through the normal route like a club academy is what makes his story so unique.
I know some of the top rugby players who turned professional were never in academies or even featured for their school first teams. Late bloomers possibly or they were just over looked by everyone coaching the teams. Someone has to spot what everyone else has missed and why plenty of players in all sports miss out for whatever reason it is.
I can imagine many smaller framed sportsmen have been skipped over due to their size and only the ones who have the fight to over come this stand out. I have always been fortunate enough to have the size and strength to compete so it must be a whole new level of having to compete when you are that much smaller. Vardy had speed on his side along with an aggressive character so he never backed down even when the odds were stacked against him and the bigger the odds the harder he fought.
If you want to watch a decent rags to riches type documentary then this is one hell of a story and is highly recommended. This is only 90 minutes long and definitely worth watching.