Immediate Thoughts - #FFCamp15

The last 6 days have been amazing - so amazing that I cannot word nor begin to explain. Nor am I going to. Well aware of my reflective capabilities, I'm going to sit on my thoughts for the next week or so and pull them together when I can catch my breathe. 

Not wanting to leave the blog on a blank slate, I'll attempt to drop my immediate thoughts, hopefully they will make sense or offer some suggestion of what I mean. 

In the pre-camp blog I said I went into the week with a different kind of nerves. An apprehension of not knowing where my National Game Youth Council or Football Futures path leads. Nerves of wanting to better last year, knowing that the little things were going to be the difference. 

I've always said the event and destination isn't always the important part, but the people you are travelling and working with. This week has allowed me to build some amazing friendships, strengthen ones which are already there and work with 99 outstanding young people who have truly inspired me. 

There have been many 'smile moments' and I'm glad that people have taken on board the idea of lollipop moments. Small random moments of significance to you, not to the world but to the individual. Some people might not realise they are creating them, but lollipop moments are all around us - we need to start recognising them and celebrating them. 

Entering the week I didn't set any goals, but my thoughts were around quality not quantity. Could I have a handful of meaningful impacts / relationships over numerous insignificant ones? I'd like to think I've achieved that. How do I know they've been meaningful? I don't know, the messages I've received today have blown me away and might be proof - but it's in what comes next. Do those people go and make a bigger difference? 

I'm flitting between thoughts and ideas, rolling through Camp Blues and to be honest don't really know where I'm going with this. Never did I think I'd get the privilege of this journey, neither did I think it would take over my life and emotions. How wrong could I be? 

This week I've felt like the richest person in the world. Rich on life, the exhilarating moments it has given me. The opportunity to meet and spend time with people and then see them progress. See them eager and determined to learn, to want to do more and be more.

Before the emotions take over, again, I'm going to leave it here, well until I can formulate actually relevant and structured thoughts and feelings..

I'm exceptionally proud to be a Football Futures Ambassador, to be associated with something which actively changes people's lives through the most amazing vehicle of football. Leadership isn't something we should work towards, but something we should embrace. Football Futures changes the lives of the people who understand the importance of being a better person, and striving to develop themselves and others. 

You don't have to change the world, to change the world; there are 6 billions perceptions of the world, and if you can change one person's view, then you have done just that.