Govia Thameslink Railway has announced that six future footballers from Luton, Stevenage, Knebworth, Hitchin and Sandy have received free travel on Great Northern and Thameslink for their sports education.

The six young men found themselves struggling to afford the daily travel needed for their BTEC in Sports at the Lee Valley Pro:Direct Academy in north London.

Thankfully, GTR’s Employee Engagement Manager Paula Hilliard was able to help out.

The soccer students are RJ Smith-Jones (aged 17 and already a Bermuda U20 international) who travels to the Academy from Luton, Tommy Reynolds (16) and Jack Thomas (18), both from Stevenage, Harvey Moss (16) from Knebworth, Ricardo Green (17) from Hitchin, and Sam Willis (18) from Sandy.

What did the officials say?

Danny Payne, the Academy’s Head of Coaching, said:

“Without this free travel support from GTR the lads would not be able to be a part of the Pro:Direct Academy. They now have the chance to chase their football dream while carrying on their academic studies, which we hope will give them great options and great potential when they finish their two years with us. We can’t thank GTR and Paula enough.”

Paula, who works with the Prince’s Trust to organise GTR’s ‘Get Into Railway’ programmes for disadvantaged young adults, added:

“It’s such an honour to help these young men continue their studies and support them with this chance to improve their lives.

“We do a lot at GTR to help young people transform their lives and I love the work we do with all 60 of those who join us on our Prince’s Trust development programme.

“It’s wonderful for us to have the chance to make a difference to someone’s life. I look forward to hearing about how these promising footballers progress.”

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