Jack Ramsey is a coach and role model for the young players at Sunderland's Foundation of Light.
He has a hearing impairment and joined the Foundation 10 years ago when he was 16 as part of their pan-disability football sessions.
"When he first started, he was quite a shy lad and I think it's all because of his disability," says Jamie Wilson, a disability coach at the Foundation of Light.
"After a couple of weeks when he really got to know us, and we really got to know how much of a good lad he is and what a great attitude he has, he really started to come out of his shell."
With Jamie acting as his mentor and giving him guidance and encouragement, Jack's confidence began to grow.
"I was a bit nervous, kind of out of place," Jack says. "There's one person that I look up to as a role model because he is also deaf, and he helped me so much through those times."
With the help of the Premier League & BT Disability programme, Jack is on the way to realising his dream of becoming a qualified coach.
Jack is now on Sunderland's Coaches Academy programme, supported by the PL/BT Disability initiative, where he is training as a specialist disability coach.
He is now putting what he is learning into practice by coaching young people with hearing impairments at the Foundation of Light.
"The younger ones look up to Jack," says Jamie. "They respond to him because he's been in their shoes.
"It's great that the Foundation of Light have managed to create a Coaches Academy for people like Jack. He loves coaching and working with children as well.
"I hope that he will keep progressing. The world is his oyster."
Jack is one of 19,000 people who have taken part in the PL/BT Disability programme since it began in 2016.
