Graeme has over 20 years experience in running businesses. He is a TEFL qualified teacher, TEFL course teacher and a Master Practitioner in Neuro Linguistic Programming. He owns a corporate training company in Madrid, Spain and is also Chairman of Futbol Club Británico de Madrid the premier English speaking Football Club in Madrid.
Who is your favourite football player?
Dennis Bergkamp. I remember the first time that I ever saw him play and I just thought wow what grace, skill and vision this guy has. I cannot recall a game where I was ever disappointed with his performance, he always gave 110% which for every fan is what you want to see.
What is your favourite football team?
Arsenal. My dad supported Man Utd and my granddad supported West Ham. Apparently I saw Arsenal on TV and instantly said that’s my team. I watched them on TV whenever they were on and read about them in the newspaper. When I was 8 I went to my first game which was a 7-0 win against Leeds United. I remember approaching the stadium for the 1st time and thinking what an impressive place it was and how much history there was at this old stadium. When Arsenal moved to their new stadium I remember the sadness I felt and recalling so many good memories there. I have my season ticket at The Emirates now and the good memories are starting to build up but it’s going to take a long long time to replace those good memories at Highbury.
What is your favourite skill and who does it?
I think probably the cushioned first touch. I remember that Zidane and Bergkamp were masters of this and made it look so effortless. This touch took opposition players out of the game and bought the ball under control allowing them to move on to the next phase that they envisioned,
If you could give one piece of advice about learning football what would it be?
You can never practice too much. There is a well-known study from the 1960’s by Malcolm Gladwell that demonstrated that it took 10,000 hours to master a particular skill. That sounds like a long time but if you’ve been doing something since you were a child, those hours soon add up.
If you could give one piece of advice about learning English what would it be?
If only there was a magic ‘trick’ to learning another language but unfortunately, there isn’t. I think that the most important thing is to immerse yourself in the language as much as possible and to keep using it. Remember, ‘if you don’t use it, you lose it’.