Alistair Patrick Heselton PLY Speaker | Sports & Lifestyle & Assemblies and Celebrations Events & Well-being

Alistair Patrick-Heselton PLY

Helping students To Dream, to Believe and to Achieve

Alistair played for Wycombe Wanderers FC as a schoolboy and was then approached and signed by QPR - he played in the youth and reserves from the age of 17. During his time there he had a loan spell with Oldham Athletic scoring freely in the U19s. He suffered a torn cruciate ligament which halted ihs progress and after an 11 month recovery he never regained his normal self and decided to pursue a career in Quantity Surveying whilst playing semi professionally with Northwood F.C in the Ryman Premier Division. He was then offered the opportunity to play professional football again with the Dutch 1st Division side Helmond Sport.

He returned home and played in the Nationwide Conference South with Bishops Stortford. After playing for a few semi professional sides his career was supposedly ended in 2006 while playing at Wingate and Finchley, following a car crash in which his best friend died. Alistair was in a coma for 2 months and was told he may not walk again so he thought he would never play football again.

This also put a stop to his Quantity Surveying degree and having always liked cars and styling them he changed career, and acquired a Totally Dynamic Franchise. Having not played football for 4 years he was contacted by the F.A about disability football but specifically CP football (for Cerabal Palsey or brain injury sufferers). He had always kept myself fit and so reluctantly started playing again. Since then Alistair has played in the CPISRA World Championships for England and represented ParalympicsGB at London 2012, contributing with 3 assists and scoring in the play-off game against Argentina.

Upon retiring from competing at an Elite level, Alistair was inducted into The National Football Museum Hall of Fame for his achievements in the game receiving the Football For All Award.

Alistair helps in making an impact to young people’s lives and raising aspirations whilst working as a speaker & education consultant focusing on how true PE can have great classroom impact, and is now looking to inspire your audience by sharing his secret of what it takes to be the best you can!

Testimonials from Teachers

"Alistair gave an engaging and very interesting speech which we were delighted with. Our Assistant Headteacher, Greg Maw, would particularly like me to pass on his thanks to Alistair. Alistair took the time after the event, to talk to our students and allow them to take photographs with him."

– Clare Berry, Faculty Administrator, St. Pauls Catholic School

"Alistair Patrick-Heselton supported us in delivering tailored sessions to students, a number of whom were Pupil Premium, designed to bolster confidence, improve self-esteem and ultimately motivate. The sessions were a great success. For those students that participated we saw a marked improvement in behaviour, attendance and also academic progress. Alistair helped us to challenge and ultimately improve the attitudes of a number of our students, making them much more receptive to skills and knowledge development. We look forward to welcoming Alistair back so that he can work with the next cohort of students."

– Paul Davis, Director of Pupil Premium and Student Progress, Shenley Brook End School

"Using Alistair to support our project with his two-day workshop really benefitted the students on their journey. My students to this day still make reference to the experiences they had with him and attribute this to empowerment they felt on the workshop. Using his unique insight into personal challenge, the students were able to relate his experiences.

Students left the sessions feeling motivated and the upturn on all fronts has been impressive and extensive, students appear more confident in and around school, having experienced success whilst working with Alistair they are able to relate this to the classroom and students that were previously gaining one or two GCSE’s are now gaining four or five."

– Sam Southwell, Team Leader for PE, Shenley Brook End School

"When Alistair came to visit our young footballers, the children and I were inspired by his story and experiences, the challenges he faced and the importance of team-work in order to achieve the things he has achieved. The enthusiasm was there to see, he took the time to play a little football and his enthusiasm for the sport passed onto the children and an important message was sent across! He stayed for photos, signing items and spent time chatting with the children. He inspired us all and is an ambassador for football and sport in general."

– Stuart Bates, Development Coach Manger, Pure Sport UK