Sam Trickett Loved Playing Football

I am a Manchester United fan, a huge football fan. I have loved football for as long as I can remember. I think I was about 5 or 6 years old when I first started playing. I picked it up really quickly and fell in love with it. I used to practice nearly every day, either with other friends or just simply kicking the ball against a wall outside my house on the road. I played for my school team and I was the youngest player on the team but I was not out of my depth.

I decided I wanted to join a club and start playing competitive football so I went and trialled out for Retford Utd U 11’s and I made the team. We would train once a week and play a match every Sunday. I did really well for them and I won “Player of the Year” and I was selected to represent the league to play against other representatives of other leagues in the country. We got to play on professional clubs pitches and I loved it. I continued to play well and I was scouted by Nottingham Forest and was asked to go and trial out for them. I went to the trials and they asked me if I would like to sign but I’d be a reserve to start off with so I said no ( kind of dumb). I thought I was too good to be a reserve. Maybe they were just testing my attitude but either way I just wanted to play so I didn’t sign.

I continued to play for Retford and I was also now playing for my county. I was then scouted by Sheffield United and I was asked to go down and train with them. I trained with them for about 2 weeks and they asked me to sign. It was like an hour drive to the training ground and I used to hate travelling. I stayed with them for about 6 months and I started to get sick of the travelling and I remember making excuses for not going to training. There used to be a school disco every 3 weeks and it was on the night of training. I always used to choose the disco instead of training (huge donk). My attitude was terrible and I still regret it.

Things didn’t work out at Sheffield United so I ended up back at Retford. I was the top goal scorer for like 4 seasons and I got asked to play for Retford UTDs 2^nd team. I played for the 2^nd team and I did well so I was asked to play for the 1^st team. I was 17 and I was the youngest player on the team and we used to get £30 a game. I was also playing for the youth team so I was playing lots of football.

I was scouted by Peterborough and Hucknall town and was asked to go train with them for a trial. Things were looking good and I was playing good. The youth team had made the final of the county cup and there was like 5 minutes left and we was losing 1-0 and I was running around like a headless chicken trying to get the ball back. I was running at full pace and I slid in to make a tackle and I clashed with the other player and I felt my knee cartilage literally snap. I knew straight away it was bad and I hobbled off and went to the hospital. I later found out I had snapped my cruciate ligament and also torn my cartilage. The surgeon suggested that I never play again because it could cause problems in later life and could cause further damage.

Obviously I was devastated but in the back of my head I still thought I’d play again. I didn’t play for like 12 months and I decided to try and build my knee up again. This was when I started learning poker! I was getting treatment from Sheffield United’s physio and he helped me stay positive. I eventually put the boots back on and I was playing for Retford UTD again and I was starting to get goals and play well week in, week out. Lots of people were talking about me and my confidence was sky high.

Then I got in another bad tackle and my knee snapped again. This was heart-breaking because I now believed the surgeon was right and that I shouldn’t play again. I felt hard done by and I still get upset for not being able to play and see how good I could have been. I would love to know what standard of football I could have played at.

I started learning poker when I was first injured. I loved the game immediately and became addicted. I got the same rush from poker as I did from scoring a goal and it was another way for me to compete, so that is when I began putting my time and effort into poker instead of football.