Keryn in England Action
About 2 years ago I took up an #FF suggestion to follow Keryn Seal on twitter (@kerynSeal4). At the time he was one of English Blind football’s most capped players and it was in the build up to the London Olympics. By early in 2013 I had met the man and his dog, face to face and without hesitation booked him as an after dinner speaker for my company’s annual conference.
We had previously had sportsmen, comedians and politicians, most of who were household names so this was a gamble on my part. Even more so when I tell you that at that time Keryn had only done a few day time motivational talks and no after dinner sets. He certainly had not addressed 150 businessmen and women, some of who may or may not have been a tad tipsy. I had a film of him in action playing on the big screen as I introduced him but then it was down to the man.
Keryn Seal in after dinner action at my conference.
For 45 minutes he had the audience hanging off his every word. They laughed at his ability to make light of his disability, marveled at his achievements and some cried as the emotion became too much. This is a guy born with 15% sight that played football all the way through school and college without excuses and then woke up one day in his late teens to find total darkness. A man who has played international blind cricket as well as appearing at 2 World Cups, 5 Euro’s and 2 Paralympics as a blind footballer.
Keryn is now England Captain and recently led his team to victories over Spain and Italy and a draw with Brazil in one weekend. To give you some context Spain are the current European Champions from 2013 and Brazil the current champions of the world. So the outlook after a disappointing London 2012 and Euros 2013 is looking bright and Keryn hopes to lead his team to the Rio 2016 Paralympics. I would certainly not bet against him doing so and in fact I hope to be there to watch him live if he and England qualify.
Since speaking at my event in May 2013, Keryn and his England team mate Robin Williams, whilst being fully funded professional athletes have also set up a company called ‘Listen2Win.’ Who better to run team building or motivational sessions for businesses than 2 men who have overcome their disability to forge a career in sport? Who better than blind team members to understand the power of listening and effective communication? Who better to provide inspirational speakers for you team building or after dinner conference events?
Robin in England action
You can see here to get a taster of Keryn and Robin going through their paces at and England training session
I have been looking for a way to assist my friend Keryn, Robin and Listen2Win for a while and I have freely recommend him to business colleagues. I also recently chatted to the guys at AFC in the Community about him because Keryn is a massive Arsenal fan. So to the real point of this article – now that Gunners Town is established and with a wide audience, I and my colleagues at GT thought perhaps we could give them a platform by announcing them as a strategic partner.
So if you are an Arsenal fan who is organizing the next corporate occasion for your company – why not support a superb company run by fellow Gunners? Whether you are looking for motivational, after dinner or a bespoke team building event or programme, please consider Keryn, Robin and Listen2Win. When you do go to their website, ensure you use code GUNNERS TOWN to get a Gooner discount when you type your enquiry message.
Thanks for reading and trust me you won’t regret hiring Listen2Win.
Click to find out more about Keryn, Robin and Listen 2 Win
Passionate 50+ ST holder who has been making the journey to N5 regularly since the early 1980s – although his first game was in 1976. Always passionate when talking about The Arsenal, Dave decided to send a guest blog to Gunnersphere in the summer of 2011 and has not stopped writing about the Gunners since. He set up up his own site 1 Nil Down 2 One Up which he has now sold and since the summer of 2013 with a friend he launched a new project to offer new and aspiring Arsenal writers a home. Gunners Town is that platform and Dave writes here too. He is also the author of 2 Arsenal related books.
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