‘I like getting them to achieve things’

If you have played football in east Bristol over the past 30 years there is probably a very good chance that you have been coached by Fred Lattibeaudiere.

The Easton-based sports coach has helped develop the sporting talents of generations of Bristol youngsters. “I just enjoyed volunteering and I love children – I like getting them to achieve things,” Fred says.

“Over the last few years I’ve been getting the mums and dads of boys I’ve helped in the past come up to me and said their boys have done really well now, they’ve gone to university and I’d really inspired them to go out and do that.

Fred takes immense pride in the boys he coaches and he regards each and every one of them part of his extended family. “I do it because I absolutely love it and I get a great deal out of watching children achieve when other people have said they can’t be this or that. I was a child like that – the biggest motivation for my life was sport because I wasn’t very academic and sport lifted my life and made me better.”

It is this insight which Fred uses to help him encourage children to be the best they can. “I do everything with a big smile and I use a lot of humour to motivate them.

“I say to the children after every single class, ‘Work hard at school and be good for your parents.’ If those two things are right in your life you can’t go too far wrong.”

Fred says becoming a volunteer has changed his life: “For me I am very sporty guy I love doing what I do and I love to see other people achieve so for me every time I get an opportunity to do that I do it – I don’t think about it too hard.

“If there is something you are really good at and you could give a little bit of your time to help others through the gifts and the skills that you may have then share them because you never know what it may do to someone’s life down the line.

“It’s not just the volunteering bit – it’s putting something into children’s lives. I teach very young children to teenagers – the one thing I always try to do is motivate them to realise that whatever they put their mind to they can do it -and I am there to support them.”

With his hours of volunteering and a full-time job, the real unsung heroes, says Fred, are his own family.

“My wife is the biggest asset in my life and she is always behind me. If I have to pop out to do things she is the backbone to everything I do. I couldn’t do half the things I do without her support right behind me.”     

Volunteers’ Week is an annual celebration of the contribution millions of volunteers make across the UK, taking place from June 1-7.  www.volunteersweek.org

Photo by Dave Betts