FABIO WARDLEY MEETS FOUNDATION STUDENTS

British Heavyweight champion Fabio Wardley gave up his time to meet students at Ipswich Town Foundation’s Post-16 Football & Education programme on Tuesday.

Ipswich-born Fabio, who has featured in Town’s 2022/23 kit launch, appeared in the FanZone on matchdays and has also been a regular guest at Portman Road this season, was taking part in his first community visit with the Club on the second day of the EFL’s Week of Action. 

The Week of Action is an annual event that aims to further highlight the vital work that clubs and CCOs (Club Community Organisations) carry out in the community.

Fabio spoke to the Post-16 students about a number of topics including the importance of hard work, respect and commitment.

The 28-year-old aimed to instill transferable skills such as setting standards and aspiring to achieve goals which can be used in the boxing ring, on a football pitch, in the classroom and elsewhere in life. 

“In any sport and anything you’re doing, you can always look at yourself and what more you can do,” said Fabio after delivering the motivational talk.

“I tried to keep it fairly generic so it can be applied in any situation; whether it is in sport, in the classroom with education or anything else, it’s just about being the best you can and making the most of the situations in front of you. 

“It’s fantastic to be asked and it’s a privilege to talk with those students to push them forward.

“The Club has helped me massively in my career so I’m always more than happy to give back, not just to the Club but to the community as a whole.”

“It was wonderful to be able to speak to him and to learn about how he built his success,” Jacob, one of the Post-16 students in attendance, added.

“We learnt how he has a goal which is good and also one related to failure. For example, his goal was to win the Heavyweight Championship but his other goal was to not be the guy in the changing room thinking he could have done more.

“Hearing about how he gets on with day-to-day life, his goals, and hearing about he deals with setbacks and injuries was wonderful for us to hear.”

More information about the Foundation’s Post-16 Football & Education programme can be found here.