How mentoring from Spurs charity helped boost two Enfield school pupils' confidence

The St Anne’s Catholic High School for Girls pupils are part of the ‘Premier League Inspires’ programme

Victoria (left) and Hanna (right) — Victoria (left) and Hana (right)

Two Enfield schoolgirls have shared how they went from being frequently in detention to thriving in school and beyond through working with a charity run by Tottenham Hotspur.

St Anne’s Catholic High School for Girls pupils Victoria, from Edmonton, and Hana, from Ponders End, are two of more than 1,000 young people to have joined Spurs in the Community’s ‘Premier League Inspires’ programme.

Spurs in the Community (SitC) is the new name for Tottenham Hotspur Foundation, the football club’s official charity arm, which works with young people in both Enfield and Haringey.

Delivered across local secondary schools, Premier League Inspires combines regular face-to-face group sessions and mentoring around personal skills and positive attitudes.

Victoria described herself as a “bad kid” when she was first introduced to SitC in 2024 and was on the brink of being expelled.

“It was a really bad year for me,” explains Victoria. “I was all over the place and just felt like everything was going wrong. I didn’t know what I wanted to do with myself and I think I was a bit confused. Confused got me stressed. Stressed got me angry. My anger got me in detention.”

Mentoring from SitC staff proved a turning point for Victoria, who believes she is now unrecognisable from the person who started the programme.

“Premier League Inspires was the start of me figuring out who I was and the person I wanted to be. I didn’t want to be this angry person just getting kicked out of lessons all the time.

“I loved the mentoring and said how I was interested in sports.

“I had the idea in my head that sports weren’t accessible for women and I was quite young and scared. My mentor spoke a lot of sense about not fearing the world and how, if I’m passionate about it, I should do it.”

Encouraged to pursue her interest in sport, Victoria took up athletics and has not looked back, now training in the indoor 60-metre sprint three days a week and competing at national level.

“I’ve been doing it for two-and-a-half years and I couldn’t live my life without my training. It’s crazy because all of this started through doing Premier League Inspires.

“We would come into it at the start and just think ‘we’re missing lessons, amazing’. But, when I finished the programme, I realised I’d learnt so much.”

The programme concludes with all participants being treated to a day of workshops at Tottenham Hotspur Stadium, including a tour and a Q&A session with special guests.

Victoria said she made friends at the celebration, who she still speaks to now. Some young people also get to represent their schools on a wider stage through the Premier League Inspires Challenge, a national social action competition involving football club charities from across the country.

Victoria and Hana took part in a staging of the challenge at Wembley Stadium, with their group emerging as winners.

The pair have also enjoyed SitC’s ‘Huddle Project’ – a dual-sport programme of football and flag football joint-funded by the club, National Football League (NFL) in the United States, and sportswear brand Nike.

Most recently, the pair completed a week of work experience through SitC, supporting the charity’s operations while also working in the Spurs shop at Tottenham Hotspur Stadium.

Hana began her SitC journey in a similar way to Victoria. She explained: “I was getting a lot of detentions, but my mentor made me see things from a different perspective.

“They said: ‘You’re seeing it as if you’re the victim, but when you look at it in this way, is what you’re doing right or is it you’re doing what you think is right?’

“It really helped me to open my eyes and realise ‘OK, I need to fix up’.”

She added: “During the sessions, I learned about what sports players go through, not just the public aspect. It changed my perspective on school and life, and gave me a lot of confidence.

“A lot of the things I do now, before, I would have said ‘I can’t do this’. Spurs in the Community helped me understand I’m capable of whatever I put my mind to.

“I started rugby. I was hesitating because I had very little confidence, but Premier League Inspires gave me a lot of confidence, helped me find myself and realise ‘Wait, I can do these things’.”

Hana went on to win her team’s players’ player award in her first full season and, on top of her rugby, is taking part in Parkrun every week.

Asked what the future might hold, she said: “Hopefully more Tottenham!”

Hana is keen to pursue A-levels, as is Victoria. Reflective of her evolved attitude, Victoria said: “I’ve been told it’s very hard to do A-levels whilst training, but I didn’t do all of this to just get scared and not at least try and see.”

She added: “We’ve loved our time with Spurs in the Community. The journey’s completely changed my life and I don’t want it to end.”

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