Some people say that the days of school are the happiest in your life, and if this is the case, then Anton Ferdinand has a permanent etching of just that train of thought. Anton is a 23 year old from London who made headlines yesterday when he made his Sunderland debut in the Premier League visit to Wigan.
And if he ever needed a boost of confidence, it may have been now. But if he DID need one, he would only have to look as far as his left forearm to see the tattoo he had etched as a lifelong mantra of encouragement and perserverance. The tattoo on his arm says ‘I will believe to achieve’ and is a mantra that he hopes will help him to fulfill his lifelong dream of becoming one of the world’s best defenders in his favorite sport.
He says the tattoo came about when he was back in school, and is the result of a mentor that he had that led him along his path.
“When I was at school I had a mentor called Terry who used to talk to us about our future and what we wanted to do with it. He would ask how we could make things happen for ourselves. I felt that if you believed in yourself, you could do anything in life that you wanted.
And since Ferdinand was just snapped up for a cool 8 million, he knows better than everyone about the powers of belief and confidence. He says in football, belief and confidence mean everything. He has come to Sunderland to learn and to get better, with an ultimate vision of being the best in the world. He knows he can get what he wants if he does the right things, works hard, and has confidence.
And for those days when he gets shaky? He will remember Terry and look at his arm, and get all the boost he needs.