My name is Craig Mead and I was born in KwaZulu-Natal in 1979. My parents and siblings were born in Glasgow, Scotland, with myself at that stage being the only one born in South Africa in my family tree.
I can with great certainty say that I am proudly South African (Scotland is way too cold!). I grew up with quite a few football fanatics on my mother’s side of the family, with herself, my uncle and my grandfather having procured tickets to see the Glasgow Rangers for the past 70 consecutive years. I’m pretty sure it is obvious to see where my love and passion for soccer came from!

I started playing soccer when I was 5 and from thereon could not stop playing. Of course, my dream, as a child, was to score the winning goal in the FA Cup final. Later in life, I was granted the amazing opportunity to travel to the UK for 8 years, visiting my family in Scotland and they would take me to watch Glasgow Rangers play at the Ibrox Stadium a few times.

I was even lucky enough to see Wayne Rooney play for Everton before Manchester United. My dream, as an adult, was to see Liverpool play, which finally happened in 2007 as I watched them play against Chelsea. I might not have scored the winning goal in a FA cup final, but something even better happened – I met the love of my life, married her, and we had a son who is currently 4 years old.

I took my passion for soccer and started coaching and developing children’s soccer – with my main goal being to start an academy with the sport being played all year round – hosting Summer and Winter leagues. In order to be able to pay close attention to every individual in training, I limit my sessions to a total of 5 children – planning regular soccer matches in order to ensure that they get more than enough game time to develop their skills and have fun while doing so.