Former East Sussex College student signs first professional contract with Crawley Town Football Club

Former Personal Training student, Davide Rodari has signed his first professional football contract with League 2 side, Crawley Town.

The transfer news was announced on the Crawley Town website on Monday 25th January, and within 24 hours, Davide was making his professional debut against AFC Bournemouth in the FA Cup fourth round.

We caught up with Davide after training last week to see how his first week as a professional footballer has been.

“My first week as a professional footballer has been incredible! I signed on Monday and trained with the squad that day. Then on Tuesday night, I made my professional debut against Bournemouth. It was unbelievable.

Playing at the Vitality Stadium, which is a former Premier League ground, playing against full international players like Asmir Begovic, and being on TV was amazing. Seeing my name on the back of the shirt is just like, wow!”

Davide started studying at the college in 2017, after moving to the UK to follow his dream of becoming a professional football player. He studied Level 2 Fitness Instructing, alongside gaining qualifications in English and maths. The year after, he studied Level 3 Personal Training, while having a successful season in the college’s football academy.

“My time at the College was really good. I gained some really good qualifications in Fitness Instructing and Personal Training, as well as English and maths.

I had really good teachers. They were all really supportive of me and knew I had ambitions to play professional football. I’ve always been interested in sport, fitness, and nutrition - that sort of thing, so I knew that if football didn’t work out for me, I would still be able to use my college qualifications to earn a living while playing semi-professional football.

Studying at the College also allowed me to join the football academy. I was part of the academy while also playing in the Hastings United first team - so I was playing lots of football. The academy training was such a high standard. It was run by Chris Agutter, who is now the first team manager at Hastings United. Chris is a really good coach; he really pushes you. He loves hard work, and in my opinion, he is one of the best coaches outside of the football league.

We were training like professionals, doing exactly what pro players would do. Everything we were doing was helping us to prepare for men’s football both physically and tactically."

Davide was the focal point of the Hastings United attack, and his goal-scoring abilities quickly attracted the attention of a number of scouts.

“I’m over the moon with my transfer to Crawley, but I’ve had to work hard for it. I had plenty of scouts looking at me and went to loads of trails with teams in the football league - but I failed all of them.

My advice to any young people wanting to make it into football, go to East Sussex College Hastings and join up with the football academy. They have a good team of teachers and coaches, who I have learnt a lot from.

Work really hard while you’re there - in the classroom, in training and on the pitch - and if you make a good impression with Chris, he’ll trust you and bring you into the Hastings first team.”

Davide has signed a two-and-a-half-year contract with Crawley and is looking to follow in the footsteps of Premier League winner, Jamie Vardy.

“Jamie Vardy is a huge inspiration for me. He started in lower league football and is now a Premier League winner with Leicester City. His rise to the top is something I want for my career. I’ve been able to achieve the first step of my dream by signing my first professional contract. I’m now determined to work hard, impress my manager, get a run in the side and score goals for Crawley - giving me a good head start for next season.”