我是虎芽的英国教练Duncan，这是我的故事

作为一个在西班牙长大的英国人，Duncan一直是虎芽的招牌教练，受到很多小朋友和家长的喜爱。这个高大帅气的大男孩是怎样的一个人？通过这封Duncan的亲笔信，我们一起走进他的故事。

Crewe, Cheshire, 30 Km from Manchester. 9th August 1994. I think my mother gave birth to me and a football at the same time. Ever since that day football has been part of me. Ironically my surname was of a former Manchester United legend, and with my father being a Manchester United supporter ever since he was a child, he decided that if I were a boy, I would be called Duncan, after the former Manchester United player. Duncan Edwards. My namesake was a 21 year old physical and technical machine, said by many to be the future of not only English football, but of world football in the late 50’s. He tragically died many weeks after the Munich air disaster.

1994年8月9日，我出生在距离曼彻斯特30公里的柴郡，妈妈在赐予我生命的同时，也将足球变成了我生命的一部分。我的爸爸从小就是曼联球迷，他在我出生之前就决定，如果我是个男孩，他会为我取名“邓肯”，这样就会和那个曼联历史传奇球员拥有同样的姓名—邓肯-爱德华兹。在上个世纪50年代，仅仅21岁的他就已经展现了恐怖的身体和技术水平，不仅是英国足球的未来，同样也是世界上最优秀的年轻球员。但悲剧的是，他在慕尼黑空难后救治无效去世。（译者注：“慕尼黑空难”发生于1958年，是足球史上最悲惨的灾难之一。23人罹难，天才球员邓肯-爱德华兹也不幸离世，而他正是邓肯教练名字的来源）

My whole family from my father’s side were die hard Manchester United fans. We used to own a car park close to the stadium, Old Trafford, where my father would work every Saturday before the games. And of course I went with him. Early mornings leaving home, playing football in the car park, dribbling around parked cars, and more than once nearly getting smashed by oncoming cars, I would recreate being the stars of Old Trafford, “BECKHAM WITH THE CROSS, AND EDWARDS SCOOOORES “ dreaming about the future and only hoping that one day I would be on that pitch. The reality is very different.

我爸爸家全家人都是曼联的死忠球迷。我家在曼联主场老特拉福德球场附近拥有一个停车场，每周六比赛前我爸爸都会去那里干活，我就和他一起去。每天清晨从家里出发，去停车场附近踢足球，有好几次差点被车撞了！那时我幻想自己也成为了球星： “贝克汉姆传中，邓肯射门得分！” 我梦想着未来我也可以成为职业球员，踏上这神圣的球场。可惜，梦想和现实有点差距。

Duncan小时候和贝克汉姆的合影

Football is more than just a game, more than just a ball being kicked in to the net. It’s a sense of overwhelming emotions, of memories that stick, of belonging. The best day of the week was that Saturday when I would wake up, put on t-shirts sweaters, jackets, and on top of all that, my Manchester United top. I look back now after 20 years and remember it as if it was yesterday. Ever since then, I only wanted ever to be connected to football for the rest of my life.

对于我而言，足球不仅仅是一场游戏，这是一种无法抗拒的情感，一种根深蒂固的记忆，一种归属感。在那个时候，周六是我一周中最开心的一天，早上起来我会穿上T恤、毛衣、夹克……当然最重要的是，曼联的球衣！20年后的今天再回想那段日子，犹如昨天。从那时开始，我只想我的余生能都和足球在一起。

曼联传奇教练弗格森抱着小时候的Duncan

At 8 years old my parents took the decision to leave England, to look for a better life in Spain. They decided on a small village in Malaga, Alcaucin, a village of just 2000 people. I hated it, I couldn’t speak Spanish and I was the only English person in the class, with just 1 teacher who could speak English. It was very hard for the first 2 years. I signed up for my first football team in Spain when I was 10, 2 years after arriving. As soon as that happened, I started to make friends. The wonderful world of football will unite people, and my case was just one more of many million over the world. When 13, I was invited to play for the Malaga u13 selection team, playing against different provinces in Andaluciawith 1 game each month, as well as playing for my local team every week.

在我8岁时我的父母决定离开英格兰，移居到西班牙生活。我们搬到了西班牙马拉加省的阿尔考辛，一个只有2000人口的小镇。刚来的时候我非常讨厌这样的生活，因为我根本不会西班牙语，学校里也只有1个老师会说英语…所以在西班牙的头两年生活对我来说非常艰难。两年后，在10岁时我被当地的一支足球俱乐部签下。 从那以后，我开始结交朋友，这正是足球的美妙之处！它可以连接不同的人在一起，我只是成千上万的例子中的一个而已。 13岁时，我入选了马拉加的U13选拔队，每个月我们都会去和安达卢西亚自治区其他的省队打比赛，与此同时我每周还要代表当地的球队去比赛。

球员时代的Duncan（后排左四）

Then the big step, I was signed by a youth academy. More pressure to perform, starting to move in to elite football. My team, Torre del Mar, played in the second highest level in Andalucia, facing teams like Malaga C.F, Granada C.F, Real Betis. It was an incredible experience to play against these professional academies, facing players like Samu Castillejo (A.C Milan) and Dani Ceballos (Arsenal). But I was always nervous playing, something that when I matured, would look back on and regret. Also, my father was very passionate, and every time I made a mistake, I would feel his eyes on me, making me even more pressured. All he wanted was for me to do my best, this I know, but it wasn’t in the correct manner that I wanted. This is for all the parents out there, DO NOT PRESSURE YOUR CHILDREN. Let them enjoy playing, let them make mistakes. You should be there to help them improve from them mistakes, for them to feel your support. At the age of 18 I felt disillusioned with playing. I stopped. I had decided already that I wanted to start coaching.

接下来我被俱乐部的青年队签下，我开始走上职业足球运动员的道路。我的球队在安达卢西亚的第二级别联赛中，会和马拉加、格拉纳达、皇家贝蒂斯这样水平的球队比赛，面对卡斯蒂略霍（现AC米兰球员）和塞瓦略斯（现阿森纳球员）这样的对手，真是不可思议的经历！回想起来，我当时有些太紧张了。

那个时候，我的父亲在场边很激情，每次我犯错误时，我都会感觉到他的眼睛在盯着我，而这让我压力更大了。 所以，我一直都想和所有家长说：不要给孩子压力！让他们享受比赛，让他们犯错，家长需要帮助他们从错误中改进和提高，让他们感受到你的鼓励和支持。 18岁时，我觉得自己并不适合职业球员这条道路，那时我决定要成为一个足球教练。

So I took up my first year of studying my Coaching license and mid level football coaching degree at the University of Granada, when I had just turned 20 years old. It had always fascinated me, the coaching side of football, the teaching, the tactical side, the motivational side. In the same year I start coaching a U18 side in Alhama de Granada, my home town in Spain now. It was an incredible experience, I loved it, we finished 4th in the League. An incredible experience for both myself and for the players, one that we enjoyed very much even though we were beaten.

20岁时，我开始在格拉纳达大学进行教练培训、获得教练证书。与踢球不同，执教是足球的另外一面，我需要学习教学、学习战术、学习激励球员。同一年，我开始执教我家乡球队的U18队伍，这又是一段美妙的经历，我们最终在联赛里取得第4名，球员和我都非常享受那段时光，即便我们也曾输过球。

执教家乡球队时的Duncan（后排左一）

After 2 years of continued study and coaching teams, the RFEF (Royal Spanish Federation of Football) offered me the chance to do an exchange for 1 month to Holland, as part of a deal they have to send coaches outside of Spain to gain experience of coaching. I travelled in my car from South Spain to the north of Holland, stopping at many beautiful cities and also seeing many different football stadiums. Arriving at Leeuwarden, I living on a boat on one of the many canals of the city, as I was already thinking about finding opportunities in China, as I knew that football was taking off in Asia.

In January of 2018 I started searching for jobs, I wanted to leave Spain, create my own life, my future, gain experience in a totally different country to the one I lived in. To escape from my comfort zone and challenge myself. Finally after months I found a half English half Chinese company that were willing to bring me to China.

随后两年，我一边学习一边执教球队。西班牙皇家足球联合会给了我一个机会去荷兰交换一个月，去学习更多的教练知识。我从西班牙开车去荷兰，路上经过了许许多多的球场。最终达到陆瓦尔登，我一直住在城市运河里的船上。在学习交流的同时，我已经开始寻找中国的工作机会，因为我明白足球在亚洲正在腾飞。 2018年1月我开始寻找工作，我想离开西班牙，开始属于自己的新生活和未来，去一个完全不同于我生活地方的国家，因为我想逃离自己的舒适区，挑战自己。几个月后，一个中英合资公司愿意带我来中国。

On the 28th of August 2018, my oriental journey began. After some very sad goodbyes, I was flying out of Madrid with a 1 way ticket to China, not knowing what to happen. Luckily for me, the company I started working with I met some fantastic guys, coworkers who would help me with my first few weeks here in China. They are close friends now, even though each of us work in different companies and we constantly try to meet up to have a drink when possible from our busy schedules. Them first weeks of going to school in Minhang and Jiading, teaching up to 50 children at a time about football was a real shock. Very fun, and very hard work. After some weeks I was able to find a team to play with here in Shanghai, a team with a mix of different nationalities, but mostly British, playing in the Shanghai International Football League. Saturday afternoons playing football. Week days teaching football, I was dreaming. Trips to Beijing and Vietnam followed, and showed me how beautiful Asia is and what a history it has.

2018年8月28日，我的东方之旅开始了。在和家人朋友道别之后，我买了一张从马德里飞往中国的单程票，充满了未知和期待。幸运的是，在第一家公司我遇到了很多很棒的同事，在我刚到中国的那段时间给予了我许多帮助。直到现在他们都是我的好朋友，即使我们已经不在一起工作了，但有时间的话我们还是会聚到一起喝一杯。当初工作时一次性要教50个小朋友，这确实震惊到我了。不过还是很有趣，我也在努力工作。几周后我加入了一支在上海的由外国人组成的球队，其中大多数还都是英国人，我们会参加上海的国际足球联赛。这样一来，周六我会去和他们踢比赛，周中我教小朋友踢球，这实在是梦想中的生活！在那之后我去了北京和越南旅游，这让我真切地体会到了亚洲的美丽和历史。

In March of 2019 I started working with Huya FC, wanting to build a very strong base of work for the future. For me, I had never coached children as small as the ones we have at Huya, and found it difficult to adapt training sessions to the age and quality of players, so it has been a great learning experience for myself personally, and even though I can still improve, I think I have adapted and gained experience of coaching, especially the basics of football. Little by little we went to work on how to build the club, and it has cost a lot of work, many hours and many meetings to find the best solutions possible for the club. We continue to work hard and try to improve the quality of our service, of the training, and so both parents and children have the best time with us.

2019年3月，我正式加入虎芽，想为未来的工作打下坚实的基础。对于我而言，我之前没有教过这么小的孩子，课程中会遇到很多困难，所以这同时也是自我学习、积攒经验的重要过程。我很快适应并积累了执教经验，特别是足球的基础知识。在虎芽，我和同事们一点一点地去研究如何建立好一个俱乐部，为了找到某些问题的最佳解决方案，我们花费了大量的精力、时间，开了无数的会。我们努力工作，提高我们的课程质量和服务质量，这样才能让父母和孩子都开心和满意。

After coming back from Spain in August from holiday, my mentality has changed. I feel more comfortable here in Shanghai now that I enter my second year. I still have much to learn and see. It’s never easy making such big changes in ones life, but with courage, love for what you do, an open mind, respect for others, a lot of sacrifice, (including leaving family, lifelong friends, routines) behind you, you can conquer the World, and you can be whatever you want to be in life.

今年8月份从西班牙度假回来后，我的心态发生了一些改变。我开始了在上海的第2年，我觉得更加舒服和开心了，当然我还有很多东西需要学习。生活发生如此大的变化，这对我来说并不容易，但只要有勇气、对事业的热爱、开放的心态、对他人的尊重、以及一些牺牲（离开家、朋友和原来的生活），这些东西都会支撑着你去征服世界，你可以成为任何你想成为的人。

爱你们的Duncan