00:00 How you doing guys, you okay?
00:01 Yeah.
00:02 Cool, and you've got a special guest with you today, this isn't your teacher is it?
00:05 No.
00:06 Who've you got here with you?
00:07 My uncle.
00:08 Your uncle? Oh is he?
00:10 [Laughs]
00:11 What's your uncle's name?
00:12 Christian.
00:13 Christian Thomas of course it is. Hello Christian, how you doing bud?
00:16 I'm very good thank you, not too bad. We've had a fun assembly this morning here at Oak Meadow.
00:20 Seen some gymnastics,
00:22 um, seen an Olympic medal.
00:24 Cool.
00:25 And got to give them a little bit of a demonstration as well, which is always good fun.
00:29 And I didn't land on any of the children, so that's a positive.
00:31 Well yeah, you went for a big jump there didn't you?
00:34 Was it five kids and a teacher?
00:36 Yes, five children and Mr. Lion the head at the end as well.
00:40 So yeah, I'm not too sure. He was as thrilled as the children perhaps, but yeah.
00:44 Are you glad he cleared everyone?
00:47 Yeah.
00:47 Or were you all thinking, oh I want to feel squished Mr. Lion?
00:50 [Laughs]
00:52 Yeah I'll be good, so then we can have a dog in the school.
00:54 [Laughs]
00:56 So what did you think of what you saw then guys? Has it inspired you a bit?
00:59 Yeah.
01:00 You know, of what you can do in gymnastics.
01:02 And have you learnt some lessons about that you can carry through just into normal life?
01:05 Yeah.
01:06 Go on then, what have you learnt then? Tell me a few things.
01:08 I hear Christian saying about when he got injured and he just carried on and that sort of stuff.
01:12 So go on, who wants to tell me what something, go on chicken.
01:14 We learnt that when you're an athlete we need to eat meat because it's got protein and vegetables.
01:21 Yeah, anybody else want to, go on bud.
01:24 That we should never give up and always follow our dreams.
01:28 Good, good lesson. Anyone else want to say, yeah go on bud.
01:31 And always believe in yourself.
01:33 Oh I like that. What do you reckon Christian, they've obviously been listing.
01:36 Yeah, very good listeners I would say.
01:38 Yeah, and you know, you're not an Olympian anymore, you know, it's a few years on.
01:43 You still got it though, there were still some moves there weren't there?
01:46 So do you still keep, you know, do you still do training and stuff then?
01:49 Yeah, I try and still keep fit, healthy and active, that's kind of, I guess, part of me and who I am
01:54 and what I think is important for me to keep my own well-being in good shape.
01:59 So yeah, I try and get down to the gym as much as I can.
02:02 Don't really practice handstands as much as I used to, it's fair to say.
02:06 It's not really something you do in a normal gym but yeah, all the same, at least I get to train now
02:11 and try different types of training that I never really had the opportunity to do previously.
02:15 Yeah, and let's just have a look at the medal there.
02:18 Do you ever get complacent about it yourself, you know, or do you still kind of sometimes wake up and think
02:23 "Man, I'm an Olympic medalist", do you know what I mean?
02:26 I think, perhaps not complacence but it's nice, particularly now as we're building to Paris Olympics,
02:31 there's a lot more noise around the Games, the profile is raising it
02:35 and I suppose because of that you see it out and about a little bit more
02:37 and that's a nice sort of proud moment then in kind of knowing that you were part of that journey
02:42 and part of that Team GB success in raising the profile of gymnastics and the sport.
02:46 So yeah, I suppose it's a proudness more than anything else.
02:49 That's good. Well, he's done the city proud as well, Wolverhampton, hasn't he?
02:53 We're all very proud of what he's achieved.
02:55 So this is all part of your "This is Me" module at school, isn't it?
02:58 Yeah.
02:59 So I'll tell you what, after three, shall we all shout "This is Me"?
03:01 Yeah.
03:02 Ready? One, two, three.
03:03 This is Me!
03:05 What's your life like for you now then, Christian, what are you up to?
03:07 So, daily life now is working at the Premier League, so working in football.
03:11 So that's my Monday, Friday, 9-5 job and that's player care and engagement manager.
03:16 So two-folds to that role really, it's the player care side,
03:19 so putting those support provisions in place for the Premier League footballers.
03:23 And then the other side is around the player engagement,
03:27 so sort of going out, canvassing player opinion and then feeding that back into the Premier League
03:31 which then informs the decision making, you know, things like on the game
03:35 and anything maybe technical, tactical, football operations, etc.
03:38 So it's a really good job.
03:41 Home offices are down in London, so a bit of commuting a couple of days a week
03:44 and then some club visits and work from home in between, so real nice meetings.
03:48 Do you still live local then?
03:50 Yes, so still living local, so I'm in Worsley now, so not too far away.
03:54 Yeah.
03:55 And yeah, I sort of split my time in the week.
03:57 So who is your footy team then for yourself?
04:00 I mean, obviously you're from Wolves, I'm going to presume it's Wolves, is it?
04:02 It is indeed, so Wolves is my team.
04:04 I think the party line I have to use is all teams are equally important.
04:07 Yeah, at the end of the day, sport is the winner.
04:10 That's the line, isn't it?
04:11 Sport's the winner.
04:12 But what's your predictions on the Wolves at the minute?
04:15 It's going to be tough this next season, isn't it?
04:17 They've just hiked up the prices of the season tickets
04:20 because I think it has to become a more sustainable club.
04:23 Yeah.
04:24 What's your thoughts on the coming season for our Wolves then?
04:28 I'm optimistic in the sense that Gary Neill did an incredible job last season
04:32 with the resources he had, with the short time period, now pre-season
04:35 and I think giving him that opportunity and keeping the squad of players
04:39 and keeping them fit and healthy, that's probably the biggest thing.
04:42 We do miss our big players, but that's all what ifs I guess.
04:47 If that happens, then I think we'll have a very successful season.
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