Middlesbrough’s Luke Ayling opens up about his stammer and answers questions from young Boro fans
Luke Ayling on stammer: don't hide away; talking openly makes it easier
Middlesbrough captain Luke Ayling spoke to children and families from a speech and language therapy service about living with a stammer, his path from avoiding speaking to talking publicly, and the value of role models. Therapists and a parent stressed giving children time and support, while young fans said his example inspired them.
- People should not hide away because of a stammer; being open makes it easier to cope. — He avoided speaking as a child; his brother with a severe stammer did not hide away, and his brother's death pushed him to change; being more open later made things easier.
- Doing more interviews and talking publicly makes his stammer easier to handle, but at 35 he still avoids some situations. — He says coming out of himself and doing press and interviews has made it much easier; he still sometimes avoids ordering a coffee at a drive-thru because he struggles to say it.
- It matters for footballers with a stammer to be visible, and the positive response on social media outweighs the nasty comments. — He cannot recall seeing a footballer with a stammer do interviews while growing up; despite a few nasty comments online, many parents and children say he is brave and helps them, which pushes him to do more.
- Confidence comes from not worrying what other people think and being proud of who you are. — He used to feel people looked at him strangely when he stuttered in a queue, but now he does not care; he would tell his younger self to be more confident and brave.
- Football and the public-speaking opportunities it brought have helped his stammer. — He says football gave him chances to speak and do many interviews, and he is proud of what he has done as a public figure who has struggled with a stammer.
- Parents and carers should allow the stammer, give the child time and space, and seek help. — She says this support helps build the child's confidence and resilience.
- Speech and language courses and group support have helped a lot. — Grant says the courses have been a godsend and have helped Riley over the years; Riley says being with others who have similar issues helps.
- Luke Ayling's example proves that a stammer need not limit what he can do. — He says Luke went from barely speaking to becoming a professional footballer and captain, which inspires him to believe he can do whatever he wants.
► Subscribe to Sky Sports Football: http://bit.ly/SSFootballSub ► Watch Sky Sports with NOW: https://bit.ly/NOWFootballYT Middlesborough’s Luke Ayling opens up about his stammer and how he hasn’t allowed it to hold him back. The Boro captain spoke with the Tees Valley Speech and Language Therapy Service and answered some of their questions. middlesbrough middlesbroughfc lukeayling ► EFL highlights: https://bit.ly/EFLHighlights2627 ► EFL Cup highlights: https://bit.ly/CarabaoCupHL ► SPFL highlights: https://bit.ly/SPFLHighlights2627 ► Bundesliga highlights: https://bit.ly/BundesligaHighlights2627 ► Buy this season’s shirts: https://bit.ly/SkySportsShop More from Sky Sports on YouTube: ► Sky Sports: http://bit.ly/SkySportsSub ► Sky Sports Boxing: http://bit.ly/SSBoxingSub ► Sky Sports Cricket: http://bit.ly/SubscribeSkyCricket ► Sky Sports Darts: https://bit.ly/SubSkySportsDarts ► Sky Sports F1: http://bit.ly/SubscribeSkyF1 ► Sky Sports Golf: https://bit.ly/SubscribeSkySportsGolf ► Sky Sports News: http://bit.ly/SkySportsNewsSub ► Sky Sports Premier League: https://bit.ly/SubscribeSkySportsPL ► Sky Sports Retro: http://bit.ly/SkySportsRetroSub ► Sky Sports WSL: https://bit.ly/SubscribeSkySportsWSL ► Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/SkySportsFootball ► Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/skysportsfootball ► TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@skysportsfootball / https://www.tiktok.com/@skysportswsl ► X: https://x.com/SkyFootball / https://x.com/SkySportsWSL ► Website: https://www.skysports.com ► To enquire about licensing Sky Sports content, you can find out more here: https://www.skysports.com/more-sports/news/31754/11434270/license-sky-sports-footage
Transcript
We're here at Middlesbrough's training ground with Captain Luke Alen to meet children from the Teas Valley Speech and Language Therapy Service to share experiences and answer a couple of questions. Hi gang. I found him. You okay? >> This is Luke Halen. Do we all know that's Luke Halen? Yeah. Should we give him a little round of applause for coming to see us? Thank you. So Luke and I are going to have a little chat because we're all here today for for the same reason and it's just it's wonderful to to sit with you. It's always wonderful to spend time with you. Um just to give us a little bit of your experience about living with a stammer with a a speech impediment and working your way um to where you've got to today quite obvious success story. Has it changed being a younger person and working your way up into the adult world about how you feel about how it's affected your life? >> Yeah, 100%. I think as a child like I wouldn't um speak up in classrooms. I wouldn't then like I most certainly wouldn't be here then asking questions to somebody who's plays football or out in the media and like I never got the chance to do that but I don't think that I would ever done it cuz I kind of hid away from it for many many years. Um my brother had a really bad uh start. Um he was uh really special needs like went to uh the special needs school and his uh stammer was really bad like he learned sign like sign language because he was >> um so bad and then um >> he died at the age of 18 then like when I was 15 and it kind of g me like a little kick up the bum like like stop hiding away from everything because I would go on holiday with my brother and then like he would then like he would go speak to everyone he would go and order drinks he then He didn't hide away from anything. And then I'd kind of look at him like, "Cool, stop doing that." Like, "Let's go over here. Let's keep ourselves." And then like when he passed away, it was kind of like stop hiding away from it. And it still took me a few years like in my like early ages at Yovil and like my early playing years, I know my first four years there like I might have done two or three interviews, which I still then like wasn't happy doing it. And then as I got a bit more confident, my name got out there a bit more. I think social media is there's a lot of bad stuff on social media, but like I actually think it helped me because once it once people knew that I had a stammer and I did more interviews, like obviously you still get a few people that say nasty things and that, but I think the more I've done it, the more people know that I've had it and it kind of just makes it easier for me to sit down and speak to people and um yeah, so I think that's been a good thing for me. Would you say growing up and taking on more responsibility and opening yourself out to people to say this is what my situation is has helped you work with it to conquer parts of it and to grow with it? >> Yeah. Then I feel like uh the more I've come out of myself and the more I've put myself forward to do these interviews and do press and stuff and not hide away from it, then like it's got so much easier. But what I will say is there's still situations out there when I go to like a drive-thru or I go to order a coffee and stuff and sometimes like if somebody asks me to order a certain coffee then I really struggle. So I say sorry you can't have that one then like you're going to have to have a flat white cuz I know I can say it. So, so there's still stuff that I hide away from now when I'm 35 and I've been lucky enough to >> but certainly there's still stuff that I hide away from and like maybe that's just me as a person and I and um so yeah, but I like encourage these guys here which like they're so brave to come today to put questions forward and to be out there spoken and yeah then I think it's great >> and the thing that I always get from you Luke is that real sense of responsibility how your life's developed both personally and professionally. How important is it to be able to come and chat and to be able to give your experiences back? >> Yeah, it's great cuz like I said, like when I was growing up, I don't I can't really think of anybody or any situations where I ever saw a footballer come out with a stammer or do interviews. I didn't like to be honest, I don't think it was really out there. Um, and that's why I think social media has been good for us because we're doing media and and straight away it's then like it's on the internet and >> whether it's good or bad then like you might look at the comments and there might be two three people that you get saying nasty things but then you've got hundreds of >> like he's so brave like he's so good then like then like my kids got a stammer and this is great for him and so I feel like that's that's really helped me push me to do more interviews. Um, now I've been doing all the donkey work right here. I said donkey work is relative, but we're going to throw it open to the floor. So, I've got some names here of some people that going to ask questions if that's okay. We all ready and raring to go. Right. We're going to start with Billy. Billy, if you could put There you go. Billy, what's your question to Lou? When when you were a kid and you had a st a stomach like was anything like harder or like um um like was anything like harder or like like you you didn't want to do or you just like just said no or you wish you could have changed. >> Yeah. Uh like know just like I said earlier um then I've really hid away from everybody when I was your age like I would never come here today and take a mic like you just done Billy and ask a question that's just something I wouldn't put myself forward then like in school whenever there was an English uh then lesson and and I got asked to do a like a page from a book or something like read it out loud then like I would get in arguments with the teacher just to not do it and stuff. So yeah, there was so much as a kid that I hid away from and I kind of wish I didn't because I should have been a bit more braver, but I just but that was just me as a person. I kind of hid away from it until something happened in my life that was life changing. I thought right and like I'm going to then I'm going to go for this and try and then I put myself out there more more of more for the name of my brother and just you know like Yeah. So there there was loads that I hid away from. Definitely. >> Uh so what has like made you like be more appreciative about your stammer? >> I just think like I think just getting older and uh then obviously I have my kids of my own. So then like if I take my kids to a restaurant like I'm the one that's got to order. I've got to take more of that on me. And um then like definitely just growing older then like becoming more confident in myself than as a person. Um then I'm very lucky that I've had like a career where people now didn't like recognize that yes I do have a stammer. So I've been very lucky where most of the places I go or some places that I go people like already know. And um but like I said earlier, lads, there there's like still situations that I hide from which I think I'll get out of like hopefully then I'll keep getting better with it. >> When you're nervous, what helps you feel more or confident? >> Yeah, just growing up and just taking more things on my should than my shoulders and not so much like I don't have to worry about what other people think of me which um I think in the past I did. I felt like if I was in a queue and I was stuttering, I feel like people look at me weird and stuff, but now I just don't care. So, I think it's more just you, you be the person you are. >> How has football helped with your speech? I think football's helped me in my speech more than I can ever be thankful for for the opportunity that I've then been given to speak at speak on things like this and do as many interviews as I've done wi which are all out there on the internet which people can go and watch and and see somebody in the public eye who has struggled with a stammer and um yeah then like I'm proud of the stuff that I've done in then like in that aspect. >> Do you have any pets? >> I do have pets. I have three dogs. I wouldn't advise it. Three dogs. >> What kind of dogs are they? >> I had a cocka spaniel. I've got a gold retriever. And then I've got a cockaoo. >> So the cocka spananiel's santi. She's two. The then like golden retrievers and and she's my baby. She's five. She's my absolute baby. I'd have six of her in the house and then the cockapoo is like my wife's shadow. She's seven. >> So, what advice would you give you and yourself? >> Uh, just to be more than more than like confident in yourself, be a bit more out there. Um, like I know it's then like I find it very easy to say now cuz I'm 35 and lived through media and I've kind of been lucky enough where people know when I'm coming to do these things that I have got a stammer and that and um but definitely to be more confident in myself which I feel like I am now. Yeah. And just be proud of who you are and you know Yeah. That's it. >> Fantastic stuff. I think well first and foremost I think you should all give yourselves a round of applause cuz that was absolutely amazing >> and if you keep asking questions like that you come work on Sky Sports. >> Yeah he take pr job >> easy peasy eh the way you talk and what you've said to these wonderful bunch of people is very very inspiring and I think the example that you've set has been one that's been just wonderful to watch and to follow your career has been an absolute pleasure as well. So let's give Luke a round of applause as well. Thank you. Sarah, could you tell us a little bit about your role uh within the service and what it provides? >> So, I'm one of the highly specialist speech and language therapists that works in the slammering team. Uh we have about six dedicated members of staff who work specifically with children who stammer and their families. >> And given that hard work that Sarah talks about, Paula, is there a message that you would give to parents or young people that maybe find themselves in a in a position but want to get to somewhere where they do feel a bit more comfortable and confident in themselves. >> I think a key message is for parents and carers just to allow for this stammer. um give them the time and give them the space and and seek some help. And that is one of the things that we look to to support them with is building their confidence and building their resilience >> to have someone like a Luke with his story, with his with his experience of it. Is that is that a huge part of how you make this as effective as possible? >> You're absolutely right. He's got a lived personal experience of living with a stammer and actually for him to share that and and just give those key messages that it's just a gift for our youngsters to hear that. Absolutely. >> How big an achievement was it to see them ask those questions? >> Amazing. We're so proud of them. Just so proud, aren't we? Because we've known some of these kids for a long time and to see them blossom. Some of them would never have done that a we while ago. some of them would cuz we have some young people who stammer who have the most amazing like confidence. Um so yeah to see that happened today was yeah really proud. >> An absolute pleasure to talk to you both here today and given the fact we've just spoken to Luke as well. Rally, just give us your experience of living with a stammer and how you cope with living with a stammer. >> So, so living with a stammer is actually not too hard if you think about it cuz living with a stammer does put on some negatives like what Luke said about people make quite bad comments cuz cuz like in primary school and secondary uh there has been bad comments but recently it's not been too bad. Mhm. >> It's it's an amazing way that you you discuss it and talk about it. Grant, let me just ask you a about about how um the approach is amazing, isn't it really? And I suppose given the help with the salt team as well about being able to help not just Riley, of course, but yourself and everyone around the family to help him through. >> I'd say his speech and language courses have been like a godsend for him really. They have helped him over the years. And >> and would you would you say you do you enjoy them? Is when you get together with other people, does it help? Yeah, it does help quite a lot. No one, but others might have issues similar to me. >> Yeah. So, Charlie, we're here at Boris Training Ground. We've just been speaking to Luke Alen, which has been fantastic. He gave us his experience of uh living with a stammer and uh difficulties at time with speech. Does that give you the inspiration to go and do whatever you want with your life and be confident and open and chatty about it? the role that he has today is like crazy and like if he's managed to do that like when he would like he wouldn't speak at all then that means that like I can pretty much do whatever I want and not let my like my stamina like stop me from doing what I want to do. >> Well, it seems even just chatting now is it is it something that you that you think about when you talk about or because you've got the confidence now and the ability to work with it that you're able to have conversations that you feel very comfortable with? Well, right now it's going through my head, but then like as like Luke has already said, he has like comfort words and I have like comfort words. So like as like I say like all the time and it stops me from um doing it and also when I smile for some reason it stops me. So like >> you do smile a lot which is a good thing. It's a very good thing >> as in well and all that like stops me from >> like doing it as much. So >> does it give you confidence to see what Luke's done become a professional footballer be a captain playing in the Premier League? It's amazing really isn't it? >> Yeah. And does it make you feel like this this isn't going to hold you back in any way, shape or form? >> Hold me back. >> Amazing. >> Yeah, cuz um I've seen what >> Luke done and it really inspired me. >> Yeah. And is it helped doing uh being able to chat to people and to help you with uh moving forward and being able to communicate? Yeah, because cuz in my secondary school uh they let you like speak a bit um slower if you need >> and um if you um and if you're reading in class um my English teacher is like really nice and she helped me with reading. So yeah, >> what's your English teacher's name? >> Miss Burns. >> Say hello to Miss Burns. Well done Miss Burns for helping Stuart out. Lastly, the game Bolton taking on Borough. >> Yeah. Do we think it's going to be a burrow in >> of the burrow? Yeah. Up >> top, mate. Brilliant stuff.