{"id":32224,"date":"2016-11-08T15:23:14","date_gmt":"2016-11-08T15:23:14","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.jomec.co.uk\/altcardiff\/?p=32224"},"modified":"2016-11-08T15:23:14","modified_gmt":"2016-11-08T15:23:14","slug":"cardiff-character-luke-degilbert","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/cardiffjournalism.co.uk\/altcardiff\/2016\/11\/08\/cardiff-character-luke-degilbert\/","title":{"rendered":"Cardiff Character: Luke Degilbert"},"content":{"rendered":"
\n

Rising football star is set to impress in disability football tournament<\/strong><\/p>\n

Typically, living with autism<\/a> can render it more difficult to communicate, form relationships and make sense of surroundings. Team player Luke Degilbert (21) is an ambitious character and refuses to let his autism get in the way of his football dream or his upcoming tournament.<\/p>\n

On 13 November, Newport Dragons Disability Football Club<\/a> will take part in the first tournament of the season in Pontypridd, competing against teams including: RCT Tigers, Coed-Eva, Race, Barry Town and Cardiff. Luke, who lives in Newport, is a very talented and driven striker and joined the team over a year ago. He says he is going to work hard at the tournament to make his coaches proud after all the support he has received from them.<\/p>\n

\"The

Pitch perfect <\/strong><\/p>\n

Sarah Wheddon is the club\u2019s welfare officer and says she has \u201cgreat expectations\u201d for Luke\u2019s success at the tournament. Sarah said Luke fits in excellently and has a great bond with the other players. She adds that his efforts don\u2019t go unnoticed and his progression has been \u201cfabulous\u201d.<\/p>\n

At the team\u2019s most recent awards night, Luke won a medal for \u2018outstanding achievement\u2019 and said this was\u00a0for the hard work he put into the games. He was also extremely excited about scoring five goals during his recent game and took to Twitter to share\u00a0the news with his 3,250 followers.<\/p>\n

The Newport striker has been playing football for 13 years and says, \u201cPeople should join the team because it is supportive and it gives people great experiences.\u201d Luke said\u00a0his most memorable goal was when he scored against Cardiff City to make the score 1-1, he said it was a \u201cgreat moment\u201d and he was proud because the coaches were happy with him. Luke’s eyes beam with\u00a0pride when he talks about football and his passion is palpable.<\/p>\n