There has been great news this week for Tom Dyson, the talented young footballer from Freshwater East, who has been offered a one-year professional contract with Swansea City and will be aiming to establish his place in the Swans’ under 21 team in next season’s campaign.
 
18 year old Tom has been playing for the Swans’ under 18 team alongside another Pembrokeshire player in Liam Cullen and as part of the Swans’ education programme attends Neath College, where he has been studying for a BTech in Sport Science.  He has gained experience against top sides in the age group, playing in the Premier League Division 2 against the likes of Arsenal, Chelsea, Tottenham and Leicester City before being called in to the Liberty Stadium by head coach Nigel Rees and Dave Adams to be told that after discussions led by club chairman Huw Jenkins it had been decided to award him his contract.
 

Early start on the road to success

 
Tom was one of seven youngsters of his age offered the golden chance, including four others from the original squad that he initially played alongside when he first joined Swansea at nine years old.
 
He started out as a five year old with Tenby, where his dad Jonathan, himself a useful player, coached a team of nippers up to the age of eight in friendly games.
 
It was whilst attending the Pembrokeshire Development Centre at Greenhill, initiated by Gerry Rigby that Lyn Thomas, from Swansea City offered him a six week trial with their Development squad. With two weeks of the trial still to go Jonathan and Tom’s mum Alison were contacted by Lyn and Tom was invited to join their Centre of Excellence, which he did.
 

Change of direction

 
Tom stayed with the Swans for three years but then an illness to Alison, transferring to secondary school, all the travelling to matches and training took its toll, causing him to stop enjoying his football, so he decided to step down.
 
So he played alongside his school pals at Hundleton the following season, followed by a campaign at Tenby where he really regained his confidence, and when Jonathan contacted Swansea City they were happy to re-install Tom in their academy at under 15 level.
 

Full-on commitment needed

 
There followed two more seasons of travel to training and to matches all over England, followed by the last two years as a scholar which has seen him live in Swansea and train hard every day, plus attending Neath College.
 
But it has all paid off because Tom will now seek to cement his position as a central midfielder at under 21 level on a professional contract, and his ambition is to one day play for the first team and hopefully achieve the Welsh international status that his skills and commitment deserve!