Southampton's James Ward-Prowse: why I decided to toughen myself up

Football News | Article posted on February 4th, 2025

Southampton’s James Ward-Prowse feels the force of a challenge from Bacary Sagna of Arsenal. Photograph: Mike Hewitt/Getty Images

The excellence of Southampton’s academy has been rightly praised for years but James Ward-Prowse is proof that extracurricular fine-tuning can help. Although “fine-tuning” may not be the right word for sneaking off in search of if Ward-Prowse, just 19, has looked at home in the hurlyburly world of the Premier League midfield battle this season, it is partially because when he was 13 he went to unusual lengths to steel himself. Those lengths may just help him become a surprise name in England’s World Cup plans this his talent had been obvious since he was even younger, so much so that at the age of eight he was on the books of Southampton and Portsmouth, the club he and his family supported. But the player came to realise that he needed to strengthen his mentality if he were ever to make the most of his ability. The academy was great but he needed to venture off the beaten track to get, well, beaten. So unbeknown to Southampton he began moonlighting for an older team at a non-league club.”I was a bit afraid of a tackle and wasn’t really ready for the men’s game so my dad suggested that I go to train with Havant and Waterlooville in the Blue Square South and get kicked and beaten and have that sort of feeling,” recalls Ward-Prowse. “I was going there wanting to be kicked and beaten and shouted at. That definitely did develop me, more as a person than a player. It gave me the right kind of mindset and maturity to go and handle myself against older boys. I started to toughen up and after that when I was 14 I was playing for the under-16s, when I was 16 I was playing for the under-18s and when I was 18 I was playing for England Under-21s and the [Southampton] first team. So it made me stand up and be counted against men. I don’t think Southampton knew about it but even if they did they shouldn’t care because it’s helped me get to where I am today.”Southampton, and indeed England, should be grateful that Ward-Prowse chose to follow his dad’s advice rather than in his dad’s footsteps. His dad is a barrister. “I’m not interested in that stuff at all, I find it all boring,” says Ward-Prowse. “The amount of paperwork and reading he has to do. I watched him in court once as part of work experience when I was at school and that put me off it

Help Keep These Tips & Guides Free Help Keep These Tips & Guides Free

Rating: 0.0/10 (0 votes cast)