At Star Player, we are a family-run organisation dedicated to transforming young lives through innovative mentoring and sports-based intervention. As specialists in alternative provision, we harness the power of sport as a catalyst for both physical and psychological development, believing that structured athletic engagement not only builds discipline and promotes healthier lifestyles, but fundamentally empowers children to make positive life choices.
While sport remains our primary vehicle for engagement, our strength lies in our exceptional team of mentors who bring expertise in behaviour management, emotional regulation, and life coaching. Most importantly, they possess the rare ability to forge genuine, trusting relationships with even the most challenging young people. We understand that meaningful change begins with connection, when children feel valued and understood, transformation becomes possible.
This relationship centered approach enables us to develop deep insights into each child’s unique needs, challenges, and potential. Our comprehensive reporting and assessment processes ensure that we can make evidence-based recommendations to local authorities, schools, and other services, creating lasting impact that extends far beyond our direct intervention.
Central to our success is our commitment to genuine partnership working. We maintain transparent, collaborative relationships with parents and carers, ensuring crystal-clear communication about session objectives, progress expectations, and outcomes. This unified approach creates the consistency and support network that vulnerable children need to thrive.
Our Founder and CEO. The Best 1-2-1 Coach in the UK hands down, and he backs it up with every session he does. His passion and energy is contagious, and the children he coaches feed of it. He continually gets the best out of all of his players, and the development of the players he coaches from the first time they arrive to within 3 months and more is unbelievable.
Having been an Ex-Pro and in the Academy set up of various teams from a young age, he knows exactly what you need to become a pro and has helped multiple clients go on to sign for academies.
Ex Semi Pro footballer and academy player at Brentford FC. Coach Diop started playing football at the age of 8 and has not looked back since. In his own words ‘football saved his life’ and is one of the reasons he is so passionate about the game. He loves to see players develop, and has a very nurturing and caring approach to his coaching.
Having had a serious ACL injury that kept him out of action for 3 years, he had to adapt his game from a speedy winger to a ball playing midfielder. This really influenced his coaching and can be seen in the type of technical and ball mastery drills he loves to embed in the children he works with.
Coach Diop will also be the head of our mentoring programme with the BCP Council.
Coach Samurai is one of our best and has a great knack of building relationships with players. His focus as a football coach is to developing various aspects of a footballer's skill set, including technical ability, football IQ, decision-making, and physicality.
He aims to help develop every facet of their game.
He tries to instill confidence in all the players he works with whilst helping to foster a love for learning the game.
As a coach he aims to create a supportive environment where players of all levels, whether beginners or professionals, can thrive and reach their full potential.
His passion for helping young footballers succeed in the beautiful game comes from his own experience as a semi-professional footballer. He saw the flaws in his own game and aim to help those around him not make the same mistake and thrive in any scenarios.
An Ex Semi Pro footballer and part of various academies at a young age. Coach Zola is a football fanatic and in love with the game.
With a disciplinarian coaching style he gets the best out of his players and ensure they remain to a high standard and he demands they work hard throughout. Coach Zola is also multilingual and can speak Portuguese, French and Angolan.
Coach Freddie is a year in at Starplayer and has been recieving rave reviews from his clients.
He is passionate about being able to help develop the future generation of players.
He enjoys being able to build relationships with the kids and being a part of their footballing journeys and seeing them develop not only as a football player, but more importantly as a person.
He is currently playing semi professionally for Virginia Water FC on loan from Slough Town football club and enjoying the experience as it goes and has had spells playing for Beaconsfield fc, Bedfont Sports and Staines Town in the past
Coach Helder is a motivated and driven sports scientist with valuable experience in professional and semi-professional environments alongside university level knowledge, specialising in psychology, biomechanics and research).
Helder Lopes comes with this and much more to aid any athlete’s career & life.
