Wes Cunliffe Guest Lecture: Childhood Crime to Semi-Professional Rugby Player
Wes Cunliffe, a semi-professional rugby player for Cross-Keys, visited many of our students recently to talk about his story before he found rugby. He discussed his experiences with county lines and prison and how he came out the other side, providing the students with invaluable life lessons to help them make the right decisions and raise awareness that this can happen to anyone.
Wes grew up in poverty and ended up down the wrong path, being groomed into a life of crime when he was barely a teenager due to the glamorisation of it and the prospect of money to support his family. However, Wes ended up getting attacked which was when he decided he needed to find his way out of that life, not only for himself, but also for his family.
He joined the Ebbw Vale rugby club in 2010 where he was surrounded by supportive and positive people, saying “it was the time I completely separated from that life for good – the sport is more than just rugby itself, it’s the people involved in both the sport and the club.
They knew my story and they knew my background, but they didn’t care, it wasn’t an issue for them, they just saw me as Wes".
After Wes turned it around, he decided he needed to help other young people going through the same thing. He realised that his position as a runner would just be immediately replaced by another young person, so he wanted to try and do something about it. He took it upon himself to volunteer as a youth worker across the UK that both young people and parents could reach out to and get help when they were reaching a ‘crisis point’.
He had lived their experiences and seen through their eyes and wanted to help young people choose the right path but also raise awareness of these situations. By doing this, young people can see that there is another option, and they can turn their life around.
Wes said, “it’s not about telling learners what to do or what not to do either – it’s about giving them the information and raising the awareness that this can happen to anybody.
It takes one wrong phone call or text and you’re drawn into that life – that’s it. These talks are to give young people the chance to make positive choices.”
Wes also discussed the impact that social media has on young people today, saying “in today's world, social media is a massive part of young people’s lives and it’s very important that they realise that it paints a very different picture to what reality is”.
He even provided case studies to the students of how the young people that he works with fell into the life of crime by simply pressing ‘Like’ on a few photos which resulted in private messages.
“Weston College was great to reach out to me. They knew how important the messages were for young people to understand like county lines, violence, knife crime, and weapons.
They came to me and said that my story is very personable, and they thought that young people would benefit from speaking to someone like me.
It was great that Weston College had the foresight to reach out to me and send the message to as many students as possible”.
Wes encouraged anyone who may be falling down the wrong path to reach out to someone, whether that is a family member, a trusted member of staff, or himself, you are not alone and there is a way out.
To check out our interview with Wes, click below.
From a life of crime to a semi-professional rugby player!🏉🏉 Recently we heard from Wes Cunliffe, a youth worker who fell down the wrong path as a teen but came out the other side and wants to help young people to avoid what he went through. Read more about it on our website.
Thank you Wes for sharing your story to our students in order to raise awareness of these situations.
