The DSA have started a Player of the Month Award this season and is open to all members.
DSA Membership is free and anyone can join! To do so, click here!
Each month one member who votes for the winner will be drawn out of a hat to present the winner with their trophy.
For the month of August, Frank Nouble was voted player of the month!
The lucky DSA member who gets to meet Frank and present him with his trophy is Luke Martin.
We asked Luke why he'd voted for Frank and he told us: “He’s a player you want in the squad, he makes players think, runs at people, takes people on and is dangerous up front; his goals and assist during the month show that”.
Luke has schizophrenia and suffers with shakes last thing at night and first thing in the morning. Symptoms can change from person to person.
Luke says: “I find it hard to get along with people and I feel like I'm alone and no one will understand. I think people with psychosis [hallucinations, delusions, confused and disturbed thoughts, lack of insight and self-awareness] are afraid to talk about it because they will find it hard to understand it … I’d rather people asked me questions and wanted to understand and get to know Luke Martin rather than be labelled ‘the guy with psychosis’”
Luke has been attending the County in the Community “We Wear the Same Shirt” programme for people with mental health issues and is a popular member of the group. He was even given the chance of a month placement assisting Norman Parselle and his team and still volunteers on a matchday with them.
Luke was the subject of a FAW Trust video about the mental health programme and has made great progress, leading a healthy lifestyle and gaining confidence to the point he now leads sessions and recently attending a Dementia Friends Session with thirty others sat at the front and was making jokes in front of everyone. When asked about the We Wear the Same Shirt sessions Luke said “… they’re all my friends now; I have more friends now than I ever did and we can have a chat and a laugh."