Goalkeeper Jordan Raynes has come a long way since playing in the garden with his footballing family.
Jordan Raynes comes from a football family. His father was on the verge of signing a professional contract with Oldham Athletic until a cruciate ligament injury ended his career prematurely.
Brother Kieran currently plays for non-League Wilmslow, whilst another brother Michael gained promotion to League One at the end of last season with Stockport County.
Meanwhile 18-year-old Jordan has been an England international for three years, and this September will take his place between the sticks for Great Britain's Cerebral Palsy team at the Paralympics.
"We were always playing football in the garden as kids, and as I was the youngest, I ended up in goal," Jordan told TheFA.com.
"Despite being diagnosed with Cerebral Palsy at a very young age (Jordan was born prematurely and is affected in both legs) I played mainstream football as a kid.
"Then someone mentioned a disabilitity football programme that Manchester City's community scheme were running, and that was that."
Jordan's early mentors were Matt Pickford, a coach at Manchester City who now works for Manchester FA, and goalkeeping coach Paul Reynolds.
"Those two guys have inspired and encouraged me for a long time and when we play our first game in Beijing, my involvement will be largely down to them," added Jordan.
Great Britain have been drawn in the same group as Ukraine, Iran and Ireland, with the first two teams ranked in the top three in the world.
"We know we're going to be up against it as we're currently ranked seventh, but we're a young side with a lot of flair," he said.
"A lot of teams like to play a nice, slow build-up style game but we have some very quick players who can hopefully cause some surprises.
"Michael Barker scores a lot of goals - though not many past me in training! - whilst Matt Dymbalow at the back was an absolute rock in defence in our last tournament."
Getting involved with The FA funded England team - one of seven national disability teams now run from Soho Square - means Jordan has travelled as far afield as Brazil, Ukraine and Macau representing The Three Lions.
"This tournament we'll actually be playing alongside a few Scots, and all banter aside, those lads are very strong and have added further quality to the squad," continued Jordan.
"There are some lads who have missed out who will be devastated, but in a lot of ways, this demonstrates how some of The FA's pan-disability development work at grassroots is now working.
"There are young kids who go to a training session for the first time, and then when they find out they could play for England and travel the world, there's a real motivation for them to stay involved and become as good a player as possible."
Shortly before departing for Beijing, Jordan will find out the results of his BTEC in Sports and Science, which he hopes will then see him onto a Foundation year degree course.
"The next couple of months are going to be pretty mad. If I get into Uni and come home with a medal, I'll have proved to a lot of people that having a disability doesn't hold you back.
"What we do doesn't lead to too many headlines, but we're very proud of our achievement in reaching the Paralympics, and for an 18-year-old who grew up playing in his back garden, it doesn't get much better."