Leeds United’s Luke Ayling sends ‘love’ to Watford star Ken Sema after inspirational interview clip emerges

Leeds United star Luke Ayling has praised Watford’s Ken Sema for his bravery following an inspiring post-match interview.

Sema is known for his footballing abilities, impressing since joining Watford in 2018, racking up 103 league appearances and scoring 10 times from midfield. But off the field, Sema lives with a stutter, making it hard for him to consistently speak with uninterrupted sentences.

It’s something many people live with around the world, and it can be caused by a number of things, including genetics and stress. But Sema chooses not to let it define him, nor has he used it as an excuse to get out of media duty with Watford. The midfielder scored twice for the Hornets as they pulled off a 3-2 win over West Brom on Monday night, and after the game, he delivered an interview, speaking about his performance.

Sema stutters at times during the interview, but that is certainly not what caught the attention of fans and fellow players. What stands out is his bravery to do the interview despite the fact he has a viable excuse to stay out of such situations. It’s impossible to watch the interview and not be inspired as Sema remains unazed even when he does stutter.

Leeds star Ayling was one of many who watched it and was left inspired after battling a stutter himself, and he quote retweeted a clip of Sema speaking, saying: “Love to see this” along with a heart emoji.

Ayling has had his own issues with stuttering during interviews and he once told BBC Three when asked about the challenge: “When I first came to Leeds, I wasn’t comfortable at all doing interviews. And I’ve kind of got to a point now where I just don’t care. If I do an interview and I have a stutter, I see a lot of things online when people say that I say ‘then’ and ‘like’ a lot but that’s my safety blanket kind of thing.

“Because I know that I can get those words out. I see a lot of people who maybe don’t know that I’ve got a stutter say ‘all I hear is then and like’. I just got to a point where I just thought, do you know what, I’m doing an interview with somebody who wants to speak to me and who actually wants to hear what I’ve got to say so why am I scared to do it? Because I shied away for so long from doing it.

“But I will still go to a drive-thru and I’ll be sat in the driver’s seat and I’ll still make my missus order it because I don’t want to do it. So, I still have those insecurities. It’s horrible because I sit here and I’ve got loads of things that I want to say but I know I can’t get them out so I just ramble on. That’s probably why I’m quite loud in the dressing room and just don’t care because I just say what I feel.”

Many fans joined Ayling in praising Sema, with Whites fan David Mitchell saying: “Wow! And that’s not his first language too. Can’t even begin to understand the complexities behind what Ken is doing there! Amazing!”

Another, Lee Crompton, added: “Love this, seeing you coming out doing interviews Luke, has helped me gain confidence with my stutter, I can’t thank you enough mate.”