Strictly Cup Dancing!
It’s football not the glitterball for Kai Widdrington as he cheers on his dad’s Aldershot this weekend
I’ve had Kai do a couple of video messages to my players — I tell them to listen to a world champion!
I could have been a footballer but I prefer a warm dance studio to being kicked around on a freezing morning
GIVEN the identity of the manager’s son, non-league Aldershot Town should have the necessary kicks and flicks to cause another major FA Cup upset today and jive their way into the third round. Strictly Come Dancing star Kai Widdrington will add glitter to a packed Recreation Ground when he cheers on dad Tommy, manager of the Shots.
To add to the family connection, Kai’s younger brother, Theo, plays for Aldershot and starred in the remarkable 7-4 win against Swindon in the first round, though he is injured and will miss today’s clash with Stockport.
Kai knows all about ‘the journey’ from entertaining millions on TV with dance partner Angela Rippon, but admits Aldershot’s exploits have distracted him on Saturdays.
‘I couldn’t watch the Swindon game. I was listening on the radio in between the dress rehearsal for a waltz,’ reveals the 28-year-old housewives’ favourite. ‘Then on WhatsApp, I’m getting notifications as I dance in the dress run. 1-0, 2-0, 3-0, 4-0, 10 minutes into the game!
‘I was very excited and it was incredible to see the final score. I remember checking all the reaction on social media afterwards.
‘I’ll be there on Sunday. Work means I can’t see a lot of games but I do remember pushing the boat out last season. I’d been eliminated from the show and Dad had an FA Cup game for King’s Lynn.
‘I got an Uber to Norfolk because the trains were cancelled. It took three hours and then I had to leave at half-time to make the live show for the group dances.’
The three Widdringtons met up for lunch in London last week to discuss Aldershot’s prospects, share some memories and tease each other in the way only closeknit families can.
‘Everything was competitive as kids,’ recalls Kai. ‘Who can run up the stairs the fastest, who can kick the ball highest, who can get to the front of the queue the quickest?
‘My dad said one day you’ll get to the front and someone will punch you on the nose. It is not always about being the fastest, it is about being clever.
‘This year we are all going bowling for Christmas. It’s outand-out competition; bragging rights. It is the way we have been brought up; why we have all been successful.’
Tommy has a ready response: ‘The talent is still at the head of the family,’ he claims.
‘To me he’s just Kai, but then you get reminders he is on telly in front of millions. Just after lockdown, we were walking down Regent Street with his new dog and a policeman asked him for a picture and an autograph.
‘I’ve had him do a couple of video messages to my players and as I put the phone down, I say to the them: “He’s a f***ing world champion so listen to him!”.’ Tommy had his own level of recognition as a player. Growing up in the northeast, he was spotted by the famed scout Jack Hixon, who took him and Alan Shearer to Southampton.
He scored against Leeds a few days after Kai was born in 1995, allowing the local paper to run the headline ‘Kai-boshed’. When he went to Port Vale, a neighbour who ran a dance school suggested she give Kai some lessons to improve his concentration levels.
From then, his time was split between football and dance, with Tommy and mum Candice spending hours ferrying him and Theo around. Kai was part of the Southampton academy with Luke Shaw.
‘At 12, I had to choose,’ he explains. ‘They offered me a contract and I decided to be a professional dancer.
‘I could have been a footballer. Theo could have pursued dancing, but he loved football and I loved dancing a little bit more.
‘I started to get better and loved it. I always say I much prefer a warm dance studio rather than being kicked around the pitch on a freezing cold morning.’
Kai has become a national star, but this afternoon belongs to Tommy and Theo. ‘I love it — it’s great the spotlight is on them,’ says Kai. ‘Theo is good enough to play in the league and dad should be a Premier League manager one day. It’s fantastic for them to show what they can do.’
Tommy, who has guided Aldershot into sixth place in the National League having arrived late last season to save them from relegation, is trying to be pragmatic. But he is excited by the prospect of them reaching the third round.
‘Stockport have to be off their Agame and we have be on ours to have a chance,’ he says. ‘We are disappointed it’s not live on TV. We were the first non-league team in 150 years to score seven against a league team.’
Although a hamstring strain means 24-year-old Theo will watch the game alongside Kai, he hopes the spirit of Swindon can be evoked. ‘At half-time we were 4-0 up and before the gaffer came in we actually started laughing. We didn’t know what was going on.’
If Theo is gutted at missing arguably the biggest match of his career, big brother has an optimistic take on it.‘They’ll just have to win, get Manchester City in the third round and Theo can play in that,’ says Kai. Now, that would be worthy of a perfect 10.