The 2010/11 season was a disappointing campaign for the club but a breakthrough season for me.

Having only started full-time training less than 12 months ago, I made my debut for the club at the end of last month before making my full Charlton debut against Hartlepool last Saturday.

Earlier this month, I was also honoured with the club’s young-player-of-the year award, which made me proud but while all these things are great and huge achievements for me, I know there’s a long way to go yet.

Most players will be heading abroad on holiday over the next few weeks. There will be no break for me, though – my summer will be all about football.

We are given a fitness programme to follow while we’re not training and I’m going to go full out on it and work hard over the summer.

The programme involves running, swimming and lifting weights. If you don’t do it, it will soon show when you come back. You’ll be last in every run.

I want to come back for pre-season training in June 10 times better than I am now. I only turned 17 in March but I need to improve my decision-making, get faster and score more goals. The aim for next season is to play regularly for the first team, stay grounded and keep pushing myself.

The manager has been great. He’s been encouraging me and all the young players know that if he feels that they are good enough and that they are ready, he won’t hesitate to give them a chance.

The gaffer just said ‘enjoy yourself, express yourself and give it a go’. I had lots of family and friends in the crowd but there were no nerves – just excitement.

The same was true against Hartlepool. I didn’t feel like there was any pressure on me and I just wanted to give a good account of myself.

I know the fans like to see young players come through the ranks and I want to make sure that I’m the next one who follows in the footsteps of the likes of Jonjo Shelvey and Scott Wagstaff.

In some ways, I suppose you could argue that the end of the season has come at the wrong time for me, just as I’ve broken into the squad.

But I’ve had a taste now and maybe it’s just what I needed because I’m already raring to go for next season.