I am on placement with Loughborough Football as the Men’s Football Operations Support. So far, it has been a great experience enabling me to be involved in a near professional football environment and given me a lot of transferable skills.
It has been useful to be involved in an interdisciplinary team and learn more about the roles that support a team, as well as getting to see the small marginal gains that are so crucial to performing at the best possible level.
Being able to work under those who have had experience in the professional game and learn from them is invaluable.
After graduation, I would potentially like to go into working with the FA or in Sport Development, whilst also keeping the door open to work in football. Being able to access the Uni’s number of connections has enabled me to get my foot in the door in the sport sector which is invaluable for future career progression.
I have really enjoyed getting involved with Youth Leadership through the CVA (Coach and Volunteer Academy) and being involved with the Sport Exec teams, running football leagues and larger scale events with the support of staff.
Also being involved with the CVA and accessing their support has given me a lot of confidence to apply for many different opportunities and therefore experience some amazing events.
The Sport Exec program is exceptionally good in terms of the support you are given to mature and develop as a leader, and the CPD I have received to help me develop personally has been phenomenal.
Being at Loughborough allows you to network really well due to the range of contacts that the Uni has – it has been really enjoyable to meet so many different people who have extraordinary knowledge in the fields that would like to go into.
Next year I plan to continue with my studies and running on a scholarship in the US, before coming back home to teach in a secondary school with the hope of developing my knowledge of special educational needs.
SSCAPE is particularly practical in all aspects of the degree, which is extremely useful in allowing you to see the concepts and theories in practice.
This is especially valuable in the coaching and teaching modules, where being able to visualise the methods of teaching, and the best ways to coach, can easily be demonstrated in a practical setting, as opposed to just explained in a lecture.
I have also found seminars useful in allowing discussion around topics that may sometimes need more than just your own viewpoint to fully understand; this is especially true with socio-cultural issues.
I think that the expertise of the teaching staff here at Loughborough are second to none with people who are at the top of their fields and first-hand driving new research and progression. There are no better people to learn from.
On the course we get to use the top-class gym and sports hall facilities, which really helps when wanting to teach a niche sport like tchoukball on the teaching module, or when you are wanting to see the muscles used for a squat – being able to use the best equipment possible can only help enhance the learning potential.
Also, the advancements in biomechanics here at Loughborough have been great to see, with using force plates to measure force a particular highlight of mine.
My advice for prospective students is to really attend everything. As silly as it sounds, attending all practicals, seminars and lectures is really valuable to building your skillset and building confidence in many different situations, especially in regards to teaching and coaching.
Being confident to attend practicals and labs is really crucial to see the learning in action and they are quite fun!!