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images to show my time at uclan so far...

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images to show my time at uclan so far...

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some of the images are to express the social side of university and meeting some amazing new people or maybe even potential networks for the future depending on how successful we can all potentially become from university and the other images are to show my passion at uni of becoming a performance analyst and gaining my work experience at a football league club and finally getting my foot firmly in the door when it comes to my future career.

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i currently find myself sitting in the library at 1:08 in the morning trying to juggle several assignments at once, this is obviously not the best thing for my stress levels or my sleep pattern, but due to all my other commitments and the goals i have set myself this is the reality i am living at present, i really need to think about what is important to me at this moment in my life.

my mum always referred to this as "burning the candle at both end's" with basically means i need to find a steady means between my work and social life in order to keep my sanity, if i want to achieve my goals my university work needs to take centre stage but at the same time i am also here to enjoy my life and create memories for the future so i need to weigh up the balance between both

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the university itself has many incredible networks with a variety of sporting organisations throughout the north west and i chose to take advantage of this by using the networks they had to gain myself work experience in a career that i am aiming to go down in the future and that was with Rochdale football club, this is a very valuable network to have as not only has it got my foot in the door with a substantial football league club but it now has given me many contacts who can then put me in touch with other contacts within the game and hopefully push me up the footballing ladder, i have always been a strong believer in networking and a strong believer that it is who you know, not what you know in life.  Carroll (2013) believes that "networking is probably the best way to learn and pick up on new opportunities."

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Due to the skills I have been able to pick up since September, I have been fortunate enough to be considered for work experience at Rochdale football club. Rochdale football club is currently a category 3 club, but they have huge ambitions of making it up the footballing pyramid and gaining more funding to improve their academy further. As it stands Rochdale football club are the 3rd best club out of the 92 in the football league at developing players from the academy and making them regular first team performers.

So the opportunity I have been given is definitely not something I could have turned down. This placement is a great way to get my foot in the door and gain skills that I may not be able to pick up from university, I will get the chance to work with people who are currently doing the profession I would like to get into in the future.

The job that I am required to do is to oversee the analysis of the u11/12's academy at the club, so this will require me to turn up every Sunday morning and work alongside the coaches and the players to provide analysis for them of their games. In order to be able to do this, I had to go meet the analysis team at the club in order to go over what they are expecting from us, the principles and the philosophy of the club and also what they would like us to be coding and looking out for when filming the games.

During the meeting we where given kit in order to look apart of the club and look professional as you can see from the image above, we where also given a fixture list of all the academy games for the rest of the season as you can see from the document attached below and a list of contact details for all the coaches we will be working with throughout the club.

Before any work could be done with the club, I had to be DBS approved to work with the academy performers, this is something the club where able to complete for me which take a huge weight off my shoulders.

Just from the meeting and being around the club, you definitely get the sense that it is a very family orientated club, it was a very comfortable environment to be in and one I cant wait to be apart of.

<<Academy fixtures.xlsx>>

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As you can see from my timetable/time management plan other than university and playing football for university i don't have than many other commitments, the only real commitment i currently have is my part time job, since the age of 15 i have been able to hold substantial work experience, i have always believed that it is important to gain employment from an early age in order to really learn the importance and value of money and also mentally prepare yourself in later life for proper working life.
The uclan football team has been a big commitment of mine this year, through training every Monday to playing every Wednesday, the physical side of the game was only half of the commitment, the other side is the social aspect that the team has brought. i believe the social side of our team and the fact we are such a close knit group of friends now even after such a short time and i feel that this has shown through our performances as we have been one of the more successful uclan football teams this year compared to the other team

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Below is the Personal Statement i used to get into university

A career in high level sport has always been my aspiration; I believe the opportunity of studying a sport coaching degree would enable me to combine my academic abilities and practical skills, to realise my ambition to be employed within elite sport. I am aware of the competitive nature of the sports industry, but I strongly believe that my passion for sport and commitment to my studies will allow me to be successful. My education has always been paramount to me and in my current studies of BTEC Sport I have worked consistently hard to achieve Distinctions in every assignment and I am determined to maintain this in order to achieve triple Distinction Star grade overall. This course has also allowed me not only to develop my sporting knowledge such as sports nutrition, psychology, anatomy and physiology which will be a good foundation for a sports degree, it has also helped me gain valuable life skills such as presentation skills and interview techniques, enabling me to achieve the ST Johns Ambulance emergency first aid qualification. Of all the units I've covered sports coaching has definitely been my favourite, I have thoroughly enjoyed learning the importance of planning each session, keeping activities fun whilst considering safety. I enjoyed planning the session my way and then delivering the session the way I feel is best for the participant's to get the most out of the session. To further enhance my coaching experience, I have completed a 2 week placement with a company called School Sports Partnership where I completed work experience in local KS1 and KS2 schools, coaching children in various sporting scenarios. This placement allowed me to see first-hand what skills and qualities are required when it comes to coaching. I believe that this placement in particular was extremely valuable to me as it helped me develop my knowledge of the coaching environment in the real world and also how to communicate towards different age groups effectively. I am currently employed within the sports industry as a Sports and Leisure assistant for a company called School Lettings Solutions. I value the challenge of working and earning my own money and the responsibilities that comes with that and I feel this gives me an insight into working in the sports and leisure industry. I also have acquired valuable knowledge in team building, time management, and customer service skills. From this my confidence has grown which has then allowed me to communicate more freely to many different people, increasing my effectiveness. Over the years I have played football for a variety of different teams from the age of 5 obtaining many accolades and trophies from winning the league with Myerscough College to being named managers' player of the year. Whilst at high school I received an award for personal achievement in Physical Education. Alongside football I participate at many other sports for enjoyment/recreation. I am keen to embrace all aspects of university life and have always immersed myself in wider activities that are on offer to me for example I was fortunate enough to go on a skiing trip to Italy where I was able to learn the techniques required to ski quite quickly, which I found both invigorating and challenging. It was an unforgettable experience. The trip also gave me an insight at what it is like to learn a completely new skill as a novice which would become very useful when coaching participants who have not tried in a certain sport before as I will be able to empathise with them having been in their situation myself I would relish the opportunity to again be involved in some sporting activities in other countries in order develop my global understanding of different cultures and attitudes towards sports. I am eager to move on to the next phase of my education and cannot wait to learn more about sport coaching and attempting myself to university life

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this is a timetable of my usual working week

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In this section i am going to talk through all the potential jobs that would be suited/specific to me.
the first one i have brought to your attention is a assistant performance analyst position with Manchester United's first team, the only position that would excite me more than this opportunity would be the actual performance analyst for the club, the reason this position excites me so much is down to the career and the team. the career is something i would definitely want to be going down in the future and with the work place being Manchester United a team i have supported from a very early age i could not think of anything more suited to what i would like to become in the future, this would be an example of my perfect job.
in order to gain a position like this the club have said the "Applicants for this position should possess a sports related University degree in Coaching/Science (Masters desirable) or equivalent. Previous full-time experience in a professional sports environment (ideally football) is essential. Experience using industry-specific software is also keenly desired alongside a proficiency of the Microsoft Office package." these are all things i either currently possess or am working towards in the near future.

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in this section i am going to talk about my goals and goal setting using SMART.
Specific – who is involved, what do I expect to be accomplished, where will it be done, why am I doing this – reasons/purpose and which constraints and/or requirements do I have to achieve the goal/target.

Measurable – as the coach can I track the progress and measure the outcome of the goal/target. As the coach, I need to be able to identify when my goal has been accomplished.

Attainable/Achievable – is the goal reasonable enough to be accomplished. As the coach i need to make sure that the goal is not out of reach or below the standard of performance for my performers.

Relevant – is the goal worthwhile and will it meet the needs I have set? Is the goal consistent with the other goals I have set and does it fit in with my immediate and long term plans?

Time – the T stands for time, this means that the goal I have set needs to have a time limit upon It, for example ‘I want this goal completed for one month from today’. The aim of this is that it will establish a sense of urgency and prompt and also enhances your ability to time manage.

Short term goal - My short term goal is to achieve an overall grade of a 2:1 from my first year at year in order to give me a good foundation to push on in the next few years, this goal is measurable because its quantitative and i can place a time limit on this goal too as this is something that will need to be achieved by the end of the year, i think this goal is definitely achievable for me as i am already on target to achieving, this is certainly a relevant goal as it is worthwhile and is something that fits in with my long term plans of achieving a valuable degree and gaining employment. With this being a short term goal i have a month left to achieve this before all of my deadlines will be completed.

Medium Term goal - My medium term goal is going to be something i will aim to achieve within the next few years. my goal that i want to be completed in the next 3 years is to achieve a valuable degree a valuable degree to me would be a 2:1 or above this value is something i feel can definitely set me up on a successful career in what i want to do which is become a high level performance analyst, again this is a goal i feel that is achievable not only due to the foundation I've set myself from this present year but also due to the work experience i have gained which will give me a competitive edge against other people such as myself trying to gain employment out of university Rob Carroll (2013) puts its simply that "work experience is vital" and also goes onto explain that "university degree alone is not enough"
this goal is measurable because at the end of the time period their is a figure given which will determine whether the goal i have set myself has been achieved or not. i am very confident in my own ability but i am also my own biggest critic but i do believe that all the goals i have set myself are certainly within my reach if i am willing to put the hard work in. the goal i have set myself is relevant as it links in with the rest of the goals i have set myself.

Long Term Goals - my long term goal is something i aim to have completed within the next 5-10 years. i want to be able to achieve employment into a top premier league club as a performance analyst, i believe that this is a measurable goal as this is something i either achieve or don't, therefore this is objectively as it cant be influence by other peoples opinions, like i have said to my previous goals if i put the work and effort that i know i am capable of i am definitely able to achieve these goals within the next 5-10 years with the qualifications and experience i will gain within the next 3 years. these goals are relevant as they are linked in with my other goal i have set as they are also about me gaining successful employment in my chosen career. my goal also has a time limit on it as i have aimed to achieve my goal within the next 5-10 years.

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My time at university so far has been an incredible eye opener. it has finally given me guidance on what i really want to do with my life. the course i started out on was the Sports Coaching course within the first few weeks i quickly realised this is not something i want to be doing in the future, i didn't have a huge interest in becoming a coach after having to coach peers during the early weeks of the course.
fortunately this is something i noticed early on and i had already picked a module which really interested me. from picking this module i already believe this is the career i would be really interested in going down, its finally made me set goals for the future and given me a drive at university because in the early weeks i didn't feel like i knew what my purpose was within my early weeks at uni, but i now know exactly what i want to do and know what i need to do to achieve this.

i have now been able to gain myself so valuable work experience at a football league club, as a performance analyst for the u11's/12's academy teams, this is a perfect stepping stone for me to gain a wealth of knowledge and networks for the future.

i feel this last year of being at uclan has helped me develop even more life skills, one of them definitely being resilience, my ability to not just give up at the first hurdle and developing this has definitely shown me that there is always better things to come and this has definitely shown many times throughout this year non more than me finally finding my sense of purpose in university and being able to set my sights on my future career.
adaptability is another one of these life skills that i have been ever developing during my time at university, the background image on the screen is a perfect example of this, the image shows me and the uclan 2nd's football team, this year we as a team where put together out of nothing and all had to adapt to each others playing styles, at certain times this may not have paid off, but overall i believe we have all adapted to each other very well and this is shown more off the pitch than on, as we are all very close nit group of friends now and will aim to push this into success for our team next season.

i am very excited to see what i am able to achieve in my remaining 2 years at Uclan.

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This is a copy of my up to date CV, this CV could be used in helping me obtain some work experience in the sporting industry via the contacts that the university have.

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This is a copy of my CV from before i had started at university, my CV has helped me gain employment throughout my working life and having a strong and reliable is very important in order to gain employment in the future.