Hey Guys!
Today Facebook decided to remind me that 2 years ago to the date was the day I graduated from college. I thought it would be a nice to do a little post on what I've learnt since throwing that cap into the air and shouting THANK GOD!!
First I'll tell you a bit about my degree and where I went to do it. Firstly I will say I have never been the most academic person so deciding to do a degree was something I really thought about and wasn't really sure about. After a lot of talking with family and tutors at the college. I decided it was best decision if I did a foundation degree at Newcastle College because I knew that after two years I had the choice if I wanted to do the 3rd year. I always knew I was going to go down the sport coaching route and decided that I was going to do the 2 year foundation degree in Sport Coaching and Science. Newcastle College had a partnership program with Leeds Metropolitan University at the time which meant that when I graduated it would say Leeds Metropolitan rather than Newcastle College. After the 2 years I decided that it was best that I stayed on and do the top year meaning that I would get the full degree rather than just the foundation degree. I graduated in 2013 with a 2:2, I wasn't really happy with the grade but I decided that it was my own fault why I got that grade (I'll go into more detail about that in my next post about my university experience).
After that little bit of history for you, here are 3 things I've learn't since graduating.
1. NOT KNOWING WHAT YOU WANT TO DO AFTER ISN'T THE END OF THE WORLD
I think everyone goes through that moment when there at university where they think 'What the hell am I going to do after I finish?' Let me tell you something I did that for at least a year after I graduated it's not something you should feel bad about most people will be thinking the same. I left college completely lost and thinking to myself 'What the hell do I do now'. I was trying to make my mind up whether I wanted to go back to college and do my PCGE (teaching degree) or stick with the coaching route. I had a number of people telling that teaching was the route to go down and to apply even just as a back up plan. What people didn't understand was that even tho teaching was the best decision I didn't want to go back into education, I didn't want to do back into lectures and take notes I just wanted to make a difference in the community but I didn't know how. I decided that I was going to just try coaching for a year if it didn't work I would that apply for the PGCE to keep people happy. I did a lot of volunteer coaching work for Active Newcastle which is the sporting side of Newcastle Council and loved it but they didn't have funding at the time to pay me but I loved it so much I decided to just volunteer and see where it went from there. I already had a little part time job at Primark meaning that I had money coming in. Now after 2 years of hard work and volunteering for a year, I now work from Active Newcastle, I'm one of the main coaches for there Fusion holiday camps and do a lot of sport development work with them. Soon I will be going self-employed and working as a Tennis Coach for the LTA as well as working for Active Newcastle. I learnt that the hard work you put in at university does pay off eventually just just have to be patient.
2. THIS IS THE TIME TO TAKE OPPORTUNITIES AND DO SOMETHING OUTSIDE OF YOUR COMFORT ZONE.
This is something I defiantly say to do, when I was at college going to America for the summer was the thing to do but I didn't want to leave my part time job and family. Well that changed after graduating and the first thing I did after the summer was grow some balls and filled in the application to go to America for the summer of 2014. It was one of the best things I did, I grew as a coach and as a person. I don't think I would be the coach I am today if I hadn't went to America, I made some of my closest friends at camp and feel in love with travelling. Also after college I became a Young Advisor for StreetGames which was something else that was outside of my comfort zone but I've never looked back and thought that was a bad decision it was one of the best choices I ever made. It doesn't have to be something massive it can be something small like just applying for job that you don't think you can get or going on extra training courses. Being to put other things on your CV makes you stand out to employers it will be worth it in the end.
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| About to learn how to sail on Lake Fairlee in America |
3. FINALLY HAVE FAITH IN YOURSELF AND GIVE IT TIME, YOU WILL GET THERE!
The whole time I was doing my degree I thought I would fall into a job and obviously that didn't happen. I lost a bit of belief in myself when I didn't know what to do or where to even start looking for jobs but look at me now coaching for two different companies doing what I love and still learning and this is after 2 years. You have to know it will not be easy and that you won't just fall in to your dream job it takes time. Like Tinkerbell says 'All you need is faith, trust and pixie dust'. I guess what I'm trying to say is that don't let life after university scary you. You will reach that dream one day just enjoy that ride while you do it.
I hope that you enjoyed this post, I wanted to do something a little bit different from my fitness posts.
If you have anything you have learnt since leaving university leave them in the comments as I would love to hear them?
