16-year-old Deacon Joyce enrolled for the Level 3 diploma in sport as he initially wanted to become a personal trainer but, after his tutor spotted his potential and said that he had the skills to be a PE teacher, he changed his future career plan!
Deacon said: “After doing my GCSEs I wanted a new way to learn so went along to a college open event and spent over an hour chatting to one of the sports tutors. He told me what the course entails and that I would gain a qualification equivalent to three A’ levels, as well as UCAS points – it just felt like it was right.
“So far, we’ve covered anatomy and physiology, healthy eating, components of fitness and how to produce a workout plan for clients, as well as national and international rules for a number of sports – I play rugby and I can use my knowledge of the game to contribute to class discussions and the knowledge I’m gaining to improve my match preparation and performance on the pitch.
“Whilst there are some lessons in the classroom, there are also a lot of practical sessions on learning how to use equipment in the gym and working with clients on their own fitness programmes – a lot of people want to improve their fitness after Covid and it’s good to see how they progress.
“Being a teacher wasn’t my initial plan but, after talking to the tutor, I changed my mind – I like sport and working with people and the two will work well together. After finishing the course I want to go to university and so I’m re-doing my English GCSE as I need to improve my grade to go to meet the entry requirements.
“I’ve matured since I’ve been here and become more independent too – it’s my responsibility to get to college on time and I’ve had to factor travel into my schedule to determine what time I leave the house to make sure I get my bus.
“I enjoy coming to college and everyone on the course is interested in the same thing and want to learn so there’s not time wasted on distractions as there was at school.”
